Destiny is a Hazy Thing
by Calanor
Summary: The Yondaime had a plan, Madara had another. They were not the only ones who wanted their own vision to come to pass, but the future is never certain. When all plans of gods and men fail Naruto is suddenly free to choose his own destiny. Slow development
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor many of the other things I took inspiration from. I write purely for my own enjoyment and don't get any money from this.

Summary: First off, fans of canon Naruto and its themes won't like this story.

This story features an intelligent, independent and fairly powerful Naruto. He might end up in a foursome. It includes politics and intrigue, decade-long plans (that have a tendency to go awry), supernatural powers, gods, ninja fights (later on) and all the human interaction you would expect from a realistically working world. The shinobi world is not a nice place. The build up is very slow, but there will be a lot of changes in Naruto's early life that cause changes of their own, often indirectly. I try to keep the world at least somewhat plausible and logical. Fans of Minato (and to a lesser degree Kushina and the Sandaime) might not like my story, though. Their actions will be viewed in a very negative light as will Konoha's status as a whole (no raving mobs of villagers, but the political and military situation.) and parts of the canon storyline. Many events will happen roughly like in canon, but there will be many changes. If you find the prologue strange I recommend taking a look at the next chapter. It is much more conventional.

Author's note: I recommened listening to the 'Carol of the Old Ones' from the H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society to properly set the mood for this chapter. Simply search for it on Youtube.

**Destiny is a Hazy Thing**

by Calanor

Look to the sky

way up on high.

There in the night

stars are now right.

**Prologue: Old One awakes…**

It began. It was. It thought. It was thought.

Knowledge and power were pouring into the fledgling being from some unfathomable source, and it grew. Wispy strands of simple thoughts twisted around each other into more durable, complex cords, which in turn interconnected and formed the many-shaped building blocks of a mind. The blocks sorted themselves into buildings and towers of a structured mind that came crashing down repeatedly when the pressure of even more thoughts and new concepts became too great to bear, only to reform itself into something greater with more intricacy. Individual bubbles of memories hovered above the chaos waiting to connect until the mind had reached a sufficient level to understand them before they too partook in the dance of an emerging consciousness. Finally, the flow slowed to a halt and the mental construct stabilized enough to fulfill its function.

The avatar awoke with a start from its slumber imbued with a single overriding purpose for its existence: assess the situation and act accordingly to ensure its survival. It knew immediately that it was only a specialized part of a far greater entity and that something was very, very wrong. Besides not remembering going to sleep, there was the simple fact that in all its existence the entity had NEVER completely slept. As a matter of fact, it should have been incapable of doing so. Some part of it had to be active at every time, if only to prevent the automatic spontaneous formation of an avatar. Come to think of it, that was exactly what the being currently doing the thinking was. With a feeling akin to dread it spread its awareness inwards, taking in its current status. The avatar itself was made of pure thought and had only some general information and power at its disposal. It was safely encapsulated in its own semi-permeable micro-universe that was otherwise empty. Deep beneath its own familiar if only recently created structure rested the door to the oversoul that connected all separate parts and individual avatars into the greater whole of the entity.

A split off sliver of awareness was send through the door like a sensory organ on a long, flexible eyestalk. At first glance the conduit was almost closed shut from some external pressure that prevented the flow of more power to the avatar. That restricted its possible avenues of actions tremendously. Every action taken, every idea thought consumed some small amount of power that it was unable to replenish. Should it spend all its energy the current avatar of thought would simply vanish. At last the sliver reached the central nexus pool where all things rested that made the entity what is was, waiting to be used to form the avatars that were the entity's equivalent of hands, sensory organs and even brains.

The first impressions it got were smallness, confinement and an all-encompassing feeling of loss.

Where the core of its very being should have stood like a mountain of diamond only a crack-riddled pebble remained.

Where once the light of its existence shone brighter than a star only a candle flickered.

Where it expected oceans of power it found only a few evaporating drops.

Where once fields of wisdom and knowledge sprawled to infinity only a few crumbling islands drifted in a sea of nothingness.

Where once its might spread across universes and dimensions, creating myriads of avatars to do the entity's every bidding, it was now confined to only a single spot besides the avatar of thought.

In fact, when the avatar observed from its outside vantage point the source was confined to a single lowly being, a human…. that couldn't be right. Even in its current extremely diminished state, the entity was far too powerful and complex to fit into such a pitiful form. With renewed vigor it scrutinized simultaneously its own structure, its current mortal shell and the universe it found itself in.

If it had been able to, the avatar would be shaking in horror. The entity had been caught in a nearly perfect trap, a magnificent, almost foolproof and immensely cruel multi-layered scheme. Its own power was twisted upon itself, steadily destroying its own substance, like a snake devouring its own tail and becoming less and less in the process. The trap itself was empowered by the energy release of this destruction, keeping the entity's soul contained to prevent the formation of an avatar developed highly enough to recognize the situation. The last part had obviously temporarily failed because of unknown reasons, albeit only long enough to allow the creation of the single avatar of thought. Formation of additional avatars or drawing more power from the nexus was once more impossible. Even now the avatar could feel the pressure to go back to sleep, to return to the mindform of a human, completely oblivious to the true nature of the universe and its own being. That was the next layer of the trap, forced reincarnation as a human or creature of similar properties. Judging from the amount of fragmentary memories that floated around in the nexus as fine dust the reincarnation process had already been repeated for untold eons.

The universe in which the flesh bag it was anchored to lived was one of these horrid things that ran exclusively on the cold hard laws of basic physics. No deities, no magic, no hyper- or subspace, no anything that could help it in one form or another. Sure, the avatar was able to bend or outright break the laws of that universe to some degree, but it would cost an extraordinary amount of power even for the smallest changes. It didn't help that most of the intact memories it had access to only dealt with magic in one form or another.

The who and why of its capture had been lost, among the overwhelming majority of other memories. The entity had even lost the knowledge of its own name and history. Most of what remained was completely unintelligible, either because of partial data loss or because the avatar wasn't developed highly or specialized enough to understand. The only thing clear was that the entity had been involved in a power struggle of the highest order, far beyond the meager grasp that it currently retained. Obviously the entity had lost. Badly.

The avatar didn't have the abilities to break the trap, and its power level was already sharply declining. Even if it somehow managed to dispel the trap, the entity's very being was damaged beyond repair. Its entire remaining soul structure was highly unstable and would rapidly collapse without the confining power of the trap. That left few options.

It could do nothing and again be completely imprisoned, its soul eroding further, which in turn would be reincarnated almost indefinitely until it was ground to nothingness and the trap dispersed due to lack of power. Each incarnation would be dimly aware of an immense loss, unable to ever find peace. Completely unacceptable.

The next option was to use its remaining free power to find another being of sufficient power and willingness to break the trap and in particular stabilize its soul, but that came with its own set of problems. Such a favor usually carried a heavy cost, and the entity had nothing of real value to repay it with. The best case would be its remaining knowledge in exchange for quick and painless destruction; the worst case would mean eternal thralldom to or absorption by its 'benefactor'. Beings of the necessary power level didn't deal in kindness. That was better than the first option, but not by much.

The last option would mean seeking out a being that was equally in dire straits and forge a very special pact, chaining them together forever. The entity would lose a large part of its remaining power, but it would be able to stabilize itself and begin anew the long climb to greatness, but this time with a partner to share its fate. Highly risky, but it seemed the best shot at surviving and retaining at least some power and free will.

Its decision made, the avatar cast its awareness outwards, rapidly seeking, analyzing and discarding the universes within its ever decreasing reach. In passing it noted that a nearby universe had recently been destroyed, resulting in an inter-universal shockwave which must have been what temporarily disrupted the trap. The entity needed someone desperate, for only the desperate would be willing to pay the price of the bargain it hoped to conclude. The avatar's hope dwindled as its search came up empty again and again. Each time where a world seemed promising some random factor made it unsuitable for the entity's needs. Finally, it found a promising candidate. The creature was in a unique position in its world's weave of destiny and possible futures that made it the ideal target for the entity's desperate gamble.

The world it belonged was a strange one, with magic existing even if the world's inhabitants were oblivious to its existence. Instead they used a peculiar energy composed of the powers of mind and body. The entity had no memory of ever encountering such a thing, but that didn't prove much. Even at the height of its power it had only possessed knowledge of a miniscule section of the infinite multiverse, and it was far from that happy state of affairs. This 'chakra' was unfamiliar, but could prove useful especially in its strangeness. There existed a limited number of higher beings in that world, but most were bound or otherwise indisposed and should therefore present no serious hindrances until the entity was settled and ready for them. Unfortunately the avatar had to cut the examination short because of its dwindling power level. It would need all its remaining power to transfer to that world, move to the target's location while maintaining control over the mortal shell of its prison and convince the target to accept the bargain. It had barely enough time to determine the optimal timeframe for presenting its proposal to the target.

There was no margin of error and no time to lose. Taking a metaphorical last breath, the avatar set its plan in motion. The entity _stretched_ across the abyss between its current location and its target world, dragging its trapped core with it.

On an unremarkable planet in an unimportant galaxy in a universe like countless others, a completely average man vanished without a trace while sleeping in his flat. The following search initiated by his friends and family turned up nothing. In the end, he was just another unresolved missing person case.

* * *

><p>In a distant world a small blond boy shivered in his sleep under his thin blanket, not knowing that another player had taken an interest in his destiny.<p> 


	2. Chapter 1: Painful Beginnings

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 1: Painful Beginnings**

Three year old Naruto Uzumaki was having a rather bad day. It had started nice enough; three of the ladies working at the orphanage had taken them into one of the public parks to play. None of the other children had wanted to play with him. They never did. Unfortunately, that didn't stop them from bullying him. He had been sitting peacefully in the grass some distance away from the others while playing with random stuff like sticks and pine cones. They never let him play with real toys. Occasionally he had glanced wistfully at the other children scattered in groups throughout the park.

One moment he had been engrossed in his game, the next one of the older boys had trampled everything. Naturally Naruto had been pissed. The situation degraded from shouting to shoving to scuffling in merely a minute. Finally one of the caretakers had bothered to investigate. The bully had tearfully proclaimed his innocence and named Naruto as the instigator. As always, the caretaker believed the worst of Naruto and had been berating him for his aggressive behavior, promising punishment for later.

Seeing the now smirking bully behind the irate caretaker, Naruto simply couldn't take it anymore. He had needed to get away from everyone. The other children either wanted nothing to do with him or were actively bullying him. The caretakers in general let it happen and ignored him; only interfering if the fights threatened to cause serious injury to him. They did nothing against the countless scrapes and bruises he sustained almost daily. If they were looking at him at all they glared at him coldly, although they did pay him more than his fair share of attention concerning punishments. He was always punished for whatever disturbance he was involved in regardless of his guilt and occasionally even without any reason he could discern with his childish but developing mind. Naruto didn't understand why they did it. He tried to be friendly and good, he really tried. But nothing what he did seemed to make a difference, and now it had become too much. He had needed some time alone.

With eyes burning with unshed tears, he had turned around and had run away as fast as his short legs could carry him. After he was out of view he had taken a sharp turn and entered a small obscured path between two bushes. It led to an old gnarled oak with a large hollow he had discovered on a previous visit to the park. He had crawled into the hollow and curled up, now letting his tears fall freely. After a short while he had fallen asleep.

If he had looked back he would have seen the caretaker's angry expression morph into one of satisfaction. She patted the bully on his head and even gave him a piece of candy for a job well done. Her plan to get the demon boy away from the other children had worked better than anticipated. After all, she could assign additional punishment for the boy's running away. With a little more luck they would even have to search for him by the time they had to return to the orphanage, warranting even more punishment. How they could let one like him stay around other children she would never understand. Humming a merry tune she returned her attention to the bulk of the children in her care, putting Naruto completely out of her mind.

Said boy had woken much later. Upon leaving his hiding place he had found the park abandoned. Now he tried to make his way back to the orphanage. It was somewhat difficult as he didn't know the precise route. He was pretty sure he was walking in the right general direction, but it would have been better if he could ask one of the adults. The only problem was that almost no one was in sight.

The streets were almost completely deserted and all of the shops closed, most buildings had boards nailed over the windows. The few people visible seemed all in a terrible hurry. The wind was steadily gaining speed and the temperature dropping, the formerly blue sky was heavily overcast and growing darker by the minute. Naruto felt a shiver course through his body; he was only wearing a thin short sleeved shirt and short trousers. He tried to approach one middle-aged man who was straining to pull a handcart laden with various items with two girls not much older than Naruto sitting on top.

"Hello, I'm lost. Please could you help me find the orphanage? "

The man turned towards him and was about to answer when he noticed the whisker marks on the face of the young boy. His kindly expression vanished instantly and was replaced with one of anger and disgust.

"You! Get away from me and my family or I'll tan your hide," the man spat.

Naruto didn't know what was happening. Why would a man he never met before hate him on first sight? Apparently he had stayed too long for the man's liking, as said man gripped a bludgeon he had previously been carrying behind his belt and threatened to attack Naruto. In his panic Naruto lost his footing and was forced to skid backwards awkwardly on his behind. He was momentarily dazed when he hit his head on the wall of the house behind him. When his head cleared, the man had already returned to his handcart and departed. Naruto could faintly make out a short conversation.

"Daddy, who was that?" One of the children asked.

"Keep away from that one, he's nothing but trouble. The likes of him are the reason you don't have a mother anymore."

Naruto was confused. How could he have done something to the family of a man he didn't even know? His musings were interrupted when he felt something wet splash on his face. Apparently the clouds had decided to shed some of their load. He got up and continued on his way. Not even five minutes later he was wet to the bone and freezing from the cold drizzle.

Finally, he managed to reach the orphanage, but there he found another problem. The door of the orphanage was locked and the windows barred. He pounded on the door and yelled.

"Hey I'm out here! Please let me in!"

He continued his yelling and pounding for several minutes until he was completely exhausted, but no one answered. He leaned against the door to catch his breath. Where was everyone? A loud thunderclap caused him to jump. The drizzle had increased to a heavy downpour with the occasional hailstone mixed in and the wind had grown so strong it became difficult for Naruto to keep his balance. Random pieces of debris were flying through the air. The sky was almost black and still growing darker. The first thunderclap had only been the beginning; lightning began increasingly to arc between the clouds. Naruto couldn't stop his own trembling; his small body's warmth was easy prey for the cold wind and rain. He needed to get out of the open; the gateway he was standing in offered almost no protection against the elements.

Perhaps he could find shelter in the tool shack on the other side of the yard? It was normally secured with a big metal lock, but he knew a secret entrance on the backside where two boards were loose enough to create an opening. But he would surely be punished if they found him there. With a loud CRACK a lightning bolt smashed into a building not too far away. That decided it. His mind made up, he turned around and ran across the yard.

He was halfway there when suddenly his world went white and he knew no more.

* * *

><p>Natsuko Kokawa, the matron of the orphanage, gritted her teeth in anger. Sometimes she wondered if her subordinates came up with their crap to deliberately annoy her or if they were really that stupid. She glared at the women standing before her desk in the small private room she had claimed as her own in the emergency shelter.<p>

"You three are telling me you lost a child in the park and noticed only now that we are safely sealed in the shelter and can't leave to look for him nor contact anyone? And not only any random child, but Naruto Uzumaki? The boy the Hokage delivered to us in person? The one kid whose disappearance he will assuredly take a special interest in should he learn of him vanishing? Especially if said vanishing happened during an emergency evacuation because of an approaching storm of unprecedented size?"

Two of the young caretakers had lost the somewhat smug expressions they had been sporting since they came into her room to report the incident. The third one was still smirking.

"With all due respect Natsuko-sama, the chaos of the evacuation is a perfectly acceptable explanation. Children run away and get lost all the time; we simply were all too busy to notice. It just happened to be the dem- Uzumaki boy on this occasion."

"A nice tale. Pray tell, what do you think will the Hokage do if the boy stays missing or resurfaces injured or dead? Do I need to remember you what happened to the nurse that had 'accidentally' switched the milk powder with rat poison and was about to feed it to the boy? I realize that was before he was given into our care, but you surely heard of the fate of all the would-be assassins in the first few months of the boy's life?" Natsuko asked.

"But... but you said we can do what we want with the boy." The formerly smirking woman had grown nervous at the lack of the support that she had expected from her superior while the other two looked as if they were getting ill.

"I said that what you do with the children is your responsibility as long as there are no serious injuries and I hear nothing about gross abuse or neglect from one of my workers. I do not have time for all these details. If someone asks about the boy, you better have answers. I will not shield you from the consequences of your own actions." Natsuko countered.

The young women turned white as a sheet at that.

"But we all thought the boy was with one of the others. We…" One of the other caretakers said.

"Spare me your excuses, they do not interest me. Save them for Yamanaka-san when he entertains you in his interrogation cells. Now leave me alone and better pray the boy turns up hale and healthy as soon as we return to the outside. "

After the three now thoroughly frightened young women rushed out of the small chamber and closed the door behind them Natsuko tiredly slumped back in her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose. As if she didn't have enough problems. On days like this she really felt her age.

The greatest storm in recorded history was about to hit Konoha and the village was in lock down. The storm was unusually fast approaching; they had received the storm warning only late this morning via messenger bird from an outpost to the south. It was barely enough time to make the most necessary preparations to secure the buildings of the village and evacuate the populace to the shelters. Personally overseeing the transfer of more than two hundred frightened children to the emergency shelter was no fun. The fact that the orphanage didn't have a large enough basement to serve as shelter and they had to cross a significant part of the city didn't do a thing to make her task easier. That a group of children was away in the park and had to be recalled only added to her difficulties. The boy's disappearance was the icing on the cake. She stared at the ceiling and wondered what she had done to be saddled with these problems.

In contrast to most of her civilian employees she didn't hate the boy for being the container of the Kyuubi. Only utter morons without a shred of knowledge of the sealing arts would mistake the container with the contained. That didn't mean she liked him or wanted him anywhere near her other charges. He was far too dangerous for that. If it had been up to her she would have the boy shipped off to some secure and secret location far from the village. There she would have him trained by carefully selected tutors to try and form him into a reliable weapon for the village without endangering the many citizens of Konoha should he lose control of his demon. Because of her own experiences during the Kyuubi attack she kept her interaction with the boy to a minimum. Every time she looked at him she was reminded of the moment the blasted demon fox took everything from her and had to suppress the urge to lash out at the boy. Doing such a thing would reflect badly on the reputation of her clan and that pride was one of the few things she had left that kept her from committing suicide.

While no expert, Natsuko had some knowledge on the subject of jinchuuriki. They were aptly named; they were indeed the 'power of the human sacrifice'. The entire life and mind of a child was sacrificed by sealing a demon into it in exchange for a shinobi with the potential of nearly unparalleled power. She recalled vividly the tales her great-uncle Shinji told them. The old man had originally been a civilian of Iwa and worked as an assistant of one of the local seal masters. In this role he had come to know the host of the Gobi, the five-tailed Dolphin-horse. The host at that time had been a young child, a boy from the Tsuchikage's extended family. He was one of the early hosts after all of the villages had begun to seal their beasts into humans.

The boy had been a pleasant child, and his parents and the villagers cherished him as one of the future champions of Iwagakure. Then the murders had begun. Villagers and shinobi alike had turned up dead, with only their bones and clothes remaining. All searching for the culprit had been in vain, until one day the Tsuchikage accompanied by some shinobi had made a surprise visit to the house of the boy while his parents were away. The timing had been purely coincidental; they had wanted the boy's input on a present for his mother's upcoming birthday. But they surprised the boy as he was about to hide a large bag in the basement. Startled, he let it slip out of his hands. The contents spilled across the floor for all the visitors to see. They saw chunks of meat. Human meat.

His secret discovered the boy immediately moved to attack them with steam-based powers, injuring several of the shinobi. They were about to subdue him when his parents returned. Not understanding the situation they shielded the boy against the attackers. Said boy played innocent and hid behind them. When it became clear in the ensuing argument that his parents would finally surrender him to the Tsuchikage for examination the boy saw his chances for escape vanish. He proceeded to boil his parents alive with his steam before anyone could act. In the resumed fight the boy was quickly defeated. While powerful, he was still several years from completing his shinobi training. He had no chance against several experienced opponents who were expecting his attacks.

The following investigation revealed a hidden breach in the wall of the basement to a neighboring abandoned cellar. It was furnished as a storage area for meat. Apparently the boy had approached single targets that were eager to help, led them to an isolated area and killed them with a surprise attack, boiling them completely with his steam. Then he would scavenge all available flesh and leave. Nobody ever suspected him. He would feast on the flesh almost daily, seeking new victims when his supply ran out.

The most chilling discovery had been that the boy was still mostly in control of his body and mind. He didn't remember what he did during the times when the demon took over and kept asking what happened to his parents. Luckily the demon was still bound and had only access to a fraction of its power, but could take over his host within a moment's notice. In the end, they had no choice but to transfer the demon into a temporary non-living prison until they figured out what was wrong with the seal, killing the boy in the process. Shortly thereafter uncle Shinji had deserted the village as well as his disgraced master and after many adventures ended up joining Konoha and marrying into the Kokawa clan. This incident and similar occurrences in other villages were largely the source of the resentment towards jinchuuriki. As the seals grew more elaborate it became less frequent an occurrence that a demon was able to wrest control from its host, but the fear and resentment remained.

Natsuko had personally seen what kind of damage a released demon could do in the second shinobi war. She had been sent on a solo observation mission to scout the lands contested between Kumo and Taki. From her well concealed observation post on the slopes of a nearby mountain she had observed an important mountain pass. Kumo had concentrated a considerable force to establish a large fortified camp in a valley where several mountain roads converged, thereby securing considerable territory. A small patrol from Taki had the misfortune to unknowingly run into them, slipping through the outer perimeter without either side noticing until they were trapped without a way out. The ensuing battle had been short and brutal. All but one of the Taki shinobi had been slain in a short amount of time. That last one had been different. He was far more powerful than his comrades, but ultimately even he lost against the overwhelming odds he faced.

The battle had paused somewhat, with the lone heavily bleeding Taki shinobi standing in the center of a clearing surrounded by enemies. Natsuko had seen it all clearly from her vantage point. The man had looked around, obviously assessing his hopeless situation. After some time the man had closed his eyes and turned his face towards the heavens and said something. She had been too far away to understand anything and the distance was too great for lip-reading. Then she had felt the chakra spike. It was far greater and more malignant than anything she had felt before in her life. The man had been shrouded in a sickly green glow that prevented her from observing the details, but what she had seen was enough to haunt her nightmares for years.

The man's belly bulged until it was impossible large. With a wet tearing sound audible in the entire valley the skin had finally burst, releasing an unidentifiable winged creature and uncountable strands of chakra into the sky. The creature had grown larger while absorbing all the strands and blobs of chakra that were floating in the air. That was when Natsuko finally recognized the creature. It was the Nanabi, the seven-tailed beetle, and it was finally free after years of imprisonment. It proceeded to slaughter every living creature in reach. The Kumo nin never had a chance, and none managed to escape. Natsuko had cowered in her hideout and suppressed her chakra as far as she was able while praying the entire time to her ancestors for the monster to overlook her. Someone must have listened, because she was still alive hours after the sounds of destruction subsided. When she finally found the courage to leave her shelter, the valley was an image of desolation. All trees had been uprooted and thrown around, broken rocks the size of houses littered the valley floor and the fortress was a smoldering ruin. The Nanabi had been resting in the distance, half obscured by a mountain.

Natsuko had hightailed it out of the valley as quickly and stealthily as she could. The Nanabi had obviously taken a liking to the place and blocked all traffic for months until eventually some Taki nin managed to seal it again. That was the kind of danger jinchuuriki posed, and she had one under her roof. And not a random one, no, it was the one with the Kyuubi sealed into him of all things, the most powerful of the demons.

The Kyuubi. The damned fox had cost her everything. The Kokawa had been a shinobi family originally hailing from the Land of Rivers. They had taken a beating in one of the countless struggles before the time of the hidden villages and the few survivors joined Konoha during the reign of the Shodaime Hokage to avoid complete defeat. Some years after the end of the first shinobi war they had gained enough members and influence to attain minor clan status. She had been but a young girl at the time, but she still remembered the celebration. During the following years the Kokawa had slowly increased their strength and reputation. They couldn't boast of any famous exceptional single ninja like other clans, no, most of their number never obtained a higher rank than chunin. The first jonin in their clan had earned his promotion shortly after the end of the third shinobi war. They had been all so proud of young Keichi. Instead of focusing on producing a few shinobi of high skill the Kokawa relied on hard work and reliability as well as an unusual high percentage of clan members suited for the life of a shinobi. Most clans were lucky to have a third of every generation become ninja. In Natsuko's clan this portion reached almost sixty percent.

This fact was one of the contributing factors to one of the biggest political successes of her clan, the negotiating of a marriage contract on behalf of her niece Keiko with the Aburame clan. The Aburame had suffered heavy losses in the war against the Kamizuru, a rival insect-using clan from Iwa, and were searching for suitable marriage candidates to avoid inbreeding to a dangerous degree. Things had looked up for the Kokawa. The alliance with the Aburame promised further gains in reputation and influence. They survived the third shinobi war largely intact despite some losses and the clan was prospering.

Until the day the Kyuubi came. In a single terrifying day the beast had undone the work of generations and brought the Kokawa to the brink of extinction. Most of the clan's shinobi had participated in the delaying action fought against the giant monster until the Yondaime could take the field. None returned. Natsuko herself had been staying in the clan compound together with the rest of the clan. They had believed the strong walls of the building would offer them some protection. That lasted until the Kyuubi ran one of its tails across the village in an almost playful manner. The Kokawa clan compound had stood squarely in its path. One moment she was playing with the children to distract them from the danger, the next she had been buried under a mountain of rubble with several broken bones. Through a hole in the debris she could see directly into the Kyuubi's eye, or so it seemed. She saw an unbelievable amount of hate and rage in there, but the most disturbing thing was something that seemed almost like joy because of the destruction it had caused. The great beast seemed to laugh at the destruction of all she held dear. In reality the demon was quite a distance away and had probably looked in an entirely different direction, but due to its enormous size it appeared much closer. Shortly after, the Kyuubi disappeared from view and Natsuko fell unconscious.

She had regained consciousness much later in the hospital. By then she was the only member of the Kokawa in Konoha still alive, and only one of two in all of the elemental nations. Her niece Keiko had been out of the village, a young genin on her first long term-mission. She had been sorely tempted to commit suicide in these dark days. Almost all she held dear had been destroyed. Only the thought of the damage to the clan's reputation and the anguish it would cause her dear Keiko had kept her from seeking this quick end to her pain.

As soon as she was healed enough to move she had immersed herself in work. The clan holdings had been completely destroyed. They still had some funds, but with only one woman of childbearing age remaining the clan had no future anymore. They didn't even possess a bloodline or secret techniques that would make others want to join the clan. Luckily the Aburame were still willing to uphold the marriage contract, even if the originally intended groom had died in the battle. Marriage would have to wait for quite some time as the next suitable candidate was only nine years old at the time. The Kokawa clan might cease to exist, but their memory and heritage would still continue within the Aburame.

After she had set the clan affairs in order, Natsuko had found herself with nothing more to do. After a short search she found employment with the help of her clan's good name as the matron of one of Konoha's orphanages. They needed all the help they could get after the influx of the many orphans left behind in the wake of the Kyuubi attack. She had always loved caring for children, and the work gave her a new purpose. For a short while, she had felt better.

Then the Hokage dumped the Kyuubi container into her lap. By this point the entire situation concerning the young jinchuriki had already badly spiraled out of control. Natsuko simply couldn't make sense of the actions of the Hokage. After the Yondaime had died defeating the Kyuubi it fell to the formerly retired Sandaime to handle things again. In Natsuko's opinion the man had to choose between three reasonable options.

Firstly, he could kill the child. Natsuko knew that if the container was killed while the demon was still sealed inside the death of the host would disperse the chakra of the demon. After a few years the demon would reform somewhere, but that would probably be another country's problem. This solution had its share of problems. For one, it was unknown if the Kyuubi would seek revenge against Konoha after it reformed. To Natsuko's knowledge other demons in that situation hadn't done that, but it was still a possibility. Furthermore, it would deprive Konoha of a potentially valuable asset. If worst came to worst, another country would take possession of the Kyuubi and use it against them in a future war.

Secondly, he could treat him like the primed exploding tag he was and raise and train him in a secure location, preferably far from any settlement, and even more important, far from one Natsuko Kokawa and her young charges. Or he could keep him visible in the village as a sign for Konoha's power. She would still keep him under permanent guard and apart from the normal populace most of the time, but it could be done, even if it would be hard on the child because of the general fear and hatred directed at the demon containers.

The third option was to keep the boy's status as jinchuuriki secret and treat him like a normal child. Any abnormal occurrences that would arise could be shrugged off as some unknown bloodline resurfacing, especially with both of the boy's parents dead and the possible powers the Kyuubi would grant his host unknown. It would be grossly negligent to endanger the village in such a way, but it was still a rational course of action if one was a sentimental old fool.

Unfortunately, the Sandaime wanted to have his cake and eat it too. If the old monkey was unwilling to handle the boy like the extremely dangerous weapon that he was and instead insisted upon treating him like a normal child, announcing that he was the container of the Kyuubi and should be treated as a hero was completely counterproductive. He even trotted out that imbecilic argument that the boy was like a storage scroll and the Kyuubi a kunai and one shouldn't confuse the two. Natsuko could only scoff at that comparison when she heard of it later, as did the vast majority of the audience at the time.

For one, neither a kunai nor a storage scroll had minds of their own, with one mind being that of a century-old dangerous demon and the other one belonging to an impressionable child. To make matters worse, the seal had to connect the minds to some degree because otherwise it would be impossible for the boy to draw on the demon's power later.

Within minutes of the announcement large parts of the villagers called for the boy's death or banishment. Several people who had lost loved ones in the attack shifted the blame to the boy and tried to murder the infant. At least some of them probably acted out of a wish to protect the village from a potentially unstable jinchuuriki. After all, Konoha had never needed one of those before. Whatever their motivations, the Sandaime had them all executed and enacted a law which forbid it to speak of the boy's status as jinchuuriki. It didn't do much good as far as Natsuko could see, the knowledge had already spread. In a perfectly understandable defense reaction most people now tried to ignore the existence of the boy and the danger he posed and wanted him to be kept away from them. The part of the populace that hated him settled for glares on the rare occasions when he left the orphanage.

The boy was a few months old when the Sandaime delivered him personally to her. The assassination attempts had ceased, and he wanted him to have 'a normal upbringing'. He didn't say how she was supposed to achieve that with a severely overworked staff that either hated the boy or wanted nothing to do with him. Still, she had her professional pride and did what she could. She herself couldn't stand to be near the boy, but she made sure no excessive amount of harm came to him. She couldn't stop his isolation and mistreatment as her employees would simply revolt against her if she seemed to favor Naruto, but she could ensure it stayed on a bearable level. Unfortunately the children picked up on the caretakers' attitude and further isolated the boy. Her only hope was that the boy would complain and be removed from their care if it continued long enough. Natsuko resented the Sandaime personally for dumping the boy into her lap and had a hard time to keep her cool when he showed up once in a blue moon to see how the child was doing.

Not that she saw eye-to-eye with the man on lot of other issues. She and her clan had always supported a more martial policy, and the Sandaime with his peace-loving ways and soft approach had been one of their primary political opponents. It didn't help that during the Sandaime's reign the civilian part of the population had been steadily gaining more power and was encroaching on the privileges of the shinobi clans that her own clan had worked so hard to obtain.

They had been neutral to the Yondaime. The man had been a famed warrior of great skill, but he seemed likely to continue the Sandaime's policies. The Kokawa had adopted a wait-and-see attitude, but his reign had been cut short by the Kyuubi before he could leave much of an impression.

Her musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Enter!"

A young man stuck his head into her room.

"Natsuko-sama the youngest children are restless. We would appreciate your help in calming them down." he said.

"Too much trouble for you whippersnappers, eh? No worries, I'm coming. "

With a sigh, Natsuko stood up from her chair and left the room. She had work to do.

* * *

><p>Naruto awoke from the sun shining into his eyes. He sat up sleepily, blinking to dispel the vestiges of sleep. He stopped cold as he remembered running across the yard, a moment of white light and then … nothing. He hadn't the foggiest idea what happened after that. He must have fallen asleep at some point.<p>

'_Oh no, I will be punished if I'm not sleeping in my bed.'_ he thought.

Now wide awake, he took for the first time stock of his surroundings. A sight of rare beauty greeted him as the entire world seemed to sparkle. The storm had obviously moved on, and the morning sun was sending its rays through the many holes in the clouds. Some rain still fell in the distance and reflected merrily the light of the sun, as did the countless water droplets on the trees and buildings. It seemed the entire world was covered in tiny gems. As Naruto turned around, he discovered a majestic double rainbow before the still dark western sky. He was stunned; in his entire life he had never seen anything so beautiful. He slowly pivoted on his feet to take in as much as possible of the fantastic sight. All too soon the sparkling faded when some clouds obscured the sun again, snapping Naruto out of his reverie and reminding him that he had to find a way back.

It took him some time to figure out where he was. Luckily he could clearly see the Hokage tower and some other landmarks. He was on the flat roof of a bakery he remembered passing several times on different excursions. He carefully climbed down the steep stairway on the side of the building, no mean feat for a three year old. A short walk later and he was again standing before the closed door of the orphanage. Naruto sat down with his back to the door and waited for some of the caretakers to appear when his stomach growled hungrily. He tried his best to ignore the hollow sensation in his belly by trying to recall the wonderful sight he had witnessed. After a few minutes, he was fast asleep again.

Several hours later he tried to find a resting position where his aching backside could get some relief. The boy had been found sleeping on the orphanage's doorstep by the returning staff and been immediately escorted into the matron's office. Naruto had to endure a long scolding by the matron followed by another scolding and a thorough spanking by the caretaker who had caused him to run away in the park. As further punishment he had been banned from lunch despite his last meal being breakfast one day ago. Naturally he hadn't been able to explain his behavior; he still lacked the necessary skill of speech. At least he had managed to eat something at supper even if he received as always a smaller portion than the others and some of the kids stole a large part of the remainder of his food. Now he was only hoping for some peace.

"Hey midget, we heard you caused some trouble for the nice caretaker. We decided to show you what we think of little brats that make life more difficult for these poor women."

Apparently some of the older children weren't satisfied with his punishment and had decided to take matters into their own hands. A sound thrashing and some time later Naruto was lying on his hard cot and tried to get some sleep while shivering under the thin blanket. Naturally his sleeping accommodations were the shabbiest in the entire orphanage, even if the other stuff wasn't that much better.

"Why do they all hate me?" he whispered while burying his head in the pillow to hide his tears. An idea entered his mind. Perhaps by always acting cheerful and smiling at everybody he would be able to find some friends and acknowledgement?

* * *

><p>It had all been for nothing. An entire life's work, the labor of more than a dozen generations to help build the clan had all been for naught. Natsuko took another big gulp out of the sake bottle sitting on her desk. Dozens of empty bottles already littered her office. She was dead. Her niece and last living relative was dead. A few days before, she had received the message from the Hokage's office. Her niece had been killed on a routine mission near the border by some foreign shinobi. Out of the two genin and two chunin of the patrol, only a chunin had made it back, and he probably wouldn't live much longer. He had clearly identified the attackers as belonging to Kumo, a fact which was further corroborated by the findings of the investigating team. There was proof beyond doubt that the Kumo nin were the aggressors and that the location the incident had taken place was firmly inside the borders of the Land of Fire.<p>

Natsuko had only continued living to see vengeance done before joining her husband, four children and six grandchildren in the afterlife. And now she knew she wouldn't even get that small comfort. One of her old acquaintances who worked in the Hokage's office had slipped her a copy of the old monkey's orders. Konoha would send a diplomatic note of protest and otherwise sweep the incident under the rug. No reparations would be demanded, let alone the extradition or execution of the culprits. Sarutobi wanted peace and considered almost no price to high for that purpose. There was even talk of signing a peace treaty with these bastards! After all her clan had done for Konoha the villagers didn't even have the decency to avenge them.

In this moment, something vitally important inside Natsu Kokawa's already alcohol addled mind broke. Her sanity had taken a heavy hit in the wake of the Kyuubi attack and never really recovered, not least because she was forced in the proximity of the contained demon far too often. It had hung by a thin thread, and the recent events were enough to finally drive her over the edge. Of course, she had displayed such an impregnable facade to the outside world that nobody had even suspected that there might be a problem. The few mind healers that Konoha had were already overburdened by the countless overt cases and had no time to spare on the seemingly perfectly mentally sound woman. She began to laugh madly even while sobs shook her body to the core. And so it happened that a woman who had served Konoha loyally for decades even after a crippling combat injury had forced her retirement from the shinobi forces turned from loving the village to intensely hating it.

Natsuko was no longer able to differentiate between the population and the leadership, both melted together into the concept of Konoha. The village had sacrificed the Kokawa and spit on their graves. They all deserved to burn in hell for that! But how to do it? She was already in her fifties and no longer physically capable of fighting. Since her injury more than twenty years ago she couldn't even use chakra anymore.

The memory of her last battle rose unbidden from the depths and forced her to relive the events. It had been a hopeless fight against a group of nuke-nin that were their superior in numbers as well as in skill. They had been a group of four experienced chunin and three genin in hot pursuit of a jonin-level nuke-nin who had murdered some tax collector and made off with the stolen money. It should have been a relative straightforward fight with superior numbers on their side. Unfortunately the reports had understated the skill of the target and they had gotten bad intel to boot. Instead of surprising a lone shinobi they themselves had walked straight into an ambush. Their target had joined a group of eight other renegades that had a band of roughly thirty bandits supporting them. Before they knew what was happening their Inuzaka tracker had already gone down with a kunai through his throat and his partner incinerated by a fire technique. Then their enemies attacked from all directions. In the ensuing chaotic melee she had seen comrade after comrade slaughtered until only she and two others were still alive. Some bandits had died, but all the enemy ninja were still in fighting shape. One of her comrades was lying on the ground slowly bleeding to death while the other had his right leg and arm incapacitated. Natsuko herself had a few serious physical injuries but more importantly suffered from extreme chakra exhaustion. She had already been low on chakra before the battle because the group had used her above average genjutsu talents to interrogate some prisoners and add some stealth to group. In the face of certain death she tried to scrounge up some scraps of chakra to weave a genjutsu that would allow them to escape.

Then it happened, fueled by her desperation she inadvertently opened an unknown number of the eight inner gates in a completely uncontrolled fashion. The following surge of chakra overpowered her collapsing genjutsu which promptly burned out the minds of all the enemies leaving them as drooling idiots while she fell unconscious from the pain. Somehow her two comrades had survived and brought her back to Konoha. The medics had found extensive damage to her chakra system besides the physical injuries; should she even try to mold the tiniest amount of chakra it would almost certainly reopen the gates and kill her in a matter of minutes at the longest. That had been the end of her career as a kunoichi, but she had been able to deal with it. She had suffered the injuries while pursuing the ideals of her clan and gained no small amount of respect for it. She had spent the following years mainly enjoying her family life, caring for the young children of the clan and generally handing down her knowledge to the next generation. On the side she had become politically active in a minor fashion. That lasted until the Kyuubi came.

The image of a smiling boy drifted to the forefront of her mind. He had begun doing that since the storm a few weeks ago. She was sure; the damn Kyuubi was looking through the eyes of the boy and laughing at her. Laughing!

A flash of inspiration struck her. She had been searching for a way to pay back Konoha while the solution had been sleeping in the same building the entire time. Her clan's vengeance was only a matter of releasing the Kyuubi. So simple! Perhaps she had misinterpreted the emotions of the monster three years ago; could it be that the demon nursed a justified grudge against Konoha? Who knew what those bastards had done to the Kyuubi, and they should have protected the village better in any case. Than her clan wouldn't have died!

The only remaining question was how to release the beast. She didn't know enough about fuinjutsu to manipulate the seal. Then she stumbled upon the obvious solution. Why, she could simply shatter the brat's mind like she had done to those men all these years ago. Without the boy's will to suppress it the demon was practically guaranteed to take over! If she was lucky she would even live long enough to witness the beginning of the destruction. Such brilliant ideas had to be inspiration from her ancestors and dead clansmen, it couldn't be another way! They all wanted revenge for their death, and she was the one to give it to them. When she listened carefully she could even hear the voices of her dead children urging her on!

Natsuko carelessly threw the now empty sake bottle to the side and prepared to leave. She would fetch the brat and drag him into the small basement. It had a solid door that should give her the uninterrupted time to make her plan reality. The old matron wasn't even aware that she had scribbled some of her mad ramblings on a piece of sake-soaked paper. Far more important matters claimed her full attention, like the impending destruction of all the ungrateful bastards inhabiting Konoha.

Oh yes, she would make them all pay!

* * *

><p>The ANBU codenamed Chipmunk was on the second-to-last leg of her nightly patrol route when she felt a strong chakra spike in the vicinity. Quickly pinpointing it to the location of the orphanage she sent her partner to call reinforcements while she investigated. Since the admittance of the Kyuubi container the orphanage was designated as one of the more neuralgic points of the village. Each incident had to be handled with caution. Just as she jumped from the roof in front of the orphanage door it opened and one of the caretakers came running out.<p>

"HELP! Somebody please help us!" the clearly scared woman cried. Then she spotted Chipmunk and gripped hold of her cloak. "ANBU-san, Natsuko-sama has gone mad! She has locked herself and the Uzumako brat into the basement and barred the door. We heard her rambling that Konoha will pay for spitting on her clan and that she wants to release the Kyuubi!"

For a moment Chipmunk's heart seemed to stop. If the claims of the woman were true Konoha was only moments away from catastrophe. The village wouldn't survive a second Kyuubi attack.

"Stay here. Reinforcements are underway," she curtly instructed the woman before she ran at high speed into the orphanage. The chakra spike was still going strong and showed her the way through the unfamiliar corridors. She had to switch to running on the wall as more and more confused children that had been roused by the racket were spilling from their rooms. The ANBU's thoughts were whirling.

'_Kokawa-san is classified as trustworthy and such behavior is completely unexpected from her. There is a far stronger possibility that some enemy of the Leaf is impersonating or controlling her. I have to be prepared for everything. The backup will probably arrive too late to do much good. Shit, and here I hoped for a quiet night. _'

Finally she reached the stairway to the cellar and bounded down the steps. Chipmunk arrived in an anteroom with some doors leading in different directions. Some agitated orphanage workers stood in front of one of the doors in the room. One of them, a young well-muscled man, was holding his shoulder. He had apparently tried to batter down the door. All eyes focused on her as she came closer.

"Oh thank Kami you are here. Natsuko-sama and the boy are behind that door. We can hear her rambling and the boy screaming, but the screams have stopped a few moments ago."

Chipmunk motioned for silence and pressed her ear against the door she could hear a woman talking and the characteristic sounds of fists and metal hitting flesh.

"…killed all my family and won't even do anything to the murderers, but they will pay. And you will help me with my revenge little fox. Illusion: Sum of all Fears. Still not enough, eh? Then it's time for my strongest technique. How's that for a change. Secret technique: Illusion: Road to Madness. …"

That was bad. That was very bad. The child was obviously subjected to a horrible torture that would most certainly break or kill him, if it hadn't already judging by the lack of screams. Chipmunk didn't know if one could successfully free the Kyuubi by destroying the mind of the container, but a crazy jinchuuriki was bad enough. She had to do something, and quickly. For that she needed room. The caretakers looked at her expectantly.

Chipmunk immediately sent them away. The workers were civilians and would only get in her way. The door seemed to be made out of solid steel and was firmly anchored to the wall. Chipmunk desperately looked for a way in when inspiration hit her. The wall! It was made of old bricks and far weaker then the door. She had just the jutsu for such an opportunity. Quickly she made some hand signs and laid her hands against the wall.

"Lightning Release: Wall Breaker"

As a rectangular section of the wall roughly as high as she was began to glow Chipmunk removed her hands and hurriedly pressed herself against the wall a short distance beside the affected area. With a muffled bang and the crackling of electricity a section of the brick wall simply shattered, leaving a heap of debris on the floor. Before the dust had time to settle Chipmunk jumped through the newly created opening. After leaving the dust cloud she immediately took a defensive stance and tried to assess the situation.

The mangled body of the demon container was lying unmoving in heap in a spreading pool of his own blood. He had several deep wounds and Chipmunk wondered if there was a single intact bone in his broken body in which a kunai still stuck, driven to the hilt into the flesh. A person that looked like the matron of the orphanage and was the origin of the now declining chakra spike was even now standing over him and kicking at his still form. A strong smell of sake was originating from the figure, her hair was a tangled mess and her clothing was studded with wet looking spots and spatters of blood. She seemingly hadn't even noticed the entry of the ANBU and had continued rambling the entire time.

"Why, why, why won't you come out you damned fox? The boy's mind is shattered, his body broken, there's nothing in your way. … I have it; you too are on their side. Bet they bribed you to destroy my family, huh?"

Chipmunk didn't want to attack the person frontally, the possibility that it was a disguised enemy was somewhat reduced but still there. She drew one of her special poisoned shuriken and shouted "Cease your actions at once, you are under arrest for treason against Konoha."

The woman stopped kicking the child and turned around. Chipmunk had to stop herself from recoiling at the sight. Madness shone from eyes that were leaking tears in two streams, while her mouth was distorted into the grotesque mockery of a grin. Strands of spittle were dripping from the woman's mouth and spasms constantly shook her body mixed with some blend of sobs and crazy laughter. Just as the figure had completed her turn, the chakra spike vanished. The woman clutched her breast, stopped breathing and simply keeled over soundlessly, landing on her face.

The ANBU operative blinked behind her mask, but nonetheless launched her poisoned shuriken into the apparent corpse. The poison was a very special mixture that spread almost immediately through the body and caused a complete muscle lockup. It was non-lethal as long as the antidote was administered within twenty minutes. After that time the lung and heart locked up too, killing the victim. The madwoman seemed dead, but Chipmunk wasn't in the mood for taking chances.

She hurried over to the tiny body and sharply sucked in her breath when she got a closer look at the damage, only to let it out as she detected a very faint heartbeat and shallow breathing. A normal child suffering from these injuries would be long gone, but somehow the boy clung to his young life. Puncture and slash wounds covered the body, and she could see the broken bones under his skin. His face was injured to such a degree that it appeared as a single large bruise. Wasting no time she immediately began applying first aid.

Then she felt it. It was the same terrifying feeling from a little more than three years ago that still caused her the occasional nightmare, but it was almost undetectable from any sort of distance. The earlier chakra spike from the woman had completely masked it, and even now she had to almost touch the boy to feel it. A miniscule trickle of the Kyuubi's chakra was constantly released by the boy. If she looked very hard she could see tiny motes of red light dancing in the wounds. Even as she frantically worked to stop the flow of blood she noticed one of the many scratches sealing itself shut. Some of the deeper wounds seemed shallower as well when she got around to treating them. Apparently the demon tried to keep its host alive.

It seemed an eternity until her backup of six ANBU operatives arrived. Without interrupting her work Chipmunk quickly informed them of all that happened. Two of the new arrivals proceeded to secure the corpse of the woman while the medic Badger had already joined her in the effort the save the container's life. One stood guard and the other two left the room after a short survey to keep unwelcome witnesses away. During their work they heard every now and again wet popping and scrunching sounds when something inside the boy's body tried to fix itself. Finally they had him stabilized enough to risk transport. A quick genjutsu later to prevent onlookers from identifying the victim they left the room in direction of Konoha's hospital.

Chipmunk planned to get very drunk as soon as she finished her report and got off-duty. She had seen a lot of things in her career she rather wanted to forget, but the deliberate, cruel torture of such a young child took a prominent place in the gallery of atrocities she had witnessed, right beside the things she had glimpsed in one of the traitor Orochimaru's laboratories. How was it that this crap always happened in Konoha? Weren't they supposed to be the good guys?

* * *

><p>Organized thought had long become impossible for Naruto due to the intense pain that pervaded his body and mind. When the pain entered one of the periodic lulls memories bubbled to the surface. He had been woken in the middle of the night by the matron and told to follow her. The lady didn't seem very well, rambled about some stuff he didn't understand and smelled strongly like cleaning supplies, but he had been too tired to question her. Naruto had followed her sleepily through empty corridors into the cellar. Underway they had met some patrolling caretakers that seemed surprised to see them. The matron had sent them away, but one had followed them. They had entered a room with no exits and the matron had closed and barred the door right in front of the nose of the man.<p>

That was when it had begun. The lady had done something strange with her hands and suddenly he couldn't move. Some pretty colored light had become visible around the matron. Then the pain had started. He didn't have any clear memories, but times when something rummaged painfully in his skull alternated with physical pain. Vague feelings of terror and fear and other emotions remained.

Then the lull was over and the pain started again. Something seemed to poke sharply and painfully right into his head. Finally something gave way under the overwhelming onslaught, and Naruto's young mind shattered.

The sounds of the world became faint and distant, only a vague feeling of unease remained. He was cold, so cold. He was falling. There was a cool wetness around him. Had he fallen into a puddle? Somebody scooped him up, carrying him away. Finally, the darkness claimed him, and he felt no more.


	3. Chapter 2: A dream come true

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 2: A dream come true**

Chipmunk was standing in a slightly uncomfortable silence before the Hokage. She had just finished giving her report of the orphanage incident and was waiting for the aged leader to react in some way. Beside her stood three people, or in one case sat on a comfortable chair, all connected in some way to the Uzumaki case. Two of the people she had expected, but the last one's presence was a surprise to her.

Kenchi Yakushi, Konaha's Chief Medical Officer. No surprise here, he was the man responsible for Naruto after his delivery to the hospital.

The ANBU Raven, the leader of ANBU's crime scene investigation unit. He had overseen the inquiry in the orphanage.

Izumi Yamanaka, the perhaps best mind healer in all the elemental nations and the only one of them allowed to use a chair.

Izumi's presence was surprising because she had retired decades ago due to her advanced age and nowadays rarely left her home in the Yamanaka clan compound. She was decades older than even the Hokage and one of the last living witnesses of Konoha's founding. In her youth she had been a fabled beauty who could beguile even the most steadfast shinobi and samurai. Even after her youth had fled she had been legendary for her skill in the Yamanaka mind arts. Today she was a shrunken, wrinkled and very frail shadow of the woman she had once been, but Chipmunk could still see remnants of the elegance she had once radiated according to the stories.

After her retirement from active duty she had used her talents mainly in a healing capacity. After all, a shinobi village produced quite a number of people with mental scars. After many years of service she had completely withdrawn from the public after the second shinobi war, and even the third war and the Kyuubi attack had only caused her to look at a few of the most difficult cases. Almost no one even knew that she was still alive. Chipmunk only knew of her because she had written an essay regarding Konoha's history of medic-nins during her academy time. To get her to examine the Uzumaki boy must have cost the Hokage quite a few favors.

Finally the Hokage spoke up. "What is the current status of Naruto, Yakushi-san?"

"Uzumaki-san is stable, thanks to the timely first aid. His wounds are healing at an astounding rate and don't seem to leave scars. If he continues to heal at this rate, he will be in perfect physical health in two days time. We detected an increased level of the Kyuubi's chakra in his system, but that seems connected to the healing process. On the negative side, he is comatose and no prognosis can be made if and when he will wake up, or if his sanity will still be intact." the man reported. "The seal seems unchanged, but we have no expert available who understands its intricacies."

"Thank you, Yakushi-san. My own opinion is that the seal is completely undamaged, but an expert will have a look at it sometime next week. Yamanaka-dono, what is your diagnosis of Naruto's mental state?" the Hokage asked.

"Difficult to say. When I tried to delve into him the boy's mind had closed itself completely. To tell more I would have to use brute force to break the shell his mind has retreated into, but that would do irremediable damage. I found signs of heavy damage and severe trauma in the few parts I could get a look at. The person who did this to the child succeeded in breaking his coherent self by using a non-replicable mix of physical torture and unstable high-level genjutsu. No signs of mental contamination by the Kyuubi, so the seal is still intact in that regard."

"Is there anything we can do to help him?"

"The only thing we can do is wait. He will either wake, or he will not. There is no telling what might be left of his mind. If he is lucky he will suppress or completely lose the memories from the attack and regain full functionality. Children have astoundingly flexible minds. There is nothing else I can do until that time."

The Hokage nodded. "I thank you for your efforts, Yamanaka-dono. You have my gratitude."

Izumi waved him off and slowly stood. "It does these old bones good to do some work from time to time. I'll take my leave now. You may call me again when the boy wakes." Her face twisted into a toothless grin. "It won't even cost you any future favors, young man, though I do like my men young."

All occupants of the office stared at her retreating form in shock. It didn't happen every day that a sixty year old was called a young man, or that a woman nearing one hundred years of age implied sexual favors. After the silently chuckling Yamanaka elder had left the office everyone got back to business.

"What conclusions have you reached regarding the incident, Raven?"

"We have verified that the dead body indeed belonged to Natsuko Kokawa. Evidence found in her office suggests that she almost snapped upon receiving the message of the death of her last living relative. Somehow she learned of our response to the suspected perpetrators. The perceived lack of retribution on our part drove her over the edge into insanity. She blamed Konoha for the death of her clan and planned to release the Kyuubi to destroy the village. For that purpose she subjected Uzumaki-san to a combination of physical torture and mental attacks by way of genjutsu to allow the Kyuubi to take over. The reported jutsu names are incongruent with the evidence the chakra sensor on the investigation team found. After consulting her file and allowing for the results of the autopsy it seems she voluntarily opened the inner chakra gates in an uncontrolled fashion to allow her the use of chakra and boost her skills. The resulting genjutsu bore only a passing similarity to the nominal techniques because of random power fluctuations. The injuries on Uzumaki-san's part have already been reported. The earliest injuries were inflicted to cause the maximum of pain but do little actual damage. The later injuries were inflicted with an increasing sloppiness, until it degenerated into a senseless beating. Kokawa-san died after the boost from the opening of the gates subsided. The attack is the first attempt of violence against Uzumaki-san since the initial rush immediately after the sealing. There is neither proof nor indication of the involvement of any third parties." replied the ANBU captain in a monotonous voice.

The Hokage closed his eyes and was silent for a while, obviously pondering on the best course of action. After about five minutes he opened his eyes. "I hereby declare the events surrounding the attack on Naruto Uzumaki an A-ranked village secret. No mention is ever to be made to parties not aware of the true circumstances. Raven, please see to it that the orphanage workers are informed of this. The cover story for the workers is that an unknown shinobi attacked Kokawa-san and controlled her to capture Naruto. She managed to resist and was killed. The perpetrator committed suicide when ANBU arrived. I want to be immediately informed of any changes in status of Naruto. Dismissed."

* * *

><p>Naruto's fractured mind was drifting between somewhere between sleep and reality. He didn't seem to be able to concentrate on his surroundings or move, nor could he follow a strain of thought to its end before it dissolved. His thoughts emerged less common and dissolved earlier as time went by. A voice – or were it two? – were drifting in and out of his focus, but he couldn't even grasp the meaning of the words that were understandable.<p>

"…completely unforeseen. What…"

"…too early…not ready…"

"…mind fracturing further…damned seal…interference…"

"…can't…help him?"

"…need…foundation…extreme measures…consequences…"

"…do it."

The incoherent mess that was once the mind of a young boy named Naruto Uzumaki felt something alien reach deep inside of it. The next moment, everything went dark.

* * *

><p>He drifted in blissful nothingness with no sense of self or time, no memories and not even much of a mind in general. Only a steady beat was his constant companion, that and a feeling of all-encompassing warmth. On some day that changed, he was suddenly pushed around and squeezed through something narrow. Where during his previous existence he was completely weightless, he now felt far too heavy to move. He was lying on a hard surface and covered by something slimy. Something rough and wet was licking him all over, and then he was embedded in some soft, warm fur that wrapped tightly around him. He felt secure. A scent filled his nose that he began to associate with one concept: <em>Mother<em>.

He had no sense of time, alternating between sleeping and eating. When he grew hungry he only had to squirm around a bit and find a teat on his mother's body to suckle some delicious milk. From time to time his mother would lick him with her tongue. It tickled. Sometimes another scent would join them, different from his mother, but somehow similar. Additional exotic scents clung to the visitor. Another concept engraved itself in his developing mind: _Father_.

One day he found himself alone in his home. His mother was gone, and he quickly began to feel cold and frightened. He pressed himself against the relatively warm ground to preserve what little warmth he had. Suddenly his mother was back, and he was once again nestled in his warm, soft, furry heaven. Everything was well again. In the following time mother left him again several times, but he got increasingly better at dealing with it.

A persistent itch somewhere on his head marked the day the world changed for him. For the first time, he opened his eyes as well as his ears and saw and heard. He was in a sizable burrow with several tunnels leading away. Dim light shone through some of them, faintly illuminating his surroundings. His mother was a great mass of fur coiled around him.

In the following days he began to explore the world around him. At first he had a hard time walking around on his shaky legs, but he got steadily better. He also saw his father for the first time when he brought some dead interesting-smelling animal for his mother to eat. The leavings of the meal tasted yummy as he licked them. He began to play with his parents, jumping on them, wrangling and trying to catch their tails. With time, he grew bolder in his wanderings through the tunnels and even cautiously approached one of the exits to the surface, only to be carried back by his vigilant mother.

As soon as his teeth grew he began to chew on everything, or at least he tried. The attempts to chew on his parents' tails or other body parts earned him some bops on his head. He began to eat more and more of the prey his parents brought home, sampling all the different tastes. Worms, insects, mice, hares, bunnies and different birds all enriched his diet. Fluffy bunnies, yum-yum!

Finally, the time to leave the burrow for the first time came. Chaperoned by his parents he left the dark tunnels and entered the bright surface world. The burrow entrance was located on a hillside hidden behind some bushes. A glade opened before them, surrounded by high trees. The most impressive things he noticed were the hundred different colors. In the gloom of the cave it had been impossible to differentiate them, but here it was different. Flowers of all colors were gently swaying in the afternoon breeze under a blue sky dotted with white clouds, the air was rich with thousands of scents and the noises of unknown animals reverberated throughout the clearing.

He also got a good look at his parents. His mother sported a deep red-gold fur, while a silvery gleam ran through the dark pelt of his father on his every movement, making it very difficult to pinpoint the actual color. It seemed to be black, grey or even pure silver, depending at which angle one looked. In contrast to his parents his own fur was a bright yellowish color. Soon a butterfly captured his attention as it settled itself squarely on his nose before taking to the air again. Not wanting to let the little insect get away with that display of blatant disrespect he bounded after it to catch it between his paws.

Quickly he lost track of his surroundings in his pursuit and missed a step, causing him to tumble down the hillside and face first into a stand of flowers. The resulting cloud of pollen made him sneeze several times and enabled the infamous butterfly to get away. After shaking his head to free it from the loose pollen he returned to his parent's side who had watched him in amusement. Sometime later he began to feel tired and was escorted back into the tunnels, but not before his father had caught a tasty mouse and shared it with them.

In the following days and nights the trips to the outside grew longer. Sometimes both his parents would leave for a while, but it didn't frighten him anymore. He began to accompany them on their trips, learning to hunt and move silently. After a while he had the feeling that he could survive on his own, but still preferred to stick to his parents. Finally they signaled him to go along with them when they intended to leave the burrow for good.

It was time to move on, and he eagerly followed his parents into the darkness of the night.

* * *

><p>It was warm and he didn't hurt anymore. These were Naruto's first impressions as his mind rose from the darkness, a strange dream about foxes fading from his consciousness. He still was very tired and wasn't fully awake. A smell like a summer day in the woods filled his nose. Not wanting to open his eyes, he squirmed a bit around. Under him was something incredibly soft that radiated warmth, on his back he felt two weights that had tightened slightly when he shifted his position. His bed rose and fell rhythmically, as if it was breathing softly.<p>

'_It's like someone is holding me. This must be a dream.' _he thought sleepily, '_No one has ever held me like this. But it feels good. I just hope the dream lasts a little longer…just a little longer… '_ He snuggled closer to whatever it was and let sleep take him once again. The thing he missed was a soft female voice speaking: "Sleep and heal my little one, you aren't alone anymore."

* * *

><p>After the words faded away only the soft breathing of the child and woman remained. The woman was sitting seemingly on thin air in an endless expanse made of formless shadow. No ground, no sky and no objects were visible, just darkness all around.<p>

An indeterminate amount of time passed before some of the shadows grew denser before parting, thereby uncovering a third figure. The man, and it looked like a man, approached the pair. He took a seat in the nothingness directly besides the woman and put his left arm around her body.

"Is it done?" asked the female.

The man nodded. "Yes. Even now his mind is slowly reintegrating. It was more difficult than anticipated. The seal was rooted far more strongly in his mind than I expected. I had to completely isolate it from his mental processes by creating a false mind bubble around it. It almost triggered some contingency functions several times."

"But he is safe now?"

"From the influence of the seal? Perfectly. I will have to study it more; the pressure it exerted on the boy's mind was peculiar. Aside from the fact that it fractured his damaged mind even more and would have destroyed him completely in the end, there is something suspicious about it. There is simply no reason for a demon imprisoning seal to have that many connections into the container's mind. Unfortunately I don't know anything about fuinjutsu to discern the true purpose; I will have to observe the effects it has on the false mind to determine the basics."

The man noticed that Naruto had begun to drool and pulled a tissue from nowhere to wipe the boy's mouth.

"What of the plan? Can we still salvage it?"

Chuckling mirthlessly the man replied. "Love, the plan is so far off the tracks that it's only worth is that of a thought exercise. It is no longer viable. The timing and manner of the attack was most unfortunate, especially because I didn't foresee anything like it. Our transformation process was incomplete when Naruto's mind was shattered. We were simply not ready to brace the waking world, and the loss of his mind would have caused the seal to collapse. Combined with what I had to do to save us all, he is now tightly bound to us, especially to you. If I tried to leave this realm and go into the real world, I would pull you with me. That in turn would violently rip the seal to pieces. You would suffer injuries that might take more than a century to heal, but Naruto would be completely obliterated."

The woman tightened her grip around the boy. "Never! I will not let harm come to the child." Suddenly she seemed to realize something. "Why do I feel so much for the boy? Before, he was only my jailor. I hoped to never see him again, but now it's different. Now I want to see him happy, watch him grow up and never be really separated from him."

"The answer to that is very easy. You love him like a son. In a sense you are his mother, as I am his father. He will probably never remember, but you gave birth to the new him in a very real sense in that small fox burrow. The foundation of his mind was shattered, and had to be replaced by a new sense of self. The connection with foxes we picked up was the best way for that. We couldn't simply graft one of our own countless memories onto him, the… format isn't really compatible. Maturation as a human would have taken too long and would make the reintegration more complicated. A small part of both of us is now ingrained into him, but aside from that he will be pretty much like before."

He sighed before continuing. "For all the power we have and how high we tower about the mortals, it is still possible for beings like us to form emotional bonds. It is a sign of humility I decided to keep. Additionally, I noticed the boy was very lonely when I made my improvements to his mind. The fragments of his mind practically jumped at us when he felt our closeness. Prying them away would only have done more damage."

"Improvements?" She narrowed her eyes. "What have you done to him?"

The man was quick to defend himself. "I was already busy with repairing his mind, making a few improvements was only logical. Nothing major." A sly glint entered his eyes. "Besides, don't think I didn't notice what you did to his body when you healed it."

Now it was the female's turn to look embarrassed. "Well, what's done is done. What do we do now?"

"The boy still needs time to fully heal. We keep him here as long as we can. In the meantime we'll have to develop a new plan. One thing is certain; we won't get out of here anytime soon."

The woman sniffed. "This place is not fit to bring up a child. We'll have to redecorate."

"I agree. The best way is to start small and comfortable. We can introduce him to our more… unconventional aspects as soon as he is ready."

"What should we let him call us?"

"Just pick some names at random, it won't matter in the end. Now, let's begin with the redecoration."

With these words, color spread outwards from the pair. Grass covered the formerly non-existent ground, a blue sky appeared and trees shot up and grew to monumental size in seconds.

A whole new world was building itself.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke to the smell of cooking. He felt weak like never before in his life. It was exhausting to even turn his head. Slowly he tried to make sense of his situation. The last thing he clearly remembered was following the matron of the orphanage through empty corridors in the middle of the night. After that everything was blank apart from a dream of someone holding him.<p>

Currently he was lying in the most comfortable bed he had ever experienced. Whatever it was that he was lying on was very soft, and the blanket covering him was thick and fluffy. With a supreme effort of will he forced his eyes open. His current bed was almost triple the size of the orphanage cot. It was located in a middle-sized alcove with wooden walls. He could see a wardrobe and several empty shelves. The alcove opened to a larger room. A fur curtain served as partition, but it was currently drawn open. From his limited perspective he could only see a large table and a window in the far wall behind it. Sounds he associated with a kitchen and the humming of a woman could be heard, but their origin remained out of his field of view.

He tried to call the unknown person, but instead of the expected shout only a dry cough came out of his mouth. Only now he noticed that his throat was completely parched. Apparently the cough was loud enough to gain the attention of the person in the room, because the humming as well as the other sounds stopped. A short time later the most beautiful woman Naruto had ever seen came into view.

She was clad in a simple and modest brown dress with an apron that nonetheless distinctly displayed her ample curves. Curiously she wore no shoes. A thick mane of red-gold hair that fell to her slim waist framed a lightly tanned face from which ruby eyes examined him with concern. With a few quick steps she stood besides his bed and bent down to him. Because she was so close, Naruto could clearly smell her scent. It was the same one he had dreamt of. Before he could do anything with this insight, the woman began to speak and interrupted his line of thought.

"You are awake, good. How do you feel?" she asked Naruto in a concerned voice.

He tried to answer, but only a dry cough came out.

"Do you want something to drink?"

Naruto managed a weak nod.

"Wait a moment, I'll be right back."

With that she stood and left, only to return a short time later with a wooden cup and a pitcher in her hands.

"Drink slowly." she told him when she placed the cup at his lips.

Upon tasting the wonderfully cool water Naruto soon disregarded the warning and began to gulp down the water as fast as he could. Predictably he choked when he tried to breathe and drink at the same time. The resulting coughing fit sprayed water all over him and onto the woman. Naruto cringed internally. When something similar happened in the orphanage he was always shouted at and punished. Instead of the expected outburst, the woman simply put the cup down upon the floor, produced a piece of cloth from her apron and proceeded to gently clean first Naruto and then herself.

"Be more careful, little one. There is enough water for you to drink, no need to be hasty. Do you want some more?" the woman mildly admonished him while wiping his face.

Seeing Naruto's nod, she filled the cup once again and held it to his lips. This time Naruto heeded the warning, and after emptying an additional cup of water he felt much better. Deciding to test his voice, he rattled off a series of questions.

"What happened? Who are you? Where am I?"

The woman chuckled. "You may call me Youko, and you're in the home belonging to me and my mate." Her expression grew serious. "You have been badly hurt, and we took care of you."

"What about the orphanage?" Naruto asked.

Youko stroked his cheek with one hand. The action was totally unexpected for Naruto, but the accompanying feeling was so good that he leaned into the hand. "Don't think about them now, first you have to get better. Sleep for now, I will bring you something to eat as soon as it is ready."

Suddenly Naruto noticed how tired he had become. The short conversation had already drained his meager endurance, and he went out like a light. An indeterminable time later he was disturbed in his sleep when Youko shook him gently awake. She had seated herself on a stool on the side of his bed with a plate of steaming soup in her lap and fastened a piece of cloth as bib around his throat. The smell alone made his mouth water. The woman used her breath to carefully cool down the soup one spoon at a time before feeding it to him.

It tasted nothing like anything he had ever eaten before. The food in the orphanage was bland at best, on most days they got some unappetizing gruel made from rice and some vegetables or a thin soup with hard bread. The soup he was now eating belonged to a whole different world of food. For one, he could actually see the pieces of vegetables floating in the soup, even if he couldn't identify them. A dozen different herbs contributed to the unique aroma. Naruto was shocked when he bit on a piece of meat. Actual meat! They got meat perhaps one time per month in the orphanage, and his portion was usually stolen by the other children. All too soon his stomach was full and the plate empty. As Youko began to remove the bib and plate, Naruto was already fast asleep.

The morning sun shone through the window when he woke again. Feeling a bodily need, he tried to get up. With some difficulty he managed to free himself from the blanket. That was the first time he noticed he was only wearing a very long nightgown. Where had his clothes gone? Shoving thoughts about his wardrobe to the side for the moment, he swung his legs out of the bed and tried to stand. Finally he stood on his own feet. He managed to take three shaky steps until the room began to spin rapidly. Losing his balance, he fell against the wall before sliding to the floor.

Apparently he had made enough noise to be noticed by Youko, who hurried to the source of the disturbance. Upon seeing Naruto sitting on the floor intact she shook her head. "You know, you can call me if you need something." She was about to carry Naruto back to his bed when he regained his senses enough to say something like "I need to go to the potty". Youko stopped in her tracks.

"Oh. Then I guess I'll have to show you the way."

She shifted her grip so that Naruto rested safely against her shoulder before carrying him out of the room. Due to his dizziness he didn't really remembered much of the way to the bathroom. After taking care of his sanitary needs he was carried back to his bed. He was relieved to be able to lie down again. Youko left him for a few minutes to fetch breakfast. It consisted of some freshly baked bread, tea and a curious yellow translucent substance. Naruto watched as she cut off a slice and smeared the yellow goo on it before pressing it into his hand.

For a moment he eyed the slice warily, but hunger got the better of him. After his first bite he stared at the slice in wonder before devouring the rest. He looked at the smiling woman.

"Sweet."

Youko chuckled. "That's honey, Naruto. One of the many things you can find in the woods if you know where to look."

Soon he was fully sated and reclined in the bed. Youko left him, but he could hear her working. He felt somewhat tired, but not enough to go back to sleep. Instead he tried to think about his situation.

Obviously he had been badly hurt even if he didn't remember it; his current weakness was a sure sign of that. Naruto would have expected to be taken to the hospital as had happened a few times in the past, but perhaps he had already been released. They didn't like him in the hospital. But how had he ended up in the house of the nice woman? Nobody was ever nice to him, apart from the old man that had visited him a few times. Some of the caretakers were less hostile than others, but never friendly. Perhaps they were overcrowded and he had been sent here to heal completely before returning to the orphanage.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the opening and closing of a door. A figure passed his field of view too quickly for him to make out any details. He could hear a conversation in a low tone, but the words were too indistinct to pick up. Shortly after the conversation ended, a man entered Naruto's alcove and seated himself on the vacant stool. As far as Naruto was able to see the stranger was completely clad in leather. Boots, trousers and a vest were all made from animal hide in different shades of brown. A pale clear-cut face with short-cropped black hair showed a friendly expression. Pale yellow eyes examined him for a moment before the man began to speak.

"Hello young man, my name is Daiki and I'm glad to finally see you awake. I have a little something for you."

With these words, he produced a fox doll from behind his back and held it out to Naruto. The doll was surprisingly lifelike and made from a combination of cloth, leather and fur. Naruto stared at it for a long moment. He had never owned any real toys in his life, only the random stuff he managed to pick up.

"For me?" he asked in a disbelieving voice.

Daiki nodded. "It is yours. Go on, take it."

With a feeling of awe he carefully took the doll from the man's hand. After the doll made no move to suddenly disappear Naruto hugged it close to his chest. It was really ideally suited for intensive cuddling. With tears in his eyes he looked up to the man who sported a smile.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"It was no trouble. Every child should have something like that." he said and stood up. "Get better soon, young man."

When he left the alcove the man was joined by Youko who had watched the exchange with a soft smile. Naruto felt very happy and very confused at the same time. People who were nice to him and even gave him presents were a totally new experience. They even smiled at him. Nobody did that. Naruto fell asleep before he could organize his confused thoughts, his new fox doll clutched tightly in his arms.

* * *

><p>It was two days later when he was finally well enough to leave his bed. In addition to a shorter shirt he wore now some trousers from the same material as Youko's dress. He was still unsteady on his legs and couldn't stand on his own for more than a minute, but he was slowly getting better. Most times he was seated in a chair and watched Youko go about her household chores. Daiki was away most of the time on some unspecified business, but when he returned he would often bring plants and meat with him. Naruto hardly felt any boredom; it was too interesting to see the woman working. On the occasions when she left the house he played with his still unnamed toy or napped a bit. She always made conversation with him, when she didn't ask about his life or what he liked, she told him about herself and what she was doing. Apparently she and her husband lived alone in the forest and supported themselves through hunting and gathering.<p>

The room he saw the most of was the main room adjacent to his alcove. A wooden table with several chairs stood in the middle of the room, while a large stone fireplace took up most of the space of one wall. A stone workbench and several cupboards that held tableware and cooking supplies occupied another wall. Multiple furs covered the floor and empty spaces on the walls. Two windows let light into the room, but Naruto couldn't see through them because they were made of parchment. A large heap of soft furs a short distance from the fireplace was often used by the couple to relax for some time in the evenings. The room had four doors. One led to the outside, one to the couple's bedroom, the third to a storage area and the last to a passageway where some firewood was kept. The other end of the passageway led to the bathroom.

Unless they specifically heated water on the fire the running water that was somehow funneled to the bathroom and to a small basin in the stone bench was very cold, but Naruto was no stranger to cold water. He was in fact very surprised when the water was heated for him. Naruto was still too weak to wash himself properly, but Youko had apparently no problems to do it for him. It had been a long time since someone had bothered. The caretakers had stopped since he was barely capable of doing it himself. It was somewhat embarrassing, but very nice on the other hand. The caretakers had always scrubbed him almost raw, but Youko was much gentler.

The first time he was able to eat without help was embarrassing in a different manner. He was wolfing down the food as fast as he could, when Youko cleared her throat and asked him if he always ate like that. Her tone of voice made it clear that she obviously disapproved.

Naruto looked up from the food with a questioning expression. What was wrong with eating as fast as he could? The main thing was that the food landed in his belly before someone could steal it. When he said as much Youko made a face.

"We have to work on that. Nobody here is going to steal your food; there is more than enough for all of us. You can't really savor the taste if you gobble it down as fast as you can."

Thus began a series of lessons in basic table manners.

"Close your mouth while you chew." "No talking with a full mouth." "Chew carefully before you swallow." "Don't play with your food."

Naruto had problems at first because nobody had ever bothered with teaching him that sort of stuff, but Youko was patient. Luckily his bad habits hadn't had the time to become ingrained too strongly, and soon enough his eating behavior had improved to Youko's satisfaction.

Five days after he had first woken the pair judged him healthy enough to leave the house for the first time. Naruto had spend entire weeks within the walls of the orphanage without seeing the outside once, meaning he hadn't actually thought of pushing for leaving the house himself. He didn't want to do anything that might upset the nice couple. Because he was still unsteady on his feet Daiki picked him up and carried him out of the door.

At first Naruto was blinded by the bright light, but as soon as his eyes adjusted he took in his surroundings. The house they had just left had a roofed front porch with a bench. He could see a large wooden shed and the entrance to an underground building. Grass covered the ground between the buildings except for a few well-worn paths, and he could see the edge of a forest a few dozen meters away. As he was carried around, he noticed that the dense forest bordered the cottage on two sides, while lush meadows stretched into the distance on the other two sides. There were no animals, but a carefully kept small kitchen garden was located beside the cottage. A small brook originated from a rocky knoll behind the cottage. Some of the water was artfully diverted into the house by wooden constructs. It was totally different from what Naruto had seen inside the village. Normally there were always people around, but not here. It was… peaceful. The air was fresh instead of saturated with human smells, and the noise of the village was totally absent.

"Now, what do you think about our home, young man?"

"It's great! What's in there?" Naruto asked while pointing to the shed and the door.

"That's my workspace for stuff that is to messy to do inside the main house, and that door leads to a storage house. I'll show them to you another time."

"What do you do for work?"

"Well, I mostly hunt in the woods for meat and hides and gather edible plants on the way. Youko normally accompanies me or leaves on her own, but since you are with us she mostly stays at the house. The few things we can't get ourselves we swap the valuable pelts and herbs for."

Naruto was carried around a bit more until they stopped at a field of flowers a short distance from the house. After being set on a blanket that Youko had carried with her, Naruto examined the flowers from a close distance. They were much larger and more colorful than the few flowers he had seen in the village. When he bent forward to better catch the smell of an especially beautiful flower he overbalanced and fell face-first into the field. Nothing serious happened aside from a sneezing fit from all the stirred up pollen.

'_Why do I have the feeling this has happened before?_'

He felt himself picked up by strong arms. Youko and Daiki sat side by side and put him on top of their touching legs. It was quite comfortable for Naruto. He leant back against the warm bodies of the couple and simply relaxed while watching the wind play with the grass. It didn't take long and he was fast asleep.

* * *

><p>In the following days he became steadily more mobile, though he rarely left the watchful gaze of Youko for any length of time. One day a cauldron of stew was cooking above the fire. Naruto was alone in the room, for Youko had left to gather some ingredients from the storeroom. He was already hungry, and the stew smelled so delicious that he simply couldn't resist although he had been told to stay away from her cooking utensils. He stood before the cauldron and was about to grip the rim of the big black cauldron when his hand was forcefully slapped away.<p>

It hurt. When he looked up, he saw Youko with a furious expression. She had never been angry with him and had never hurt him. Had she only acted as if she liked him? Tears began to well in his eyes when he suddenly found himself enveloped in a hug.

"What were you thinking? You could have hurt yourself."

Naruto blinked. It sounded almost as if the woman was about to cry. And she wasn't angry with him because he tried to get at the food, but because he could have hurt himself?

"I only wanted to taste the stew. I would have stayed away from the fire and cooled the soup down before eating." he said.

Youko ended the embrace and looked into his eyes.

"You don't understand how you would have hurt yourself, do you?"

Upon seeing Naruto's blank look she sighed.

"I have to show you. Don't touch anything and watch closely."

Youko picked up one of the strings of raw meat that she had prepared for later and showed it to Naruto.

"That piece of meat is like your finger. Now watch what happens."

With these words she let the meat touch the cauldron at the same spot where Naruto's hand would have. Immediately a sizzling sound started. A short time later Youko removed the meat and showed it to Naruto. It was obvious that it had been barbecued, with some spots torn off because they stuck to the cauldron.

"That would have been your hand, and trust me, burn wounds hurt a lot. It isn't just the fire and the soup that are hot. The fire heats the cauldron, and the cauldron in turn heats the soup."

Naruto gulped. "I'm sorry."

Youko embraced him again. "It's alright, little one. Please listen to me or Daiki in the future. We have always a reason when we forbid you from doing something."

He only nodded. This was only the most recent in a string of new experiences for him. At no time in his life had somebody actually cared about his wellbeing and taken the time to explain things to him. In the ten days he had stayed with Youko and Daiki his vocabulary and understanding of the world had already expanded massively. Bit by bit he began to completely trust the couple.

* * *

><p><em>A woman with wild hair was standing above him. She formed strange signs with her hands, and the world dissolved into a jumble of colors. Monsters emerged, biting and scratching him. He screamed. A burning pain started in his arm, and the woman was back with a knife in her hand. She gibbered incoherently while drool dripped from her mouth. Again she made some signs, and he was surrounded by insects that stung him all over. A hard impact hit him, and he could feel something inside of him break. The woman was back again, and her knife came closer and clo…<em>

Naruto woke screaming in the middle of the night in his sweat-drenched bed. Youko held his body while Daiki had his arms in a tight grip. As soon as he saw that Naruto was awake, he immediately let go. Terror from the dream and relief that it was only a dream flooded Naruto, and he began to cry.

"Hush little one, you are safe." Youko whispered while cradling him in her arms.

It took a long time for Naruto to calm himself. The couple took him to their own bedroom, and huddled against the warm body of Youko he was finally able to sleep again. The next morning after breakfast the three sat together at the table.

"Naruto, we have to talk about last night."

"NO!" Naruto didn't want to talk about the dream, he wanted desperately to forget.

Youko took his hand into hers. "Please, little one. It's important. Please tell us what you saw."

He didn't really want to, but couldn't resist the pleading in the end. After he finished with his recollection the pair shared worried glances.

Daiki sighed. "It wasn't a dream, it was a memory."

"What?" Naruto didn't understand.

"The woman you saw was the orphanage matron. I don't know why, but she went mad and wanted to hurt you. And she did, very badly in fact. You have suppressed most of the memories, but they are still there. I can do something about them, but you have to let me. Do you trust me?"

That was a difficult question. Did he trust them? Normally he trusted nobody, but these two people had been nothing but nice to him the entire time he was with them. Yes, for the first time in his life he trusted some adults. "Yes, I do."

Daiki and Naruto sat face to face on the floor. The man took Naruto's head into his hands and began to hum in a deep tone. Something cool and soothing seemed to touch the insides of his head. The painful memories faded until he didn't remember the details anymore. Additional sets of torture bubbled up and were treated the same way. It took hours, but finally they had worked through all of his repressed memories. Naruto still remembered being hurt, but the details and the accompanying pain and emotions were gone. It felt like an invisible weight was lifted from his shoulders.

"There, that's done. Now, why don't we play a game of tag?"

Naruto tapped Daiki, shouted "You're it!" and ran out of the door.

"Why you little! I'll get you!"

* * *

><p>Days came and went, and Naruto began feeling truly at home. During the day he would help with some minor chores, watch Youko work or play with his toys or one of the adults. Aside from the fox Daiki had gifted him a number of wooden blocks that he used to build all sorts of structures. Every few days he would get a new small wooden carving in various shapes. At the moment he owned a bear, a boar, a wolf and a duck. In the evenings they sat together on the bench and watched the sun disappear beyond the horizon. Each night before he went to sleep Daiki or Youko would tell him a story. Most featured the adventures of some animals and conveyed a lesson about life. Naruto could hardly believe how good his life was now.<p>

One evening he was playing with his miniatures on the floor before the fireplace while Youko and Daiki reclined on the pile of furs. He reenacted the wolf attacking the duck a bit too enthusiastically, and the duck went flying into the room. With a slight shake of her head Youko stood and retrieved the figurine.

"Be a bit more careful, little one, otherwise the duck might fly away." she said when she gave the piece back to Naruto.

"Thank you, mommy."

Everyone froze and the adults looked at him with big eyes. Naruto realized what he had said and began to panic. The one time he had mistakenly called a caretaker mommy he had been unable to sit for the rest of the day because of the spanking that followed. Not to mention the other punishments. The nice couple would now surely send him away. Tears began to flow and he started to tremble. His panic attack was interrupted by a tight hug by Youko. Completely startled his mind went blank.

"Everything is alright, Naruto. Calm down!"

After a few moments in the embrace the panic began to subside. Feeling the boy relax, Youko loosened the embrace somewhat. Finally Naruto found his voice. "You're not mad?"

The woman loosened the embrace and looked at Naruto startled. "Why would I be mad? In fact, I would be honored if you call me mommy."

Naruto was shocked to the core. Someone actually wanted him? He had heard of adoption, even seen a few instances at the orphanage, but the few times he brought it up the caretakers only sneered at him. They said that nobody would ever want a brat like him. A new possibility entered his mind. He had witnessed one special event in the orphanage when the father of one girl showed up who had been presumed dead for months. It had been a very happy occasion as far as he could see before he was shooed away.

"Are you my mommy?"

Youko looked at him with incomprehension for a moment before she understood.

"You mean to ask if I'm the woman that gave originally birth to you?"

Seeing Naruto's nod, she shook her head.

"No, your original parents have been dead for years. Does that change anything for you?" she asked with an apprehensive expression.

Naruto thought for only a moment. His original parents were dead, that was not unexpected. They had left him long ago. That there was someone who actually wanted him however was surprising. He would not throw that away.

Now it was his turn to embrace the woman… no, his mother before him. Tears began to flow, but this time they were tears of joy.

"You're my mommy now and forever."

"Thank you… son."

The following embrace was interrupted when the third person present cleared his throat. Naruto and Youko looked up at Daiki who sported an expectant expression. Naruto had to think for a moment before he recognized what the problem was. Sometimes he really was an idiot.

"Want to join us… daddy?"

Daiki's face lit up with the brightest smile he had ever seen. The man left his seat and joined them in a group hug. Naruto became almost giddy with the emotions that bubbled inside him and that he felt from his new parents. This was the happiest day in his life. He had finally found a family.

* * *

><p>Naruto's face was crunched up in an expression of utmost concentration as he went on with his latest task, building the highest possible tower out of wooden blocks. He was currently out of free blocks and tried to remedy the situation by removing some of the already used blocks to add them on the top. The difficult part was doing that without the tower crashing down. Which had already happened today. Several times. His tiny hand hovered undecided over a block near the base of the tower. If he removed that one, then-<p>

"CUDDLE ATTACK!"

Naruto squealed in surprise when he was unexpectedly picked up from behind and squeezed hard. The squeals soon turned to laughter as he identified his assailant. "Daddy, you're back!"

Youko joined them in a three-way embrace and began to kiss Daiki passionately. Naruto didn't mind as long as he got his share of hugs. Kisses he could do without. In the time he had been with his new family he had learned a lot about different displays of affections. His mother was a very physical person, freely giving out embraces, caresses and kisses. Father was more reserved, but often carried him around on his shoulders. Naruto loved the high vantage point it gave him, the world seemed so much larger than from his usual earth-bound perspective.

His father had left several days ago to go for an extended hunting trip. Naruto had wanted to come along, but wasn't allowed to leave the area around the cottage. He had already explored the fringes of the forest, at first with Youko in tow. They had collected a lot of berries and other edible plants. Naruto had never known where food came from and how much was readily available. At the present time he was allowed to wander around on his own as long as long as he stayed in eyeshot of the house and didn't enter any area he was expressly forbidden from entering without company, like the storehouse or the workshop.

Mother's voice interrupted Naruto's musings. "How was your hunting, dear?"

"Not as good as I would have liked, the deer were hard to find. It took me a lot of time to track them down, but I managed to bag a capital stag in the end not even an hour from here. The carcass is outside; I have to cut it up soon."

Naruto inserted himself in the conversation. "Can I watch?"

"If you want. The work is rather unappetizing though, so I don't know if your stomach can take it."

"Sure I can!"

The dead animal was huge. In fact, it was so huge Naruto wondered how his father had managed to carry the thing back to the cottage_. 'He must be far stronger than he looks.'_ Naruto thought. The work was indeed bloody, and the smell did cause Naruto to feel somewhat nauseated from time to time, but he persevered. Step-by-step the animal was freed from its innards, a good deal of its blood and its hide. During the entire process Daiki lectured him about the possible uses of the animal part he was currently working on, the necessary techniques to process it and what things one should avoid doing. Most of it went beyond Naruto's understanding, but it was interesting nonetheless. Finally his father hung the carcass in an unused storeroom to cure the flesh for a few days. After a thorough scrubbing in the creek they returned inside the house.

Naruto listened with rapt attention when Daiki regaled them with a tale of his hunting exploits over their evening meal. From time to time Youko would add a tidbit or two. Apparently she liked to hunt as much as his father, but stayed at home because of Naruto. To his disappointment he was considered too young by both his parents to either accompany them on a hunt or stay alone for a longer time. According to his father it would be some time before he was ready.

Later in the night when Naruto was half asleep in his bed the animals from his father's tales still paraded around in his head. The contest of skill between hunter and hunted fascinated him. Some day he too would be a great hunter.

* * *

><p>Months had passed, and Naruto couldn't be happier. He had a loving family and was learning tons of interesting stuff like what plants and animals were edible and which were not, how to survive for a time if he found himself alone in the woods and even basic cooking and household skills. Although he wasn't absolutely sure, he thought that his memory and learning capability was much better than before. On the other hand nobody had taken the time to teach him anything in the past, so how should he know what his normal rate of learning was? Either way, his vocabulary and ability to form longer and more complicated sentences had improved dramatically. Furthermore, it was easier to grasp more complex concepts, and his thoughts seemed somehow clearer.<p>

His parents had finally taken him along on a trip into the deep woods. Youko had donned leather clothing similar to his father's for the journey. It was odd to see his mother without her customary dress, but it was infinitely more practical wear for the forest where twigs and branches could easily get entangled in loose clothing. When Naruto couldn't keep up on his short legs, his parent took turns in carrying him. During their journey they pointed out interesting plant or animals.

"Look over there, this moss is good to staunch the flow of blood from scrapes and wounds."

"The bark of that tree can be used to brew a tea that eases headaches."

"These tracks were made by a pack of wolves. It's normally better to avoid them, but these are already over a week old."

At midday they made a break on a beautiful clearing. It was surrounded by large old trees and filled with lots and lots of colorful flowers. He had a vague feeling of familiarity, but nothing definite came to mind. When they sat down to eat their provisions they observed several rabbits playing in the grass. Naruto tried to catch some of them, but the animals were far better runners than him. Soon enough they were on the way again.

The trip was more exhausting than Naruto had believed, but they reached their destination when the sun neared the horizon. Before them stretched a large lake with the other side barely visible. They made camp in a small natural cave in a hillside overlooking the lake. Naturally, the entire process of settling in was accompanied by lessons.

"If you make camp mind bodies of water choose the place carefully. They can often swell unexpectedly, even if that applies more to rivers than lakes. Take the high ground, and make sure you have a free way to escape should the waters rise."

They ate some fish that Youko had caught and went to sleep. Cuddled between the bodies of his parents Naruto felt warm and safe. On the next morning a new adventure for Naruto began: He was taught swimming, though it was more in the line of staying afloat than regular swimming. The unusual part even in comparison with the last months was the amount of direct skin-to-skin contact the splashing around involved. His parents had brought only one set of clothing, and they didn't want for it to get wet. It led to a series of questions about their bodies, but they were answered effortlessly. The question about clothing in general was far trickier.

"Clothing is useful for protection against the elements and changing one's appearance, but it's often more a question of social customs and not necessity what and how much one has to wear. There are certainly a lot of situations where different kinds of clothing are appropriate. We are completely alone here, so why should we hide our bodies if we don't have to? Animals most certainly don't do it, and the human body is nothing fundamentally different. Never be ashamed of your body, but take what the people around you consider appropriate into consideration."

After they finished playing in the water and let the sun dry them, his parents got to work. They took turns in catching fish and gutting them. Naruto helped by hanging the gutted fish on an improvised frame to dry them in the sun. In the evening they sat on the edge of the lake and watched the sun set. The family stayed at the lake for several days until his parents judged that they had caught enough fish for the foreseeable future. Heavily loaded they returned home, and Naruto got to know a variety of different fish dishes in addition to his usual diet of game and plants.

* * *

><p>"Naruto, we have to talk to you about something."<p>

He looked up from his current occupation (fighting a battle between the miniatures of different woodland creatures of which he had a veritable army by this time) with a questioning gaze. His father was sitting on the floor besides him, while his mother was standing on the other side of him.

"The most important thing first: Regardless of what will happen next, we will always love you. The truth is, we aren't human, we are something very different."

Naruto was shocked. "What do you mean you aren't human? You look normal."

"It's easier to show you. Watch."

His father's entire form seemed to ripple before it was replaced by a large fox sporting black fur with silvery reflexes. It sat on his haunches and calmly watched Naruto with eyes the same color like his father's, even if these were slitted.

"Daddy?"

The fox nodded. Naruto carefully stretched his arm and scratched the head of the fox. He turned around and saw his mother replaced by an equally large fox with red-gold fur that was slowly approaching him.

"Mommy?"

In answer to his question Naruto got his face full of a long wet tongue. It tickled so much he couldn't suppress a giggle. Taking that as incentive his father began licking his face too, what in turn increased Naruto's laughter. It soon evolved into a wrestling match between one boy and two foxes. After Naruto had tired himself sufficiently out the three were lying before the fireplace. Youko was dozing and used as a pillow by Naruto. His father was lying across from him and watching him attentively. To his surprise the silvery fox began speaking.

"You're surprisingly calm, son. Doesn't it bother you that we aren't human?"

"Don't care. You're my mommy and daddy. Your shape doesn't matter. But how do you do it?"

"Magic."

"Magic? What is magic?"

"Magic is the power to shape reality. The humans of your world can't use it, but we have a rather large amount. It is part of what we are. I might teach it to you sometime in the future. There is a lot more to it, and to us, but we will reveal it to you when you're ready."

"Oh. OK." He gave a large yawn. "'m tired. Goodnight."

In the following time his parents spent more time in their fox forms around him. It was odd at first, but soon it made no difference to him. They were foxes mostly when they did something outdoors for which it was more practical, but doing work in the household would have been difficult without hands. The most fun he had when they let him ride on their backs in fox-form and took him out to the fields. The wind in his face, the landscape slipping away, it all served to create a feeling of freedom he had never known before.

* * *

><p>Naruto would have wished for this happy state of affairs to continue indefinitely, but it was not to be. One day Youko asked him to join them for an important conversation. Naruto followed her into the house to the table with a feeling of dread. He knew very well the one thing his parents had always avoided speaking of. His father opened the conversation with a serious expression.<p>

"Naruto, you have to go back soon."

Naruto immediately began to tear up. "No, I don't wanna leave you."

"Son, it is not that we want you to leave, but there are reasons why you have to. Very important reasons." Daiki said with a sigh.

"Why? Why are you sending me away?" Naruto asked.

"It's complicated. You have been with us for a long time. Did you notice that in the entire time you didn't grow even the tiniest bit? Today you look exactly like you did when you woke the first time in our home." Youko said.

Naruto's face scrunched up in thought. It was indeed true. But at the same time it couldn't be right. One didn't simply stop growing for no reason.

Upon seeing Naruto's realization, Youko continued with her explanation. "I don't know how much you will understand from my explanation, but I will try. You already know that I and my mate aren't human. The fact is this entire world is not real. Your body is not really here, it just seems that way. Since the orphanage incident your real body has been in the Konoha hospital, but your mind has been here."

"This is all a dream?" Naruto asked with trepidation.

"No. Daiki and I are real, even if the world around us is not. You were gravely injured, and we created it for you to recover. This world lies on the edge of dreams. We can control it to a large degree, but it is a prison for us at the same time. If you stay here too long, your body will become sick and die. Your mind will follow, because it can't exist without a body. We won't be parted for long though. After a few days you will be able to visit us again, but it won't be for as long as now. Do you understand?"

In fact, Naruto did understand. He was injured, they created a dream world to protect him, but he couldn't stay here forever. They weren't sending him away; it was just a temporal absence.

"How long have I been here?" he asked.

"Time flows differently here and in the waking world. You have spent more than a year with us, but on the outside only a few weeks have passed. In the future virtually no time will pass when you visit us, but the visits will have to be much shorter. People would become suspicious if your body becomes regularly comatose, and I don't think you want to leave the other children in the orphanage alone with your body when you can't fight back," his father explained.

At that Naruto had to suppress a shudder. He remembered only too well the cruelty of the other children.

"There is one more thing, and it is important. Tell no one, and I mean absolutely no one, about us or what happened to you. If they hear about us they will try to prevent you from meeting us ever again. Simply say you don't remember what happened since the woman fetched you from her room. Your father made it so that nobody will be able to tell that you didn't tell them the truth. The old man you know from the orphanage will probably visit you. We don't trust him. Act like you always have towards him. Arouse no suspicion." Youko instructed him.

"Just bear with it for seven days, son. That is the earliest possible time you can visit us again. You will feel a darkness trying to pull you down. Don't resist it, it is our way of transporting your mind here."

Sleep was evading Naruto for a long time that night. Youko held him close the entire time and Daiki told stories. Finally, his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Slowly the world swam into focus. He was lying in a relative comfortable bed that was a far cry from his little cot in the orphanage and was staring at a white ceiling. The room he was in was otherwise empty besides a chair and a locker. It looked pretty much like a standard hospital room he had seen when he had broken his arm when he was two years old. Naruto tried to sort his memories; the long time spent with his new parents was clearly there, but the events from the orphanage were equally fresh in his mind.<p>

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

Two men with painted face masks seemed to appear from thin air. Naruto had seen them occasionally when the old man visited the orphanage. The larger man turned towards the other and said in a commanding voice "Newt, go and notify the Hokage immediately that Uzumaki-san is awake. "

The man with the newt mask nodded and hurriedly left the room through the door. The other man made no move to answer Naruto, so the boy asked again.

"Why am I here? What happened?"

"Your questions will be answered in time. You were brought to the hospital after you were injured. Now please wait for Hokage-sama to arrive."

It wasn't long before the robe-clad old man and an unknown but very old woman arrived. He knew the old man from before. He was the only one that visited him occasionally and was nice to him, but he was also the one his parents had warned him against.

"Hello Naruto. How do you feel?"

"Hello old man. I'm fine. What happened? Why am I here?" Naruto asked.

The old man shared a look with the woman before answering. "You have been very ill for a long time. Yamanaka-dono here is a special doctor. She will examine you, all right?"

"Sure, old man."

After shifting the chair to his bedside, the old woman sat down.

"Hello Naruto, my name is Izumi Yamanaka. What is the last thing you remember?"

Remembering the words of his parents, Naruto made a thoughtful face. "I think… I was going to sleep. It was a pretty normal day. I ate some gruel that evening." He looked at the woman. "That's all."

Again the old lady and the old man shared a look before she turned back to face him.

"I will have to examine you. It might feel a little weird for a moment."

The old lady leaned close to him and made some rapid signs with her hands before touching his forehead. Naruto felt a very strange sensation. It was as if his mind had split in two. The real him was buried under another him that was slightly different. He could feel something touch the false him and poke around. After a while the sensation ended, and he couldn't feel the second mind any more.

"Thank you, child. I have to talk with Hokage-sama for a few minutes, we will be right back."

They left the room for a few minutes, but Naruto could still hear some parts of the conversation. He twiddled his thumbs while pretending he didn't hear anything. "…seems completely recovered…tells the truth…found no memory of the attack." "…sure? Can we send him ba…" "…able to leave the hospital today…shouldn't cause problems." Soon enough, the old man reentered the room.

"It seems the doctor says you are completely healthy. You should be able to return to your home today. Aren't you glad to meet your friends again?"

Naruto got a pleading look in his eyes. "Please don't send me back there. All the people there are mean to me."

"Now, now, Naruto, I'm sure it can't be that bad. I'm sorry, but you can't stay here, and there is no other place for you to go. I'll take you back later today."

True to his word, the Hokage walked him back to the orphanage himself after some other doctors had checked him over. After a short conversation with the new matron he was sent to his old room. The next few days in the orphanage were some of the worst of his short live. The staff was cold to him as ever, if a tad more hostile than before. They didn't know anything specific, but everyone connected him with the death of the well-liked orphanage matron. The other children picked up on this and increased their own bullying when they weren't ignoring him. But the worst thing was the transition from a warm, loving environment to this cold hell. Before he had longed for a family, even if he didn't exactly knew what it was about. Now that he had experienced it, his bleak life in the orphanage was a hundred times worse. Each night he silently cried himself to sleep.

'_Just a few more days until I can go back._' he thought.

Another thing was different though, he had already lived considerably longer than the age of his body led everyone to believe. Even if it wasn't the normal growth process children went through because of the lack of physical development, Naruto understood far more what was happening around him than before. He noticed the whispers and hateful glares from the adults as well as their incitement of the bullies to make him a target. Even if he still didn't know why they hated him, he could now tell that is was not because of any actions he had taken. He would have to ask his parents about that.

Finally, on the seventh night when he once again laid awake he felt a comforting darkness wrap around his mind and pull him to another location. Naruto gladly gave in to the pull; he remembered his father's words to expect something like it. The next time he woke up he was again lying in his bed in the cottage, with his parents waiting at the bedside.


	4. Chapter 3: An unusual childhood

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 3: An unusual childhood**

The time after Naruto woke from his coma was an alternation of contrasts that couldn't be more different. A week in the orphanage was followed by approximately ten days with his parents in a steady rotation.

In the waking world practically nothing interesting happened. Naruto was generally isolated and bullied by the other children and treated with scorn and neglect that fell just short of outright abuse by the caretakers, but there was simply nothing to do for him other than live one uncomfortable day after another. It was impossible for him to leave the orphanage and do something productive. He would have loved nothing better than to shut it completely out, but his parents wouldn't let him. They forced him to retell each week to them in excruciating detail and prevented him from suppressing his memories. After some prodding by his parents he also paid more attention to the events around him. Youko and Daiki wanted to know what happened in the world, and he would try his best. Eavesdropping was surprisingly easy as almost everybody would ignore him provided he kept somewhat out of sight. Additionally, his hearing was more sensitive than before and kept slowly getting better.

Most of what he overheard was either completely mundane gossip or went completely over his head, but he reported it faithfully as detailed as he could remember. He managed to find two nuggets that interested his parents. Apparently during his time in the hospital some foreign shinobi had tried to abduct the young Hyuuga heiress and had been killed in the attempt. They had needed to execute and deliver the body of the Hyuuga who did the deed to avert a war. The other piece of news his parents found interesting was that certain trade goods were becoming increasingly rare. Naruto didn't really understood the significance of all this, but what made his parents happy made him happy too.

In the world of his parents things went much better. Loved and cared for, Naruto's time was spent with playing and learning things. He was a very inquisitive child, and his parents were only too pleased to provide him with answers. His education progressed to just short of the point where his body couldn't keep up with his mind. It was extraordinarily annoying to know all sorts of things but unable to do them, even if his body control was much better than a normal child of his apparent age.

Months passed and life was generally good (or bad, depending on his location). Then he thought to ask his parents a question after a particular fun afternoon spent playing tag and hide-and-seek in the meadows with his parents in fox form.

"What's it like to be a fox?"

"Well, it's hard to describe. You have really great hearing and a good sense of smell and some other stuff. Explanations don't really do it justice, you have to experience it."

"Can I be a fox too?"

His parents exchanged a glance before Youko spoke. "If you want to we can turn you into one for a time, little one. You can't do it yourself; you'd need to learn to use magic before that."

"Sure I want to."

"Well then, hold still for a moment."

Daiki's tail grew in size until it was large enough to completely wrap around Naruto who closed his eyes to prevent any hair getting into them. The change itself felt really strange, like his body was liquefying and flowing into a new form, but it was over almost immediately after it started. When he opened his eyes his perspective was much closer to the ground than before. His vision hardly changed, but his senses of smell and hearing were increased enormously. He could detect a lot of scents and noises he hadn't noticed a moment before. After taking a few careful steps to test his new four-legged form Naruto was surprised how easy it was, almost as if he already knew how to move. Soon the game of tag was resumed.

This transformation opened a whole new world for Naruto. His fox form was physically much more mature than his human body, and he was soon allowed into the nearby areas on his own. Instinct told him what to do, even if he could consciously disregard it. His first attempts at hunting were humiliating failures, but he soon figured out how to locate prey from the sounds it made and to judge the correct distance for a jumping attack. The first time he managed to catch a mouse on his own was immensely satisfying. Eating raw meat and insects was a bit icky at first, but he became accustomed to it after a while. From that point on, he spent a good deal of time as a fox. It also gave his parents something new to teach until his real body's development had caught up some more with his mental age.

This wasn't the only question with far-reaching consequences he asked.

* * *

><p>"I'm always bored. Can't you teach me anything I can do in the orphanage?"<p>

It had been more than a month since Naruto began spending time as a fox, and he still enjoyed it greatly. No, the problem was the waking world. The orphanage was just so boring. Eavesdropping on conversations and learning to be sneakier could only hold his attention for so long, and his breaking point was reached. There was only so much he could do if nobody wanted to talk or play with him, and he had become good enough at eavesdropping that it left him with a lot of free time on his hands.

Youko looked at him thoughtfully for a moment and answered his question with a counter question. "I think I have something for you, kit. Do you know what chakra is?"

Naruto shook his head. Since he began spending time as a fox himself his mother had taken to calling him kit. He supposed it was better than little one. He wasn't that little anymore.

"It's the energy shinobi use to get stronger, control the elements and do other things." she explained. "But in truth it is everywhere. Every living being produces chakra, and different forms can even be found in the non-living environment. It's a very powerful force that is composed of the energies of mind and body."

"Shinobi are the protectors of the village, aren't they? The Old Man often talks about them and the respect they get and how the village treats them as heroes; and how the Hokage has the most respect of all."

"That's a lot of half-truths."

"Half-truths?"

"Statements that are true, but important parts to get the correct picture are missing. What the Hokage said is not false, but misleading. It seems he wants to steer you in a particular direction. Play along, but never trust the man. Shinobi do indeed protect the village, but they do a lot other things, with some of them quite despicable. You don't get respect if you become Hokage, you need to already have it to get that position. Why anyone would want it I don't know, but let us return to the matter of chakra."

Youko held out her arm, and a red energy streaked with gold became visible around it. When she gestured in the direction of a loose stick at the other side of the clearing a tendril of the energy shot out, picked up the piece of wood and retreated back into her arm while depositing the stick into her hand. The stick held before her face, she breathed softly on it. Only instead of air a small stream of fire emerged from her mouth, setting the stick ablaze. She showed it to Naruto before dousing the fire with a small stream of water.

"Chakra can do a lot of things, but you need a lot of training to use it correctly. Only a fraction of all the humans in the world is even capable of utilizing it to any meaningful degree, and most of them become shinobi."

"Can you teach me to become a shinobi, mommy?"

His mother shook her head. "Sorry kit, but neither your father nor I know the details of shinobi training. We use chakra in an entirely different manner, but that is impossible to teach. You will probably learn that in a few years by visiting the shinobi academy." Seeing Naruto's dejected look she added "But we should be able to develop some exercises for you to do in the meantime that will give you an edge later. I'll have to talk with your father about it first, though."

"Thanks mommy."

Two weeks later Naruto was awaiting his first practical lesson about chakra. The time before had been spent with explanations and theory about the ethereal chakra system that permeated his body, the nodes from which chakra could be released into the external environment and what could be done with the chakra internally. He was sitting across from his parents in a clearing in the woods.

"Close your eyes and concentrate, kit, I will send some of my own chakra into you to help you draw on yours. Ready?"

Upon seeing Naruto's nod, a thin tendril of golden energy emerged from Youko's outstretched hand and made contact with Naruto's torso. At first nothing happened aside from a warm, comfortable feeling. Then Naruto felt it. It was a slight tug somewhere inside of him that he couldn't quite locate. After a few minutes the exercise ended.

"Did you manage to feel your chakra?"

"Yeah, I felt it, but couldn't quite get a hold." Naruto answered.

"That's no problem. You're very young to learn using your chakra, and we have a lot of time."

Over the next weeks, Naruto finally managed to learn some rudimentary control of his chakra. The exercises his parents had him do grew slowly more complex with time. At first he had simply to concentrate chakra in different areas of his body. His control of the internal chakra flow grew steadily better until he could even feel the individual major pathways. To his frustration he couldn't do any external chakra exercises in the real world for fear of being detected.

"Concentrate some of your chakra into a little ball in your body. Add more to it until you can feel it straining against the pathway. Just enough to be noticeable, if it grows uncomfortable immediately dissolve the ball. Now move the ball slowly around." Youko instructed. "Add more balls when you are confident that you can control them simultaneously. If you do that long enough your chakra capacity and control will grew enormously. You can also train the speed of forming and dissolving the balls. It should be possible to do that in the orphanage without anyone noticing as long as you don't expel the chakra."

"Yes mommy."

At first it was difficult to follow his mother's directions, but it soon got easier. It helped enormously that both his parents could sense exactly what he was doing with the chakra in his body. There were a lot of times in the orphanage when he simply had nothing better to do, and he used the time to train faithfully. It was better than staring at a wall.

* * *

><p>Naruto had just celebrated his fourth birthday with his parents when he thought to ask a question that had bothered him for quite some time.<p>

"Why does everyone hate me? I already asked the Old Man, but he said he didn't know."

Youko and Daiki looked at each other before his mother let out a heavy sigh. "I suppose it was only a matter of time for you to ask that question. It's partly because of me."

That confused the boy greatly. "I don't understand. You're so nice, and how do they even know of you?"

"Not to everyone, and certainly not before I met your father. Have you ever heard of the Yondaime Hokage?" Youko asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, the Old Man and the caretakers talk about him sometimes. They say he is a hero. One of the faces on the mountain belongs to him. He died after killing the giant demon fox Kyuubi."

"The Kyuubi wasn't killed, kit. Nothing a human can do can permanently destroy a tailed beast, of which the Kyuubi was the most powerful. No, it was merely sealed."

"What do you mean by 'sealed'?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Seals are a very advanced skill of shinobi. It's hard to explain, but they paint specific patterns onto an object and charge it with chakra. The most common applications are exploding tags, little strips of paper that can release their stored chakra in an explosion, and storage seals. They create an extra dimensional pocket to store things." Daiki explained.

"Extra dimenso what?"

"Let me show you. I'll be right back." Daiki left for a short time to retrieve a square bit of fabric from the storeroom. He showed it to Naruto. "See, it's a completely normal piece of cloth. Now watch this." The man fixed the fabric lying flat on the table with a stare while obviously concentrating. At first nothing happened, but then the surface of the fabric bulged downward. It seemed that the fabric now covered the bottom of a hole that was much deeper than the table was thick. It grew steadily deeper until Daiki relaxed his concentration. "You can touch it now, son."

Naruto didn't need further invitation. The hole was really deep; if he stuck his arm into it he could barely reach the bottom. When he moved the fabric he saw that the table was completely intact. He looked up to his parents. "That's strange."

Daiki chuckled. "That it is. But there are a few more things you have to see." With these words he picked the fabric up and spun it slowly around in his hands. One side had the hole, the other was completely straight. With the hole on the underside he put it on one of the cups of the table. The cup disappeared into the fabric without making any bulge on the upper side of the fabric. He turned the piece of cloth around, thereby showing that the cup was inside the pocket. "You see, this pocket doesn't really exist in the usual dimensions of length, width and height; it reaches into an extra direction. Storage seals do something different to create a similar effect. On the outside they have only the size of a scroll, but on the inside they can be much larger. They are used to comfortably transport items that are too big, or if there are too many of them."

"Back to the Yondaime Hokage, he was an expert in the sealing arts, and used that to imprison the Kyuubi. Like a storage scroll, but vastly more complicated. Now, the more powerful of the tailed beasts can't be contained by any random object, at least not for long. They have to be sealed into a human. Furthermore the shinobi villages began long ago to covet the power of the demons. The seals are not only meant to imprison, they enable the host to draw on the sealed beast's power. Humans marked in that way are called demon containers or jinchuuriki."

Naruto hung on his parents every word, but slowly a feeling of dread began to spread through him. Youko had obviously difficulties to continue, until Daki gave his wife's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Naruto… You are such a demon container. The containers are usually feared and despised by other humans, doubly so in your case because of the causalities caused by the Kyuubi's attack."

Naruto was stunned. It all fit together, the glares, the unjust punishments. But his mother had said that she was partly at fault. He came to the logical conclusion and asked "Are you… the Kyuubi?"

"I once was, but I'm different now. You can thank your father for that, he came to me and offered to change me. If it had been otherwise, it would have been impossible to meet you until many years in the future, and I fear it would not have been pleasant. I wasn't the friendliest being around."

Thoughts swirled chaotically in Naruto's mind, the most prominent among them '_Mommy is the Kyuubi'_. Even at his young age Naruto knew of the Kyuubi attack, not the least because it coincided with his birthday. The beast had caused severe losses among shinobi and civilians alike before the Yondaime defeated it. Defeated it by sealing it into him. It took the boy quite some time to come to grips with that revelation.

"Why did you attack Konoha?"

"I wasn't doing that of my own free will. At the time of the attack somebody else was controlling me, but to tell the truth, I may have tried to destroy Konoha anyway. In my defense, I feel that I have a legitimate grudge against the village. You weren't my first container; there have been two before you. Konoha has kept me imprisoned for more than half a century, most of the time in quite some pain, thereby earning my eternal hatred. Anyway, as soon as I regained control on that day I was already in heavy combat with the shinobi forces of the village and simply continued fighting until the Yondaime removed me from the immediate vicinity of the village and used his sealing technique."

"Why did he choose me?"

"He had his reasons, mostly bad ones we think." Tears that had threatened to fall now spilled from Youko's eyes. "Sorry, I need some time alone." she said before rushing out of the house.

Naruto was reeling from these revelations, but there still remained questions to be asked.

"Did you know my original parents? How did they die?"

Daiki shook his head. "I know of them, but never met them when they were alive. When I arrived in this world they were long dead. Youko did meet them, but bears them quite a lot of enmity. I must confess I too don't have a high opinion of them, not the last because of crimes they committed against you and Youko. The Old Man knows them too, even if he claims ignorance. They died for what they believed right, but I disagree. Your father might have lived if he had acted differently than he did, while your mother was already doomed before the attack got underway."

"Who were they? And what crimes?"

"Sorry son, but I don't think you're ready for this knowledge. The matter is complicated, and I don't want to tell you everything until you are old enough to understand it completely. You should be able to decide on your own if you can forgive them, not simply adopt our perhaps biased view. Can you accept that?"

Naruto was thinking hard. Daiki and Youko were always nice to him. Without them, he would be completely alone. The Old Man didn't count, he saw him perhaps one or two times a month, and he was lying about his original parents. So what if his mother was a monster, she was certainly nicer to him than the villagers. It wasn't that she asked to be sealed into him. He couldn't really fathom how long a decade was, but he too would be furious if he was imprisoned for such a long time. The days when he was confined to his tiny room in the orphanage were bad enough. It was only for a few years he was forced to live in there, and he certainly hated it with a passion. Memories of the long time with his foster parents came to the forefront of his mind. They had always acted in his best interest and loved him. Naruto gave that love right back. In short, he trusted Youko and Daiki. If they thought he wasn't ready for something he believed them.

"Yes, daddy, I'll wait until you think me ready."

Daiki smiled. "Thank you, son. You should talk with your mother; she feared you would hate her for her part in your mistreatment."

Naruto immediately headed out to follow Youko. He could never hate her. After he had assured her that all was well they went back inside. One additional question came to Naruto and he turned to his father.

"If mommy was the Kyuubi, what about you? You said earlier that you arrived in this world some time after the Kyuubi attack."

His father answered slowly, choosing each word with care. "That's right. I did not originally belong to this world, I came from… outside. My form was different from now, and I was in dire need of help. Youko provided that help, but it changed us both. Now we are the same and bonded for eternity. Does that answer your question?"

"I guess."

Daiki recognized that Naruto didn't sound very convinced. "Don't worry, when you're older I'll tell you more. Nothing will ever change the fact that we love you."

* * *

><p>Months came and went, and Naruto grew more adventurous. He explored more and more of the land of his parents as far as he could travel in the limited time he was with them and saw sights like none he had seen in the waking world. The woods seemed to have no end to them, but the other direction proved more fruitful. The meadows changed to sparsely vegetated grassy plains after about twenty kilometers and stretched far beyond the horizon. Enormous grey mountains rose from the ground, their peaks shrouded in clouds or covered in eternal snow. Even further away was an ocean. Naruto had been speechless the first time he saw it. It was an endless expanse of nothing but water.<p>

At the beginning of one of his visits things changed. His father wasn't present when he woke up.

"Where's daddy?"

"I'm not sure, kit. He said he was preparing a surprise, and we should come meet him at the sea shore as soon as you arrived."

"But that's almost a week of travel!"

"Hohoho, you underestimate your mother. You don't believe I can only turn into a tiny fox, do you?"

With these words, his mother transformed into a fox, but it was not her normal sized form. Instead she stood at a shoulder height of more than two meters, with nine long furry tails swishing through the air behind her.

"Hop on board, kit. I'll show you true speed."

One of the tails wrapped around Naruto and deposited him on Youko's back. As soon as she had verified that Naruto had a good hold, she started running. Naruto had always loved riding on his parents' backs, but this was an entirely new level. The trees were literally flying past and the wind threatened to pull him from his mother's back. He clutched her fur as tightly as he could while whooping loudly. They needed barely an hour to reach the mountain range where they made a short break.

As they continued in the direction of the ocean they came upon a wondrous sight. Large blocks of stone were carving themselves out of the mountainside, taking to the air and floating in a steady procession into the distance.

"Well, it seems your father is pulling out all the stops. What you see is a mighty display of magic." Somehow, his mother sounded annoyed.

Naruto only stared in wonder at the impressive sight. The blocks were gigantic, and they were floating in the same direction they were going. Following the trail, Youko and Naruto came upon the ocean. The land ended in steep cliffs more than a hundred meters above the water, but the blocks of stone continued moving quite a distance onto the open sea before forming a colossal vortex.

In the middle of the vortex Daiki stood on a piece of hovering rock, conducting the chaotic dance around him. With a swish of his arm hundreds of blocks were directed to their locations. At first it seemed as if they were simply plunging into the ocean, but soon enough the foundations of whatever he was building rose from the raging sea. Stone piled on stone, and the structure grew. Towers and walls took shape and formed a large castle above the waves. Windows and doorways appeared in the massive stone. At last a bridge emerged from the stones under the main entrance and elongated until it touched the ground immediately before Youko's front paws.

When the doors opened Youko took the obvious invitation and crossed the bridge while Naruto was still staring impressed at the castle. From some of his parents' talk and stories he had gathered that magic was powerful, but this? Wow, simply wow. After entering the castle they passed through a long corridor with colorful tapestries. Most showed only abstract symbols, but some displayed figures doing obviously magic stuff like conjuring creatures or controlling the weather.

Finally they reached a grand hall decorated with strange devices where Daiki awaited them. In contrast to his normal attire he was clad in flowing blue and grey robes.

"Welcome you two, I assume you got a good view of the creation of the castle?"

"Hi daddy. I saw everything. That was great." Naruto shouted before he dismounted and ran to his father to hug him.

"Hello dear. I concur that it was impressive, but I would like an explanation what this is all about." Youko said, gesturing with some of her tails to the surrounding castle.

"Well, you remember that we decided that Naruto was ready to learn more about magic? I thought his lessons needed a more sophisticated environment and the right atmosphere. A castle or tower is just the thing for that. The sight was spectacular, was it not?"

"It certainly was, but I would prefer to be informed beforehand if you plan something like this." Youko said in a dangerous tone.

His father was apparently oblivious to his mother's bad mood. "Ah, but then it wouldn't have been a surprise. Now come along, I'll show you something even more impressing."

When he turned around while Youko grumbled in the background he winked to Naruto, indicating that he was aware of Youko's mood but simply found it funny to tease her. After some wandering through different hall- and stairways Daiki led them to a balcony overlooking the ocean. A stiff breeze was blowing, but with a wave of his father's hand the wind subsided. He struck a lecturing pose.

"I will begin with a general lesson. We told you that this world wasn't completely real, but I don't think you really understand how much that means. I control this world completely. The building of this little castle, while certainly impressive, is nothing in comparison. Now watch while I use my phenomenal cosmic powers to change the landscape to my every whim."

Outwardly, his father wasn't doing anything, but something changed. The ocean… wasn't blue anymore. In fact, it wasn't even an ocean anymore. Where moments before waves had crashed against the shore an endless expanse of yellow sand stretched to the horizon. Seconds later, grass began to grow and trees sprouted until lightly wooded grasslands took the place of the desert only to be replaced by a swamp. Spires of rock rose from the ground, only to crumble and form an expanse of rolling hills. Then the sky began to change color. After it had cycled through all seven colors of the rainbow the sky shifted to black while the sunlight faded.

Stars of all colors appeared and formed figures that began to reenact the stories that his parents had told him on so many evenings. Naruto spied the master wizard who was betrayed by his apprentice and killed in a shape shifting duel, the dragon who was slain by thieves that coveted his treasure and many more. All too soon in his opinion the show ended. After everything had returned to its normal color as well as shape and the ocean was back, Daiki bowed.

Naruto clapped his hands in applause. "Wow, that was so cool. Can I learn to do that too?"

"Perhaps one day. You have to learn to walk before you run. Now for some simpler stuff we should better go indoors."

A walk through the castle later they entered a mid-sized room with some comfortable furniture and full of strange stuff like staffs, crystal balls and amulets. After they had taken their seats, or in Youko's case lied down on a massive couch, Daiki proceeded with his lecture.

"Now I'll show you some tricks that are much easier and require far less power. They are examples what the magic of humans in other worlds looks like. I already told you that magic is the power to reshape reality, but the manner to access it can be very different and sometimes even ridiculous."

His father then muttered something in a language Naruto didn't understand, and a lump of ore appeared on the formerly empty table. Following that he took a piece of chalk to draw a circle with some symbols around the rock. When he pressed his palms on the table the ore changed with a flash of light to a pile of gold coins.

Daiki took a long staff into his hand and hummed four notes. Each note evoked a glint of colored light from the staff. When the last note faded away, the gold was surrounded by a blue and gold glimmering light, obscuring his vision. After it cleared the gold had turned into straw.

Naruto couldn't believe his ears at first when his father began to sing a quite childish song about basket-weaving. His amusement faded when he noticed that the individual straw stalks began to dance and interweave in time with the music. After a short time they had formed a perfect replica of a cup. Daiki stopped singing and now waved his hands around in exaggerated gestures, upon which the replica turned into a real porcelain cup.

The cup morphed into a real live rat when his father tapped the cup with a short stick and said some words that Naruto didn't understand. Squealing, the rat tried to escape but was hit by a stream of sparkles upon which it turned into a bunny. The bunny managed to almost reach the door before his father pointed a finger at it and a thin green beam shot out towards the fleeing animal. Only a fine trace of dust remained.

Meanwhile, Naruto had stars in his eyes when he imagined doing the bunny trick to some of the meaner children in the orphanage. After he noticed that the show was over he turned to his father.

"That was great. You said this was an easier display, does that mean I can learn that quickly?"

"Certainly, if you invest enough effort. You won't be able to use it in the outside world though." Naruto's shoulders fell as his dream of the bunny revenge was shattered. "The magic of each world is different, and we don't know the correct way to access it there. Beings like your mother and I produce our own magic in large quantities, meaning we could simply wish for something to happen, push a lot of power into it and reap the results, but things won't work the same way for you. For that little display of human magic I had to change the underlying functioning of this world each time to accommodate for the different structure of magic. Surely you noticed how I didn't have to make silly gestures or use tools to make the changes outside happen. Depending on how things truly are in the outside world you may have to use something similar to these tools."

Youko cut in. "That leads to the next thing we want you to do. To learn what makes the world tick and precisely what the status of magic is. Your father can look out of your eyes for a short time when you visit us, but we need privacy for that. There might be some noticable sideeffects. You'll have to convince the Hokage somehow to allow you to live on your own. It's a long-term project, so don't rush things."

"Sure mommy."

Youko stood from her resting place and stretched before changing into human form. "I say we return to the cottage for a while. I don't find this castle very comfortable."

Daiki shrugged. "If you want. It's mostly empty anyway."

The three walked leisurely out of the castle before Youko stopped them. "It's getting late. I say we take the direct way home."

"Direct way?" Naruto asked.

"Just come along, you'll see."

They continued walking seemingly at the same pace for a few minutes, but suddenly Naruto noticed that they had already reached the mountainside that his father had used as quarry. Before he could understand how it was possible to traverse a distance that his mother had needed almost half an hour at a full run for they were already walking on the plains. Naruto tried to pay careful attention to the surroundings, but again they were amidst the meadows without him noticing the change. Soon enough the familiar cottage came into sight.

"How did we get here so quickly? Normally it would take a week, and we were walking even slower than normal."

Youko simply answered "Magic."

"Oh, come on. How did you do it?"

"Well, we could tell you, but that would take all the fun out of it. I give you a hint: It's not really anything you do, but the right mindset. Furthermore, it will only work in this world because your father set it up. Figure it out yourself; it is a test how far you've come. "

His father objected to that. "I don't think he will be ready for that for quite a while. Shelve that riddle for a while, son, and try again when you have more experience. You can't solve everything right away. No, we'll better start with a few basics. Even if the magic is different from world to world, there are a few principles that apply in most…"

In this manner Naruto's training in magic started, or at least the beginnings thereof. Mostly it consisted of meditating and facing strange things which were clearly not natural and were sometimes painful to look at. He also learned techniques to suppress and purge memories, keep his mind flexible and other mental exercises. His time was now split between general education, wilderness survival and hunting skills, chakra training, magic instruction and of course play time, even if the last one steadily decreased as he got older and could handle more and longer instruction.

* * *

><p>Naruto felt content and at peace for the first time in a long while. At least while he was in the waking world, at the edge of dreams he could get all the peace he wanted. No more hateful caretakers and bullies to contend with daily. It had taken far too long for his liking, but finally he had his own apartment. Normally no five year old would be allowed to live on his own, but the Hokage had finally caved when Naruto had arranged for him to witness some of the frequent abuse he suffered at the hands of the other orphans and the caretakers. And by a whole lot of begging and pleading. He simply had convinced the old man to secretly observe him during dinner time. It had been really easy to arrange the abuse to be a bit more extreme than usual.<p>

He getting a smaller portion than everyone else and the other orphans trying to steal his food were quite normal, but he had chosen his seating position in the relative vicinity of one of the greater bullies of the orphanage on purpose. The idiot couldn't resist the temptation to get a few slaps and shoves in, but this time Naruto had caused it to escalate into a full-blown beating by refusing to give up his meal and some innocuous sounding remarks that pushed all the buttons of the bully. After the caretakers broke up the scuffle Naruto's assertions of innocence were ignored as usual and he was sent to his room without food. That continued for several meals and different bullies. Sometime later the Hokage had finally relented and took him from the orphanage. The old geezer probably expected Naruto to need help very soon and would use that to send him back, but he was determined to keep his newfound freedom.

Naruto's three room apartment was not much to look at, but sufficient for his current needs. It had a combined cooking/living area, a bathroom and a bedroom. The building was located in one of the poorer areas of the village, and if Naruto was any judge it would soon lose a lot of tenants that wouldn't want to continue living in the same house as him. For now he was just lying on his bed and enjoying the silence and solitude. Relative solitude at last, there was still a hidden ANBU sticking to the ceiling in his living room. The woman was quite well hidden and Naruto would have overlooked her if it was not for his sensitive nose and acute sense of hearing.

While both were a far cry from what he had at his disposal as a fox, they were apparently much better than the human average. It had taken quite a while before he even realized that, it wasn't a thing that normally came up in the limited conversations he had with the caretakers or other children. Additionally he possessed an improved night vision which was quite useful even if he still needed some light to see.

Whatever technique the ANBU used to hide her presence, it didn't manage to completely suppress her smell and some small noises when she shifted her position. Naruto was content to let her stay without revealing he knew about her, her presence was expected. He supposed it would be some months before the Hokage would withdraw his close ANBU guard after he proved he could live on his own and no one tried to harm him.

As soon as he was unobserved he could finally get some training in and explore the village and its surroundings. He really looked forward to wandering in the forest. His guard detail and the Old Man would notice that he was mature for his age, but hopefully write it off to his unpleasant upbringing. For now he was content to lay low and work on his internal chakra exercises.

'_Only three days until I can see mommy and daddy again._' he thought before going to sleep.

* * *

><p>The ANBU Chipmunk invisibly followed her assigned charge as the boy made his way through the streets of Konoha. It had been a surprise to her that the child she had saved more than two years ago had been allowed his own apartment. In the normal run of events orphans left the orphanage permanently only when they were adopted or reached the age of seven when most began working in a job, or at least began their training. Some select few went to the academy to become shinobi. She had expected for the jinchuuriki to be enrolled as early as possible, but that was still some time off. Nowadays most children started the academy at seven or more commonly at eight years of age.<p>

Anyways, the Hokage had decided to remove Uzumaki from the orphanage and provided an apartment. Naturally he had assigned an around-the-clock ANBU guard to watch over the child and protect him from possible attacks. Chipmunk was one of the ANBU who had been saddled with the job, not that she was complaining. It was light duty, and she could use a break. Her performance wasn't what it once was, and she knew her retirement was drawing near. A few too many life-and-death fights had left her with a constant ache in her joints that the medics couldn't quite cure. She planned to retire from ninja life entirely and move with her husband-to-be who would likewise retire to the capital of Fire Country. There they would open a civilian business with the nest egg they had accumulated and start a family, occasionally providing Konoha with interesting tidbits of intelligence that came their way. None of them had any relations left and they both had learned far too much about Konoha's dark secrets during their careers to want to stay in the village. Besides, she didn't want any of her children to become shinobi. That occupation had far too many hazards for her liking, and she wanted to die surrounded by a complete family of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in her old age.

Back to her current assignment, the boy was surprisingly mature in how he went about his life. Uzumaki seemed aware of his surroundings, avoided dangerous situations and generally was much more advanced than expected. The reports from the orphanage had painted the picture of a notorious troublemaker, but Chipmunk and her colleagues were seeing none of this. Instead the boy managed to competently take care of himself, even if the villagers gave him a lot of trouble. Most shops kicked him out, and unfortunately she couldn't do anything about it. The civilian council had managed years ago to pass a law that allowed shopkeepers the right to refuse doing business with any non-shinobi they didn't like. It wasn't even directed against Uzumaki, no, the law had been in effect much longer than the boy was alive. It was originally a measure intended to make life difficult for a particular group of new merchants that wanted to do their business in Konoha outside of the established trading protocols and families. As it didn't really affect the shinobi side nobody had opposed it at the time, and it had practically seen no use since then. The few merchants that did business with Uzumaki generally charged outrageous rates and sold him only sub-standard wares, but as in the first case they were allowed to do that. Prices were a matter of haggling, after all. The Sandaime was theoretically able to do something about the problem, but was apparently unwilling to spend the necessary political capital when it was required for other matters he deemed more important.

Chipmunk was somewhat sympathetic to the boy, but was simply too emotionally jaded to do anything about it. Guarding him was her job, not parenting. And if she was honest with herself, she too wouldn't want a jinchuuriki around her if it wasn't absolutely unavoidable. In spite of those difficulties, the boy got on with his life. He collected some edible plants from Konoha's green areas to add to his diet and was perfectly capable to cook a meal out of them. That had come as no small surprise, and when the Sandaime questioned the boy he said simply that he had often snuck into the orphanage kitchens to grab something to eat when he was denied food and learned to cook by observation. Other than that he had found a ramen stand whose owners were friendly to him, and after the Sandaime visited the stand a few times business lost because of Uzumaki's presence balanced with business gained because of the Hokage's patronage.

If she was any judge the ANBU detail would soon be reassigned. Uzumaki had shown in the last three months that he was perfectly capable of staying out of trouble, and the ANBU were needed elsewhere. There were always too few ANBU operatives to go around, and the four per day delegated to the guard duty posed a small but noticeable drain on ANBU's manpower. She would have to request retirement sooner than anticipated as she didn't really feel up to returning to heavier duty.

* * *

><p>Naruto was cautiously optimistic when the ANBU guarding him left and wasn't replaced for several weeks. Their constant presence had irritated him to no end, but he couldn't even acknowledge their existence without revealing his increased senses. Now that they didn't watch his every step he could act with much more freedom. He still wasn't able to enact one of the more compromising plans as there was no telling when the Old Man would choose to spy on him with his crystal ball. It only happened at random intervals, but he noticed the forming chakra connection of the technique at least once per week. When he felt it at first in the orphanage he hadn't known what it was, but a visit to the Hokage's office solved that puzzle. The Old Man had believed Naruto asleep and used his crystal ball to spy on some people. After that event Naruto had connected the dots.<p>

The spying of the Hokage was annoying, especially because he didn't know if the man had truly his best interests at heart or if it was all an act. Heck, the Old Man could even genuinely care for him but still make decisions that ended up hurting him, either knowingly for the greater good of Konoha, or unknowingly because he wasn't completely aware of all the problems and the consequences of his decisions. Unfortunately there was no way to tell, so Naruto had no choice but to treat the man as a potential enemy and only pretend that he saw him as a grandfather figure. He would really like to have people he could trust besides his parents. The closest thing to friends he had were the owners of the ramen stand he had discovered about a month after leaving the orphanage.

Most people tried to ignore him completely or were actually uninterested in his existence, while a few sent him hateful glares each time he ventured into the village. He had made a conscious effort of finding shops that were willing to deal with him. Most civilian shopkeepers refused to service him, either from genuine dislike or from the fear they would lose customers if it was discovered that the village pariah frequented their shop. Naruto had made careful note of which merchants were willing to deal with him at all, and which dealt fairly. It was a depressingly small number, but at last he had all his basic needs covered at an affordable price even if some of those shops had been quite hard to find. Combined with the gathering of the edible plants that a child could reasonably learn of in the orphanage it relieved the burden on his stipend quite handily.

The shinobi shopkeepers were generally indifferent to him, but practically all their stores dealt in goods they either wouldn't sell to a five year old that didn't even visited the academy or that were only of marginal interest to him. He still hadn't visited all shops in Konoha because he didn't want to let his minders get the idea that he was performing a systematic search. That would be definitely too much intelligence on part of a biologically five-and-a-half year old kid. Which meant he had to disguise his efforts as effectively random wanderings through the village.

On one such exploration tour of Konoha he had happened upon the ramen stand of Teuchi and his daughter Ayame who treated him well. The girl was about five years older than him and apparently found him very cute. After that initial meeting Naruto visited their stand one time per week and had become one of their best regular customers after making sure that the Hokage visited them too as often as possible to compensate for the loss of business due to his presence. Ramen had quickly become one of his favorite foods even if he preferred a more varied diet. His mother's lessons about dietary requirements of a growing boy had stuck, and he didn't want to risk the ire of his parents when they found out he didn't eat enough varied food. The threat of his father to make every food he ate taste like cardboard was enough of an incentive.

That was another thing he had noticed since he left the orphanage. Now that he could eat as much as he wanted, or rather how much he could gather and afford, a formerly constant pull on his mother's chakra had virtually disappeared. It proved that he had been somewhat malnourished before and had needed the extra chakra to stay healthy. The four months of full meals had done wonders for him, and he was now a bit above average in size for his age group when he had been on the small side before. In addition, he had found that his stamina was shooting through the roof and promptly used it in the limited physical training he could do at his age. He wasn't about to turn into a combat monster anytime soon, but he was definitely on the high end of his peers. As Naruto didn't know any taijutsu styles he aimed for a balanced training that would leave him all options open for later in his life.

Currently he was rummaging through the discarded products behind a store. Even if he could buy the necessities, it was much cheaper to pick up free stuff. He planned to create a disguise that would allow him to move more freely, but he still needed some makeup to make it work. The dumb whisker marks on his face would make it otherwise too easy to identify him. He knew shinobi used a technique to assume the forms of other people, but he didn't know enough to replicate it. Besides, he was pretty sure the shopkeepers employed some measures for detecting such a disguise. Otherwise it would have been far too easy for academy students to cheat their way through the shops.

With a glance at the sun he determined it was time to return home. Even if most people seemed content with ignoring him he didn't want to run into some drunks that had their inhibitions lowered by alcohol. That would change as soon as he was stealthy enough to avoid notice or quick enough to escape. On his way home he saw some children with their parents going about their business. Each time he felt a spike of sadness that his parents couldn't be with him the entire time like it was for other families, but at least he knew that there were people that loved him unconditionally. He maintained some level of stress the entire time because there was no one who would make him feel safe. Only when he was with his parents he allowed himself to act like the child he was. His apartment got him some much desired privacy, but it wasn't exactly safe. He would have to lay some relatively harmless traps to delay possible intruders and create some avenues of escape.

When he neared his apartment building a thought struck him. Most of his neighbors had already left the building, and the rest kept mostly to themselves. The floor below his own apartment had been empty for some time already. With some work he would be able to create a trapdoor into the apartment underneath and hidden doors into the ones on the side. Such an increase in living space would prove useful later when he had more stuff. The only question was how he could hide it from prying eyes.

Absorbed in his thoughts he had already entered his rooms without really noticing it. After a moment of indecision he decided to cook some stew. He had bought some dried meat and fresh vegetables earlier in the day, and some of his gathered herbs were nearing the end of their shelf life. When he stood on a chair to reach the pot on the stove he felt a chakra connection snap into place.

'_Great, the old man is once again spying on me. That is the third time this week, this is getting really irritating._'

After about five minutes he felt the connection fade away. Or rather the effect the connection had on his own chakra. Naruto wasn't able to detect chakra sources outside his body, such a skill would need years of training to develop. His own large and still growing reserves would add some difficulty to that enterprise, but thanks to the internal chakra training his mother had invented he could unfailingly detect if something or someone interacted with his chakra. That had been an unexpected discovery for the methods had originally been developed with the goals of increasing one's reserves and control at a rapid pace, but the long-term usage of the training method gave one an acute sense of the chakra and the pathways it filled. If he used the method long enough it would give him nearly unbeatable detection abilities against genjutsu. He would not necessarily be able to dispel it, but he would know when he was caught in one. His parents had been pleasantly surprised when they discovered that effect.

When Naruto finished his meal and washed the dishes he idly pondered how much longer Konoha would enjoy the benefits of electricity. He heard a lot of people talking about how some things were breaking down with increasing frequency and some goods were becoming almost impossible to procure. The power lines were sometimes decaying at a rapid pace and had to be replaced monthly. If the supply of new lines ran out or whatever thing that produced the electricity failed things would get difficult.

'_Maybe I should buy a stove that can run off wood while the prices are still down? And perhaps some oil lamps too._' Naruto mused while he got ready for bed. _'The fridge will be all but useless then.'_

Tonight would be special. Instead of directly going to the world of his parents, his father would take over his body for a while. Not to do anything, no, but to observe the world around him. His body wouldn't even have to leave the bed. Now that his guards were gone his parents felt they could risk it. His father didn't expect anything obvious to happen, but an attentive human nearby might still have noticed something. They didn't need to start rumors that his seal was failing. The reason Naruto looked forward to it was that his father would try to make magic work. Magic was so cool and Naruto was eager to try it himself in the waking world. He hadn't learned anything practical since he had started studying, but was able to sense that magic seemed to be completely absent from this world. At his parents' place he could feel it everywhere after his initial training, even if the feeling changed depending how his father modified the world. He had warned Naruto that it would take years until he could manage casting anything, but Naruto was patient. One day he would be able to turn these bullies from the orphanage into cute little bunnies! He hadn't decided if he would feed them to some animal or make them a present to some girl that would pet and play with them and weave colored bands into their fur, but it would be a great revenge for making his life hell.

After a while he felt a gentle pull on his mind and let himself fall into the darkness. Instead of immediately waking up in his parents' world the darkness stayed and surrounded him like a protective envelope. He could feel some emotions of love and pride leaking from somewhere into his mind. An indeterminable time later the darkness lifted and he found himself looking into the smiling face of his mother. Naruto practically jumped to embrace her.

"Mommy!"

* * *

><p>In the waking world, darkness congealed into bizarre abstract shapes that would have driven a human observer irrevocably mad. A halo of otherworldly light clung close to the resting body of the blond boy. After a few moments the light disappeared and the darkness was once again only the normal darkness of an unlit room. The body continued breathing slowly and deeply as when asleep, but it was anything but sleeping. Where normally the consciousness of an abnormal but still mainly human boy resided an ancient alien intellect now sent feelers into the world it had not been able to observe directly for more than two years.<p>

It continued its silent observation until the strain on the boy's mind threatened to overwhelm the protection it had cast. The limit reached, it returned to the world at the edge of dreams to spend some time with its son. After a short while, the boy's mind returned to his now peacefully sleeping body. His face sported a content smile. From his perspective Naruto had just spent more than a week with his parents while mere moments passed in the waking world.

* * *

><p>"Welcome back, kit." Youko said while cuddling with the excited boy in her arms.<p>

They were sitting on a large pile of furs in the wooden cottage that had been the place of their first meeting. Although Naruto knew that his parents weren't human and they could rearrange the landscape pretty much on their whim, the homely house remained a place of emotional significance. The house and the surrounding woods were therefore kept stable and they had to travel to other places if they wanted to do some large scale environmental modification. It had become somewhat of a tradition for Naruto to wake up here and spend a day or two with his parents like a relatively normal family before starting the various activities that the world on the edge of dreams allowed.

After a short while an almost man-sized silvery fox entered the cottage and transformed into a black-haired man before joining them in the cuddle. After planting some kisses on his mate and son the trio sat in silence for some time, simply enjoying the others' presence. In the end Naruto's curiosity got the better of him and caused him to break the silence.

"Well, how did it go? How long until I can use magic outside? When do you teach me cool spells?"

"Patience, son, patience. I barely started to get a grip on the situation. The magic is there, it's just buried, for a lack of proper word."

"What do you mean by buried?"

"Hm, how to explain? Image a lake. Everyone is swimming on the surface, and for this scenario diving is impossible. Normally magic would be drifting in the water but not really intermixing like heavy oil, so you could reach into the water and pull some out. In our case the water is completely clear. If you go deep enough you reach the bottom of the lake. The magic in this world is somehow buried under this bottom and therefore completely out of reach. Do you understand?"

"I think I do."

"Good, but remember this is merely a simplification of that particular aspect. It's wrong in every other way."

Now Youko entered the conversation. "How long until you can set the magic free?"

"It will be difficult and time consuming. I will have to literally pierce the barrier and create some sort of leak. You and I produce our own magic, but because we're trapped behind the seal we can't really use it. Every little bit I want to use I have to channel through Naruto, and the more I channel the greater the danger for him becomes. During the possession I'm uncomfortably close to him in the mental sense, and I fear leakage of my thought processes and memories."

Naruto looked confused. "Why would that be dangerous to me?"

"There are different kinds of knowledge. Normal everyday knowledge that is essentially harmless like what grass is. Knowledge which is dangerous for others like knowing how to wield a sword. Then there is knowledge that can hurt yourself too if you use it. The most dangerous kind is the one where pure possession of the knowledge is enough to hurt yourself." Daiki looked Naruto directly into the eyes. "I love you as my son, but you must never forget that I'm not human. Sure, most of the time I'm wearing a human or animal form, but that is not what I truly am, and neither is your mother. I'm far older than the entire human race. If you came into contact with what I truly am without proper shielding, it would destroy you."

Seeing Naruto's incomprehension, he continued. "It's not that I would want to hurt you, it would simply happen. Think of a common earthworm. A simple creature, but quite well equipped for its chosen environment. What would such a being do with optical information, with colors and geometric forms? Would it be able to understand the concept of a starlit sky? In some respects you are like the earthworm. You have your familiar senses and human frame of reference, even if we're trying to expand that. There are far more things in the countless universes than you can possibly conceive of. You would have no starting point to understand most of my memories. The problem is that my memories want to be understood. If you would tap into them, voluntary or not, they would try to warp your mind until it fit the memory's requirements."

He sighed deeply. "A human mind is an incredibly fragile thing. It would simply shatter under that much pressure. Your mind is more stable than most, but far from sufficient. That is one of the main objectives of your magical training, to be able to withstand the onslaught of alien concepts and thought. Even when the magic is freely available it's only too easy to invoke or tap into something that would drive most humans instantly mad."

Naruto had grown silent during the explanation. He thought he understood most parts, but it was difficult to wrap his mind around the concept of knowledge that was dangerous out of itself.

'_I suppose that's part of the problem. I can't understand it, but if I encounter it I can't simply shut it out. Like these cubes with more than six sides daddy showed me some time ago. Looking at them hurt, but I could always avert my eyes. If something like that is in my mind I can't do that. Memory suppression takes time, and by then it might be too late.'_

The boy listened as his father and mother entered into a discussion about magic he simply couldn't follow anymore. His vocabulary and understanding was already greater than that of most normal ten year olds, but here he could barely understand one sentence in twenty. It only served to cement his desire to learn more.

'_Someday I will be able to understand all of this, even if takes decades. That's a goal worth working for.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>My thanks to all my reviewers.

Yes, Naruto will learn magic, but he will primarily be a shinobi. Additionally, he won't be really good at magic until after the timeskip, if I should choose to keep it. Learning something in-depth when you have several other important time-consuming things to do takes a long while. No instant-powerups in my story!

In other words, this fic will be very, very long.


	5. Chapter 4: Wells of magic and madness

Disclaimer: If I tried to own Naruto I would only get my ass kicked.

**Chapter 4: Wells of magic and madness**

Naruto couldn't take it anymore; the blasted crystal ball had to go. He could never be certain at what time the Hokage would decide to take a peek, and it was driving him slowly mad. It wouldn't have been that bad if he hadn't been able to sense the connection, but with things as they were he would develop a severe case of paranoia if it didn't stop soon. Luckily the Hokage hadn't seen anything suspicious so far, but it was only a matter of time.

Which was why he and his parents had come up with a plan. It wasn't much of a plan; basically it called for him to be in the Hokage's office and arrange a distraction so that the old man would leave. After that he would cede control of his body to his father for a few seconds, long enough to disable the crystal ball. Naruto didn't know what his father would do and he didn't care, the only important thing was that the constant spying ceased. Last time the Sandaime had seen him taking a dump, and he valued his privacy thank you very much. To his credit the Old Man had cut the connection immediately, but that was hardly a consolation.

"What's this thing, Old Man?" he asked while pointing at a large scroll sitting on a table nearby.

"That is the forbidden scroll, Naruto. I'm consulting it to identify an odd seal one of my shinobi encountered a short time ago."

'_Forbidden scroll, eh? Interesting, definitely a thing to remember for the future.'_

To get into the Hokage's office had been easy enough, he had simply asked the Old Man to be allowed to watch him work for a day. Before he had come here he had set his distraction plan in motion. In fact, the results should become noticeable any moment now.

A secretary burst into the room. "Hokage-sama! There is a disturbance between the Uchiha and Hyuuga clan heads downstairs. We fear it will come to blows soon. Both claim they have scheduled a meeting with you at the same time about some insulting letters that the other one has sent them."

"I'm coming." The old man turned towards Naruto. "Stay here, Naruto. I'll be right back."

Perfect. It had been easy to find official looking stationary, fill it with insults about the other clan and smuggle it to their doorsteps. A second set of letters with the meeting schedule had been deposited earlier. Normally such an idiotically simple scheme would never have worked, but tensions were high because some Uchiha children had pulled a similar stunt two weeks before and the two clan heads hated each other. Normally he stayed away from any Uchiha, his mother had somewhat of a grudge against them and he found their eyes creepy, but the opportunity had been too tempting. The situation downstairs would be resolved in a few minutes, but a few minutes were all he needed.

Naruto played easily bored child and began to wander the room. Naturally the Sandaime didn't really leave him alone; there were four ANBU in the room who would interfere if he did something suspicious. He innocently poked a few of the knickknacks the Sandaime kept in this office until he reached his destination. Before him on a shelf sat the dreaded crystal ball. Feigning an interest he bent towards it. He quickly checked the position of the invisible ANBU guards in the room.

'_Perfect, none of them will be able to see what I'm about to do.'_ he thought before initiating the next stage by pulling on his mother's chakra. Which she would tell his father, thereby getting things underway. Naruto's eyes changed to obsidian black orbs as Daiki took control. He poked the crystal ball carefully with a finger while scanning it with his other senses.

'_Old, possibly several centuries. Minerals form a non-visible intricate seal structure threading through the entire sphere. Very likely protected against simple physical damage.'_

That left only one possible course of action. Daiki didn't want to outright destroy the artifact, which would be impossible to do in an inconspicuous way anyway. If Naruto was in danger it would be safer if the Sandaime had a method of checking on him quickly, but they didn't want him spying on Naruto constantly. Fortunately he had now enough knowledge of this world to solve the problem.

A tiny grey flicker shot from the tip of his finger, hit the sphere and enveloped it before fading. There, it was done. From now on the Sandaime would find something else to do whenever he contemplated using the crystal ball to specifically spy on Naruto. Still, it would only avert the old man's idle curiosity. The subtle compulsion could be overcome if he thought the reason important enough, and he used the sphere rarely enough that he wouldn't really notice anything amiss. The spell would hold for perhaps two months if they were lucky, but by then the Hokage should be broken out of his casual spying habits.

It was a steady temptation to throw magic around like candy now that he could use it, but that would have been impractical. Direct behavioral changes would be immediately noticed by the victim or the victim's friends, and he couldn't channel the necessary power to make them stick anyway. A weak compulsion that was activated a few times per month to cause a slight shifting of the victim's attention was possible, but nothing more suspicious. The transformation of the eyes was bad enough, and he still wasn't sure why it happened. All the other side effects of the possession he had been able to suppress after a few tries, but the eye issue stubbornly refused to yield. It had probably something to do with some 'eyes are the windows of the soul'-crap in this universe. He could do a bit more energy-intensive stuff with Naruto's body, like teleporting and flying around, but not for long.

They had really to advance their plan to make magic more easily accessible, but it would be dangerous. He couldn't channel any significant amount of power without endangering Naruto's sanity to an unreasonable degree. It really was a quandary. They were nearly helpless if someone came after Naruto, but to change that they would have to put their beloved son in a great deal of danger. Still, it had to be done and soon.

The boy's eyes returned to their normal appearance when Daiki retreated behind the seal. Naruto had spent the last few seconds in a comfortable darkness, but was able to take over seamlessly. He moved on to examine the next knickknack. He didn't know if the operation had been successful, but he fervently hoped so.

It didn't take long for the Hokage to return. Naruto spent the rest of the afternoon watching him work. From what Naruto could see the Old Man clearly had a shitty job, wasting his time with tons of paperwork wasn't Naruto's idea of fun. He was becoming slightly annoyed by the Sandaime's continuing subtle attempts of praising his office. Apparently he wanted Naruto to aspire to become the next Hokage without directly saying it.

'_Fat chance with me being a jinchuuriki. I wonder if he sees it as parenting or manipulating me. After all, if I'm striving after such a lofty goal there are all sorts of hoops he can have me jump through.'_

During Naruto's brief lapse in attention the Hokage had begun to look at him with a thoughtful expression. When Naruto was about to leave the office for the evening the Old Man asked him a question he hadn't expected for quite some time. "Naruto, how would you like to join the shinobi academy next year?"

Naruto was surprised by this offer and was momentarily speechless, but he quickly recovered. "Wow, so soon? That would be great Old Man. Thanks." Before he left the office he did a little victory dance, and he could be heard shouting "I'm becoming a shinobi! I'm becoming a shinobi!" on his entire way out of the tower.

* * *

><p>"…and I didn't really know what to do and simply agreed. Was that the right decision? The Old Man has been trying to get me interested in the shinobi lifestyle as long as I can remember, and I displayed some enthusiasm for it."<p>

"I think you did the right thing. After all his influence it would have been decidedly suspicious if you didn't jump at that offer." Daiki said. "The important question is: What do you want? I mean, what do you want to do with your life? You should have enough experience by now to make some preliminary decisions."

Naruto sat back in his chair and thought hard. What did he truly want?

Freeing his parents was his top priority, but he hadn't the slightest inkling of how to do that. Daiki had already warned him that under no circumstances he was to release the seal. Apparently bad things would happen if he did that.

A family for sure. He had asked his parents about possible siblings some time ago but had been disappointed because their imprisonment prevented them from procreating. Still, that was quite some time in the future; he was only five going on six, plus his time with his parents.

Magic. It was just so cool and useful, because you could do all sorts of things with it. He wanted to learn everything about it.

Hunting. Naruto really liked the wilderness, discovering new species of animals as well as plants and exploring new regions. The contest of skill and strength between hunter and hunted fascinated him.

Shinobi were certainly interesting and he didn't mind becoming one, but it wasn't his heart's desire.

When he told his parents about his thoughts they looked interested and pleased.

"These are certainly worthy goals. It will be many years before you become truly proficient in magic though, and you would be terrible vulnerable in the meantime. There are enemies to consider."

"Enemies?"

"Yes, enemies, and I don't talk about people who simply don't like you. There are many who covet the power of the tailed beasts, and some may decide to come after you. Furthermore, Konoha will never let you go for the same reason. As long as you are associated with Konoha, the village's enemies will be your enemies too, and there are quite a lot of them. Then there are… beings who might attack you because of us. They might have noticed your father entering this world, but we are uncertain. He definitely tried to be as inconspicuous as possible." Youko explained.

"Then there is the matter that we still don't know how useful the magic of this world will be in direct combat for you, it would be reckless to expect it to be. You need to become a shinobi to learn to fight, and a good one at that. It should be possible to combine it with your passion for hunting. Tracking and laying traps are important shinobi skills, and your massive chakra reserves will enable you to use a lot of jutsu later."

"What about becoming Hokage? I don't really want the job."

"You're right, but there is an alternative. I think it would be best for you to tell everyone that your dream is founding a new clan and becoming clan head. It will appear slightly more realistic to people than becoming Hokage, and it is indeed something you want to achieve. After all, what are clans other than large family groups? It's still similar enough to the Old Man's intentions to deflect undue suspicion."

Naruto thought about it. Becoming a shinobi would take care of his need for security and open a new field for the application of his wilderness survival skills. Chakra wasn't that different from magic in many aspects, and jutsus were cool. He wanted a big family so that he would never be alone again, and it didn't make a lot of difference if it was the start of a clan. Yes, he would follow that path.

Decision made, he jumped up from his seat, pumped his fist into the air and shouted, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I will become the first leader of my own clan!" Looking at his parents he asked, "How was that?"

Both adults chuckled. "Quite convincing, son. Do you truly want to follow this path? We think it for the best, but it is ultimately your life and your decision. We'll find another way if you don't want to."

Nodding, he answered, "Yes, I'm certain. And thanks for giving me the choice."

"We will always give you as much choice as possible. Now, concerning the release of magic, I've made some progress. Next time I will…"

* * *

><p>When Daiki became active on the next cycle he wasted no time before teleporting his son's body several kilometers into the sky. The air was very cold at this height, but Naruto had dressed himself in several layers of heavy clothing for just this opportunity. Each environmental hazard that he didn't need to compensate for freed a small amount of magic for other uses. On this night he was searching for a suitable location he could use to create the first planned spring of magic. The spring would be vulnerable at first, meaning he needed a seldom-traveled area that was still close enough to Konoha to be easily accessible.<p>

As he surveyed the landscape he had to discard several promising locations because someone was already using them as hideouts, training grounds or travel lanes. Finally he found what he was searching for. The area wasn't the most inaccessible, but it was still almost never entered. It was simply completely ordinary and had no easily traversable connections to anywhere important. The different mountain ridges in Konoha's vicinity made it uncomfortable to approach, especially because there was absolutely nothing of interest there that made a trip worth it. It was only about ten kilometers from Konoha as the crow flies, but the distance was easily double that for any earthbound traveler. In short, it was perfect for his plans.

Unfortunately his limit was already almost exhausted. A closer inspection would have to wait until next week. He teleported his son's body back into his apartment before getting rid of the now superfluous extra clothing. Casually he noted the strain the multiple teleports caused Naruto's body as he carefully lowered it onto the bed. It was bearable, but it seemed prudent to limit the teleports to the necessary minimum in the future.

* * *

><p>Naruto was excited. Today would be the day his father would try to pierce the barrier and establish a spring of magic. His parents had warned him forcefully of the dangers the endeavor posed before they asked his consent. Which he had given.<p>

He thought himself aware enough to make such decisions himself, even if he still relied on the counsel of his parents to a large degree. His sixth birthday was coming up next month, and in the new year he would join the shinobi academy. It was very early for that, most of the children his age would not enter for two years, but apparently the Hokage thought him mature enough. No wonder, he had spent around five or six additional years behind the seal by now.

His training was only hampered by his physical development. There were sharp limits what you could do with such a young body, and he wouldn't risk his health by overtraining. After he had created several disguises and the spying tendencies of the old man were curbed he had begun to explore the woods surrounding Konoha. There were several small camps of woodcutters and hunters some distance away from the village that provided it with food, timber and other woodland resources. Even if they were too far away for him to visit regularly, it was easy to masquerade as the son of one of the workers who was sent to the village sometimes to trade the goods his family produced.

It was nothing out of the ordinary for the children to do that as the woods were considered safe, and there was no place for idle mouths in most families. Nobody batted an eye when he sold the fur or other parts of the critters he managed to bring down on the visitor's marketplace while wearing his disguise. He limited himself mainly to small game that he could catch with snares or shoot down with a sling stone. Some rooms in an abandoned building had been converted to a workshop where he could process his kills without anyone being the wiser.

One thing he had noticed was that village security sucked badly. Strangers came and went every day, and the guards at the official gates only made a cursory inspection if even that. After a bit of exploring he had already found several illegal entrances in Konoha's walls, which he used frequently. The inside of the village was somewhat better guarded by the Konoha police force and the occasional ANBU patrol, but it was a far cry from secure in his opinion.

'_Well, there's nothing I can do about that aside from using it to my advantage.'_

Soon he felt himself drifting to sleep, but something was different this time. The familiar timeless darkness that surrounded him each time he went to see his parents was somehow thinning. He could still feel his father's love for him, but more and more other things were leaking through. Some he could identify, like worry for the future or intense concentration, but the longer this state continued the more alien the feelings became and the more uncomfortable he felt. Naruto could vaguely feel the flow of a lot of power somewhere behind the protective darkness. Then the power spiked, and the darkness dissolved.

It was like a veil had been ripped away. He was hurled violently in random directions by a giant maelstrom, incoherent bits of alien thoughts ripping into his mind. He wanted to scream but found he had no mouth. Colors not found in any rainbow and impossible forms flashed before his eyes, each driving a spike of pain into his brain as it was forced to experience something it wasn't meant to. Naruto suppressed and purged the impressions as much and as fast as he could, but he was just overwhelmed. He observed a triangle with sixteen sides and a cube with only two. A flight of stairs that only went up formed an unbroken circle. A space that was bigger on the inside than the outside. Strange symbols formed greater structures that belonged to giant forms which threaded into infinity but were only part of something much larger that was in turn only a building block of… When he thought he couldn't take it anymore, the chaos calmed somewhat and the pain lessened.

Naruto was now drifting weightlessly in a space with no discernable borders. Multi-colored mists wafted around, and strange bubbles were hovering in the air. Somewhere in the distance he could see the chaotic stream that had held him before. As he neared a bubble, a tendril lashed out and connected to him. Immediately his surroundings dissolved into a completely different scene.

…_A pitch black man that was only the visible part of something far bigger was writing in a book made out of human skin in a dark void. The finished work would sow delicious chaos in the ranks of the lesser beings. Suddenly he seemed to notice something and looked directly at the observer who gave the mental equivalent to a nod and withdrew…_

He found himself somewhat disoriented back in the space from before. Now he knew what these bubbles were. They were memories of a sort, but they contained so much more than he could fathom. There were alien sensory impressions that went beyond his understanding, and concepts that slipped through his mind while leaving a painful tear behind. More and more bubbles came his way, eager to share their contents with him. As soon as he managed to free himself from one the next was already there.

…_Four figures of great and evil power stood high above a world made of wailing red faces under a black sun. Before them a small army of humans was encircled by a number of misshapen creatures. A cripple was standing alone before the four demons, soundlessly uttering the words "I submit." before he was enveloped by a cocoon and the slaughter of the humans below them began…_

…_An enormous entity made of pure cold crystal in a void surrounded by a protective screen of neutron stars pondered how it could break the boundaries of its universe to find new feeding grounds after it devoured the last few remnants of life that remained in this one…_

…_Buildings rose from a blue-green world into the emptiness of space, forming a solid shell. But it expanded further, its masters creating matter and energy from nothingness to realize their dreams of a perfect world. Further and further they spread, until even the machines they created could no longer find the end and beginnings of the gargantuan structure. A plague swept through, killing the masters, and the whole thing descended into senseless madness. Servants without their purpose turned against those they were created to protect, adding to the chaos until…_

…_Unseen he knocked a tiny part of the mechanism of worlds a bit out of alignment. Nothing happened on the surface for a long time, but small disharmonies were created, gathered, multiplied, until the great mechanism ripped itself apart, bringing millions of worlds down with it in its destruction. His plan was successful, the forced stalemate was broken and room for new growth created. Now he only had t…_

…_Mountains of screaming flesh sprawled under a sky of blood, ever-changing yet constant in their grotesque mockery of life …_

…_he exhaled the breath of life, and the seeds were sown in the dead world. In the far future…_

…_in the deepest depths of the seas dwelled the deep daughter, for the black water extended into every world. Preparing for the war against the land dwellers, fortresses of black gold grew while her many-tentacled servants forged weapons from…_

His drifting speed increased, and he could feel his consciousness fraying under the onslaught of alien thoughts and memories. The more normal ones he could take even if they were quite frightening, but the more alien ones tried to twist his mind until he could understand them fully. Even worse, each bubble twisted in a different direction. With a supreme effort of will he tore himself from the stream and lunged at one glowing structure to the side that felt somehow different. Abruptly the pain ended.

* * *

><p>Naruto found himself flying along a path surrounded by a bottomless abyss, a small fox sitting on his shoulder with a gleaming collar around his neck. A chain with links made out of the symbols 'mother', 'father' and 'seal' connected to an identical collar on Naruto's throat. A gagged monkey with a blindfold over his eyes and rolled paper stuffed into his ears sat on a pillar in the distance before him, beckoning him closer with a funny hat in his hand. A banner hung behind him with sentences written on it. He only managed to read two before the banner flapped in the wind, hiding the script.<p>

'_I don't know who your parents are.'_

'_I don't know why the villagers hate you.'_

Ghostly faces he had seen in the village before were floating around him. Hundreds of hands grabbed at him, a select few shoving him forward, some pulling him down and some trying to hold him in place. Finally he left them behind. About one or two dozen lights were now accompanying him, mostly filled with the images of children around his age. Two voices were speaking.

"_Friends only hold you back." "Having precious people to protect makes you truly strong."_

Blurred forms crossed his path, some trying to block his advance and others urging him on. Most were too distorted to discern, but some stood out. A faceless man with a giant sword and a girl made of soft snow made to attack him, only to change and urge him on before they suddenly crumbled to dust. A tanuki made of sand with bloody claws howled madly in loneliness before it spotted him and started to attack. A white snake slithered in the background, shedding scales that grew into distorted figures which proceeded to attack him. The snake climbed the pillar and brought the monkey down in a great cloud of dust from which only the wounded snake emerged.

A wrinkled slug who wore a face mask depicting a young woman and held a sake bottle in one tendril took the monkey's place, swaying dangerously. A black-haired boy with red-black spinning eyes appeared before him, a spike of crackling lightning in his hand. He thrust it forward, but Naruto couldn't see if it was aimed at him or one of his companions. The snake hovered in the background, smiling approvingly while a crow with similar red-black eyes cawed overhead.

"_Hate gives you power."_

A toad with white hair took him away, running a long time in circles before returning to the path only a short distance from where they started while a chorus of smaller toads croaked a song about prophecies. Faster and faster the specters came and went, leaving him hardly enough time to note some of the shapes. A beautiful seahorse bound with an ugly lash. A lovely flower encased in rotten ice. A shining angel riding a black dragon with many heads.

The mad rush stopped, and Naruto was able to perceive more of his surroundings again. Formless shapes wearing black cloaks with red clouds were circling him, only to dissolve in strands of shadow one by one. During their dancing they slaughtered countless people, who were walking blindly around them, unaware of the danger they were in.

"_We want peace for the world."_

Six orange-haired people standing shoulder to shoulder blocked his way, their features blurred and ever changing. A corpse with reddish hair sat in an iron throne from which streams of blood flowed, barely visible threads connecting him to the six bodies before him. His eyes were dead things with concentric rings inside them, hinting at an unfathomable power. A white paper flower was orbiting the throne, slowly losing its petals until only a bare pedicel remained.

"_Pain leads to peace."_

Behind the corpse on its bloody throne of iron stood a masked man with only one dark eye. The dark eye changed to a mixture of blood red and black in a strange geometric shape. It grew until it filled the entire horizon, looking down on an empty world made out of fire, corpses and streams of blood while piles of ash and white-black vines moved around senselessly.

"_The only lasting peace is the peace of the grave."_

Darkness swallowed all, but he could sense something moving in the darkness. Suddenly countless candles littered a featureless plain, each flame the shape of a living being. He saw humans, animals, even plants, but something was rapidly snuffing out the lights. Soon, he stood once again alone in the darkness. A grotesque creature made out of bone and shadow appeared before him, putrid with corruption. The stench of rotting corpses hung thick around it in a miasmatic cloud. Pale human forms without an inner light or life were lying on the ground and kissing the creature's feet.

"_I am death. All paths end with me. Join the ranks of my worshippers, and I shall grant you the boundless freedom to destroy whatever you wish."_

Panic engulfed him; he wanted nothing to do with that thing. Fleshless fingers tried to grasp him when he turned to flee. They were pinching, holding, shaking, choking…

* * *

><p>The entire scenery shattered, and for a moment he was again in the chaotic maelstrom before everything went dark again. This darkness was different, it bore more resemblance to the usual protective darkness his father exuded, but it was far grander than anything he felt before. Slowly his vision reestablished itself.<p>

The darkness wasn't truly dark, there were countless stars scattered across the jet black firmament. A big and yellowish-white moon rose rapidly and bathed him in his soft soothing light. He could feel the tears in his minds slowly closing and relaxed. When the moon reached the zenith, its movement stopped and thirteen bright stars appeared in a circle around it. Naruto could see after a fashion, he was standing some distance from a large dark lake. Beautiful trees and other plants made of crystal were swaying gently in a breeze he couldn't feel, glittering in the moonlight.

A deep feeling of peace filled him as he slowly approached the black lake. Its surface was as smooth as glass, but when he looked into its depths the darkness cleared. It was like a mirror, but it didn't show an exact reflection. It was like he was looking into another sky from the underside of the water surface. While the plants on his side where mainly white, blue, silver, purple and black, their mirror images on the other side were mainly composed of gold, red, orange, yellow and green. The sky was blue like at noon instead of black and speckled with stars, and in place of the moon the sun was blazing. Strangely, the corona was clearly visible and shaped like thirteen flames.

Naruto caught himself a moment before falling headfirst into the lake. He was feeling unbelievably tired, and the soothing surroundings made going to sleep incredibly easy. But somehow he knew that it would be the deadliest mistake he could ever make. If he lost the grip on his consciousness here, he would never wake again. This world around him wasn't hostile or hurting him, but it was so much greater than him that he would lose himself. Slowly, Naruto began to back away from the lake. Each movement was costing him incredible willpower, and every part of his body screamed for rest. He had to… get away… from… here…

* * *

><p>With a cry Naruto awoke in his bed in the familiar cottage, his heart thumping rapidly. He was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. His mother Youko kneeled beside him, an expression of worry on her face and a hand firmly gripping his shoulder. He practically flew into her embrace and hugged her with all his power while he began to cry in relief while Youko patted his back and made soothing sounds.<p>

After a while Naruto calmed down and fell asleep, still cradled in his mother's lap. Suddenly Daiki appeared in the room, looking worried. Youko looked at her mate.

"What is the kit's condition, and how did it go outside?" she asked.

"Naruto's sanity took some damage, but nothing we can't fix in time. I managed to push him into a relatively harmless region of my consciousness and have already provisionally patched up all the wounds in our son's mind. Before the end he touched upon my prophetic abilities, but after a few days he should be back to normal. Still, the damage under the patches will take quite some time to truly heal. I will have to reduce my possessions of his body to once per month for the foreseeable future."

He sat down on the bed, one arm around his mate's back while he used the other to stroke some errant hairs from Naruto's face.

"The creation of the spring went well. I had to use a lot of power, almost the complete amount I could channel with Naruto in the way, but I was successful. I couldn't stay long to watch, but after the initial shockwave the flow seemed nice and steady. Contrary to my earlier statement, I will have to take a quick look as soon as possible to make certain things stay on track. Only about a minute, that shouldn't put any undue stress on Naruto. Nobody but us should be aware that something changed in the world, but that is probably a bit optimistic. Aside from the shockwave, the spring is only a local phenomenon and should be virtually undetectable, but I will begin to add defenses as soon as practical. All in all, things went as good as we could reasonably expect."

"So the new plan is making progress?" Youko asked before she laid her head on Daiki's shoulder.

"Indeed, my dear vixen. With access to free magic things should go smoother. I will be able to do more with less strain on Naruto, and our son should soon be ready to use some minor magic. It will help him and us greatly. But I think we will have to explain more to him soon."

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed in relief when he purged the last dangerous memories from his mind. It had taken him several days to restore everything, even if his father had helped. His mind still felt somewhat raw, but he was getting better. He kept some things that weren't actively dangerous, like the strange vision or the memories of his visit to the land of night. He had to talk with his parents about these two.<p>

The opportunity came on the next evening.

"What was that dark place? It reminded me strongly of you, but it was so grand, it felt like it would swallow me."

"I purposely pushed you into that region of my mind, son. It was far safer than all the alternatives."

"But why was the feeling of the place so strong? The other things I saw were strange, but had not the same intensity."

"That is because of what we are. That place was a visualization of my divinity. We are gods, Naruto."

"Gods? Like in the stories, or what some of the villagers worship?"

"In some ways, yes, but most deities' that are worshipped here don't even exist. There are a few, but they aren't especially active."

"You don't really look like gods."

Daiki raised an eyebrow. "You've already seen that we can turn into foxes and command great powers. In addition Youko told you she was the Kyuubi, which was a mountain-sized fox demon. You've learned about magic and different worlds that nobody else knows about. After all this you doubt our claim on godhood?"

Naruto shrugged. "Yes."

His parents communicated with a short look into each other's eyes and seemingly came to a decision. Simultaneously, they changed. Their combined presence filled the room with power while lights and shadows without a source glided about every surface. Silvery waves seemed to constantly run through Daiki's dark hair while Youko's mane began to glow in a golden light.

But the most obvious change was the eyes. His father's eyes were abyssal black orbs, but after a moment a pupil-less pale yellow iris appeared. When he looked closer he saw tiny specks of light dancing in the black part of the eyes. All in all, they looked like the moon before the night sky. Youko's eyes had lost their pupil as well and were now a burning red color with a golden iris. It bore a striking resemblance to a sunset.

"These are the forms that are closest to our divine nature that still bear a human shape, but we can look any way we want." Daiki said before cycling through different human forms. Old and young, fat and slender, none of them bore any resemblance to his usual appearance. After the humans he assumed the forms of different animals and finally fantastic creatures before returning to his standard shape.

Naruto wore a bored expression. "Pfft, try another thing. That's hardly more impressive than turning into a fox."

Yokou had watched Naruto closely and stopped Daiki with a raised hand when he was about to do something even more spectacular. "I think that's enough of a show. Naruto, did you say that just to get a rise out of us?"

Aforementioned boy now wore a slightly guilty expression and rubbed his head sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. But I want to see something really impressive; it has been a long time since the castle construction."

His mother turned to his father with narrowed eyes. "I told you that the idiotic castle was a bad idea, but noooo! Mister Showoff had to do something that would corrupt the mind of our impressionable son. Now see what you've done, we tell our son that we are gods and he simply uses that to get us to show him something impressive. He shows absolutely no respect to beings of cosmic power. What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked in an angry voice.

To Naruto's surprise, his father wore a smug expression. "I say mission accomplished."

That answer threw both Youko and Naruto completely off course.

"You… did all that deliberately?"

"Yes, I did all that showy stuff in the hope that Naruto would react exactly as he did. With all that strange crap that exists in the outside world there is no worse thing than going all 'Ooh' and 'Aah' when somebody with an impressive power shows up or unexpected developments happen. If some hostile idiot tries to show off it's better to keep your cool and either shove a combat technique into the enemy's face or simply make a tactical retreat while he's busy parading his powers around. It's also a great way to rile up overly proud enemies. But be careful when you use that strategy, some people react rather poorly to it."

"Yes daddy. But how did you become gods? The Kyuubi was clearly a demon when it was last seen."

"The difference between gods and demons isn't as great as most people believe. We ascended, or in my case descended, to godhood when we pledged ourselves to each other for eternity and our natures mixed. Our domains are a bit unclear at the current time, but I'm mostly associated with the moon, stars, darkness, mystery and general ethereal themes. Youko deals with the sun, light, life and the more corporeal side of things, but we can easily use the power of the other. Together we are the Mirrored Path of Light and Shadow."

"The mirror lake I saw…"

"Yes, that was a representation of our connection." Daiki answered.

"We are that way since we forged our bond, but we still retain and share parts of what we were before. Someday you might get to see the memory of our bonding. I was the Kyuubi, and therefore we both have the form of tailed beasts still available, even if the label 'Nine-tails' doesn't fit either of us anymore. Your father was something that even most gods have no name for or are even aware of." Youko added.

"Actually, there are a lot of names. Eldritch abomination, outer god, cosmic horror, the names are legion, but they refer mostly to the far less powerful of my kind. But I don't really belong in that category anymore. As I am now, even the weakest could wipe me from existence with barely a thought. I was only a few hours from my ultimate demise before the pact saved my existence. Some of my reality-warping powers and worldview remain, but I mostly contributed the magic to our bond. I can't understand myself what I once was, I've lost too much for that. Add to that the memories of thousands of human lives and untold preserved memories of the avatars I created before my fall, and you get an inkling of what we truly are."

"Was it all an act? You acting as my parents I mean." Naruto asked.

"No. The human side of us you have known for the longest time is simply one of our aspects. Think of it as the faces of a crystal. They can be different, but they are parts of the same thing. And all the parts love you."

Naruto was nearly overwhelmed by the revelation, but his training helped him to come to grips with the reality of the situation. He reduced it to the most important facts. Naruto had already known that his parents were no humans, the details hardly mattered. What difference did it make if his mother was a tailed beast or a goddess? The important fact was that they loved him, everything else was immaterial.

"Umm, okay, I guess. Does that change anything between us?"

"No, but you deserve the truth. We might use some of my memories from other worlds for training purposes; at least some of them are safe for you to experience. And we don't need to pretend to be human-ish the entire time, that feels simply constraining."

"What about the things I saw on the path? The monkey, the snake, the corpses?"

"The future is ever-changing while time flows. I do have prophetic abilities, but you should never rely on knowledge of the future. You tapped into my power, and received a vision of what may come. That doesn't mean it will actually happen. Before I sealed the pact, I mapped out the possible futures for Kyuubi and indirectly you. The attack on you was completely unexpected, nobody had tried or would ever try to deliberately free the Kyuubi by attacking your mind; the chances of that happening were zero at the time of my vision. In the short time since the storm things had already changed to such a large degree that the formerly impossible happened simply because I entered this world, and we were blindsided. We relied on my vision, and it totally derailed our original plan."

"What do you mean? What was the original plan?"

Youko sighed. "The original plan was to consolidate our bond and internal structure before Daiki would emerge from the seal and undo it from the outside. With both of us free, we would take you to a place far away from any potential danger and find a loving family for you. Had the attack happened only two weeks later we would have been ready. But it was not to be, and you will have to face the threats we would have shielded you from."

"You would have sent me away?"

"We do love you, but you would have been safely out of harm's way. Besides, at that point in time we would have never truly met. It was a quite unremarkable destiny we envisioned for you, but now it will never happen. Too many people have their own plans for the destiny of Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko. We will stay forever with you even if we should manage to escape this prison, if you let us."

"Of course I want you to stay with me. But what's the new plan?"

"We have a few basic goals like get you to a level where you can survive against most threats and simultaneously enable you to live a happy live. Find a way out of our prison that doesn't hurt you or us. Bring magic back into the world. Attain world domination in a spiritual sense and either kick the competitors out or form a pantheon with the more reasonable ones. Things like that." Youko said in a flippant way.

"Some knowledge from my visions is still usable, and we try to guide you on the best possible path. But ultimately, you must choose your own destiny. You must make your own decisions one day, as it is we can only speak once per week. We have faith that you will make the right decisions."

* * *

><p>"Sorry young man, we don't carry such things."<p>

"Okay, thank you for your time. Bye."

Naruto left the shop, grumbling under his breath. What was the problem with this village and footwear? He had nothing against sandals in general, but he wanted protection for his toes, dammit! Thorns, splinters and the dangers of animal bites were reason enough for him to prefer closed boots during his excursions into the forest, let alone that he didn't want to get his feet wet each time he happened to step into a puddle. But to his increasing frustration reasonable footwear seemed to be completely unavailable.

In a few days he would enter the academy, and he didn't fancy the handling of sharp tools that could easily slip out of his hands and hit his feet without some layer of protection. Unfortunately, it seemed he would have to do without that. Naruto had managed to purchase all other supplies he needed without too much problems. His kunai, shuriken and other shinobi instruments were all of reasonable quality and should see him safely through most of his academy years. He had seen no need to fork over the money for top quality products, sturdy and workable would be enough for now. The time for high-quality tools would come as soon as he had the skill to make proper use of them.

His earlier scouting of the different shops had paid off big time. He shuddered to think what overpriced crap he would have been sold had he simply wandered into the next available shop. The academy provided the tools for use on-campus, but it was widely known that one had to train in one's free time to become truly proficient, and for that extra training Naruto needed his own tools.

Briefly he had entertained the possibility of scavenging from the training fields, but a bit of research had shown that this wasn't allowed or even practical. The fields were cleared and repaired by genin and some chunin belonging to the maintenance division each day. Lost and found items made up part of their salary, and they wouldn't take kindly to scavenging attempts on his part that would hurt their profit margin. If he was spotted he would have to pay quite a bit of fines, and he didn't consider the risk worth it at the current time.

"…have you heard? They allowed _him_ to visit the academy."

"Really? What are they thinking, allowing _him_ to become a shinobi?"

Oh yes, the lovely villagers were once again gossiping about him. The whispers had died somewhat down after he left the orphanage and stayed mostly out of sight, but ever after the knowledge of him visiting the academy had spread they had picked up again. He had even replaced the recent death of the Fire daimyo as one of the most discussed subjects. Due to his increased hearing he understood most whispers clearly, making him quite well-informed.

Naruto wasn't able to divine the truth from the various rumors, but apparently the middle-aged daimyo had died unexpectedly and without foul play. Unfortunately the succession was unclear, and several pretenders vied for the throne whilst the Land of Fire was slowly descending into chaos.

The main reason for the chaos was the economic upheaval after the sources for several important trade goods dried up around the time of his father's arrival in this world. Naruto had always been curious about the cobbled together look of many pieces of technology or buildings. His parents had shown him some other worlds, and it looked totally different. Things actually fit together there. In addition, nobody seemed to really understand how most things worked as he found out after a secret visit to the library. Naruto had wondered how that was possible, after all someone had to build those things.

The answer to that question had been simple. There was no actual manufacturing base that produced them; they simply appeared in semi-regular intervals at fixed locations. Depending on the location different stuff appeared, from canned food to clothing to high technology. Whole trade cities had sprung up around these locations that now had nothing to sell. Luckily the supply had never been large enough to completely satisfy demand, and at least the native food production was slowly picking up the slack. There had been some failed attempts to recreate the artifacts, but mostly they were just used after someone had figured out what they did via trial and error.

After a bit of research Naruto had found that the exploitation of these resources had really started before the second shinobi war, or more accurately the economic imbalances created by that had started the war. Now the balance was tipping back in the other direction. Seal-based things like Konoha's water supply were still working fine, but the other technological stuff was breaking down rapidly. There was probably not a single working radio or camera left in Konoha. Last week the electric grid had failed and would stay down indefinitely. Non-perishable goods like clothing remained, and there existed huge stockpiles meaning the transition wasn't as catastrophic as it could have been.

In spite of it all there still was nobody who produced sensible footwear.

'_Oh well, looks like I have to learn leatherworking myself. No matter, I know the basics already from my wilderness survival training, and mom and dad can help me with that.'_

* * *

><p>The night before the academy started Naruto was so excited that he could hardly sleep. The academy was a place where he could finally make some friends. He had attempted it several times before, but each time some adult would interfere and prevent him from interacting with the children if they didn't already keep their distance from him. His parents had warned him not to expect too much, but he still was euphoric. Soon he would learn all sort of new tricks. It would cut into his free time drastically, but it should be manageable.<p>

Two classes started each year, one in summer and one in winter. During the five year education the prospective shinobi learned all the basics they needed for their future career. At the end of the five years the graduates of the elite class had the chance to be selected for a genin team under the tutelage of a jonin-sensei. The rest would be sent back for an additional one or two years of education before they were allowed to work as shinobi.

Most of what he knew he had discovered during his exploration of an old tunnel. A crack in the wall had allowed him to listen to a conversation between a senior academy instructor and some man who wanted to give his daughter a little money-fueled boost. Listening to the conversation had been enlightening and disillusioning at the same time. The Old Man surely didn't tell him about the elite part, he made it sound like every graduate got a sensei.

Sleep was still eluding him, but he needed to be fresh tomorrow. With a sigh he began to meditate. That usually helped him if he couldn't sleep. Tonight he decided on a different combination of meditation techniques than usual, he was experimenting a bit which were more efficient.

Suddenly he stood in ankle-deep water in an empty corridor instead of lying in his bed. Pipes ran across the ceiling and branched at intersections. Interestingly, he could see despite the lack of any light sources.

'_What the hell did I do now?'_

Well, standing around wouldn't solve his problems, so he examined the surroundings a bit more closely. The water was almost imperceptibly moving. Naruto decided to follow the flow to its source; it wasn't as if he had any preferred direction. After quite some time he entered an immensely large room. It was neatly bisected by gigantic bars that formed an immense door. A large scrap of paper with the kanji for 'seal' clung to the point where the halves of the cage met. Behind the bars he could see a large reddish-orange creature that vaguely resembled a fox with nine tails curled up and sleeping.

He knew only one creature of that general appearance, but why would he meet Youko now and in that fashion? The next cycle would only begin in five days. Apart from that, his mother had outright refused to take the form of the Kyuubi. Apparently she didn't like her previous appearance anymore and preferred a shape more true to a real life fox than the only vaguely fox-like demon that now slept before him.

"Mom?" he asked. Naruto had recently decided to call his parents mom and dad, his previous mode of address sounded too childish for an academy student in his opinion.

The fox didn't react in any way.

"MOM! WAKE UP!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?"

It wasn't the voice of his mother but his father that caused him to turn around. On a wall to the side a rectangle of stone had turned into an opening. His father stood on the other side, looking at him in astonishment. Behind him some very familiar woods could be seen.

"Dad!" Naruto ran to his father at full speed while ignoring the shouts to stop… only to crash into an unyielding invisible wall. "Ouch."

"When I tell you to stop I mean it, son."

Naruto rubbed his head where it had hit the wall. "Sorry dad. I just… didn't expect to see you so soon."

Daiki chuckled. "Neither did I. How did you come here?"

"Well, I couldn't sleep and meditated. I tried a different variant from usual, and suddenly I stood in this sewer. After that I simply followed the flow. What is this place, and why does it look like a sewer?"

"This is the mental interface between the seal and your consciousness. I think the sewer appearance is coded into the seal. Anyway, this is what it would have looked liked if I hadn't interfered. Currently it's only an illusion I have layered above the true appearance to deceive anyone who might come to visit. It really looks like this."

When his father waved his hand, the hall changed. The grey concrete walls were replaced by artfully carved white stone; the bars of the prison were encased in a thick layer of crystal and overgrown by green vines with multi-colored blossoms. Instead of the rusty pipes ducts made of glass snaked along the ceiling.

However the biggest change took place behind the bars. Instead of the Kyuubi a yellowish-red amorphous mass could be seen that was connected to an opening like the one his father was standing behind, only this one was opaque and much bigger. Naruto spied four concentrations of an angry deep red color and four white-golden ones inside the mass. Daiki noticed his interest and offered some explanations.

"That is where your mother was originally imprisoned. Even now she must keep nine tails of her chakra inside it lest the seal collapses, which would kill you. The rest of her and especially her consciousness is safely inside our realm, for which you can see two of the entrance points. Four tails of demonic chakra and four tails of divine, kept stable by a single tail of neutral chakra. In a few years you should be able to consciously draw upon it. For now you only get an automatic trickle of demonic chakra that increases whenever you are hurt to boost your healing."

"Yeah, I can feel the influx of mom's chakra. Does the seal do anything else?"

"The containment of the Kyuubi and allowing you to draw its chakra are the primary functions of the seal, but that's not all. There was an entire host of secondary functions, but I disabled them."

"What secondary functions?"

"The seal had a lot of connections into your mind, many more than are necessary for the primary functions. I can see the effects it has on the false mind I created to trick the seal, but I don't understand exactly how it does it. Like I said before, neither Youko nor I are really knowledgeable in the ninja arts. Me because I'm not from this world, Youko because she simply didn't believe that she needed to know. After all, when you're a mountain-sized immortal demon you become quite arrogant over time." Daiki explained.

"In the last three years I was able to figure out quite a lot. The seal acts as a mind-altering device. Negative emotions would be suppressed and discarded to a large degree. Basically, no matter what abuse you suffered, it would actually impossible for you to truly hate or keep a grudge. You would trust easily, and be incapable of giving up on people. A person you considered a friend would be able to shove a lethal technique into your chest, and you would still not give up on them."

Naruto looked skeptical. "Wouldn't I notice that other humans act differently from me and adjust my behavior? Acting like that seems suicidal to me."

"The Yondaime thought of that. Your abilities of critical thinking and logical reasoning would have been completely obliterated. As a side effect your general intelligence would have suffered, making it extremely hard for you to learn things in a normal fashion. Practical learning would still have been possible, though, even occasional bouts of brilliance."

"But in general I would have turned out a moron who believed in the good of the people despite all the crap they did to me?" Seeing his father's nod, Naruto shuddered. "That's monstrous."

"Yes, this seal is an abomination. It would have taken the power of choice completely away from you, turning you into some sort of 'savior' or 'saint'. I would call that an emotional cripple, but I have no doubt that you could have had a great deal of influence on people. After all, you would have endured quite a lot of hardship and still been convinced of the ideals the Yondaime set for you. No one would ever have known that it wasn't your free will and resolve but the long-term exposure to a mind-altering seal. Additionally there are quite a lot of fail safes."

Naruto felt sick upon hearing what the 'heroic' Yondaime had done to him, but his father wasn't finished.

"The first time you would have drawn on eight tails of the Kyuubi's chakra a clone of the Yondaime would have appeared. Depending on the situation he would have quite a lot of options, from strengthening the seal up to brainwashing or killing you. A second clone of the previous jinchuuriki would appear if you tried to subdue the Kyuubi, but we aren't entirely clear on how that was supposed to happen. Then there is a whole host of measures that become active if your mind develops into an undesirable direction."

"How did the Yondaime put all that into the seal? The attack didn't last that long and was a surprise. Everyone only talks about how he sacrificed his life to seal the Kyuubi, but that can't be right if the seal is that elaborate." Naruto wondered.

"Precisely. Even a seal master like the Yondaime doesn't develop such a complicated seal on the spot. He must have planned using it for years to create a 'savior', but I believe it was some time earlier than he intended."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because some areas of the seal look unrefined and raw, and some of the mind-altering effects make no sense. For instance, I can't imagine that the man intended to give you an obsessive love of the color orange. Additionally, I definitely know from Youko's memories that the release of the Kyuubi wasn't the Yondaime's doing, but that of a hostile third party who had his own designs on the Kyuubi. Namely using it to attack Konoha."

"Still, the Yondaime didn't have to use that seal, and he didn't have to die. The previous container was dying but still alive and could have sealed the Kyuubi back into herself. With her death the Kyuubi would have been dispersed for a few years, thereby ending the immediate threat to Konoha. Instead the Yondaime first used an invocation of the Shinigami to seal the Yin-part of the Kyuubi's chakra in exchange for his life and then proceeded to use his own seal to imprison the Kyuubi inside of you. If he wanted to keep the Kyuubi in possession of Konoha he could have used the same seal as the two previous containers, which leaves the one doing the sealing perfectly healthy."

"But what of the true attacker?"

"No one knows of him. The Yondaime didn't tell anyone before his death, making his claim that he sacrificed his own life to protect Konoha highly dubious. After all, if he was still alive he could make preparations, not let the enemy plot for years while Konoha wallows in ignorance. No, I think the Yondaime wanted to create a savior for a long time and saw the opportunity slip through his fingers."

"Does anybody else know of his plans for me?"

"No idea. We don't know if the Sandaime is aware of the Yondaime's plan. His actions towards you certainly serve to further that goal, but we are operating under a critical lack of information. Your mother thinks the Toad summons gave the Yondaime the idea, which makes the Sannin Jiraiya highly suspect, especially as the man is a seal master as well. A toad with detailed information on the seal and a key to lock and unlock it was certainly present at the time immediately before the sealing."

In Naruto's mind several things had come together. "So that is the reason besides hiding your existence and contact with me why you want me to play slightly dumb and happy. You don't know if the Old Man is part of the Yondaime's plan or if he has his own designs. Because it's the first time this sealing method is used he can't be completely sure of the precise effects it should have on me. As long as my behavior in public still resembles the Yondaime's plan I should be reasonably safe from additional influence."

"That's the idea. There is more, but we should talk about it another time when your mother is present. Tomorrow is a great day for you, and you should be rested. You can come here if you have urgent business to discuss, but our talking strains your mind and shortens the time span we can actually be together."

"Okay dad." he said, slightly saddened that he couldn't use this for more frequent contact with his parents. "Umm, how do I get out of here?"

"Just meditate and concentrate on leaving. Goodnight son."

"Goodnight dad."

* * *

><p>Morning had finally come, and Naruto took great care to be on time even if his head was still swimming from last night's revelations. The whispers and stares he encountered on his way hardly fazed him anymore, by now he was used to them. Some families were already standing around before the academy entrance, but there were fewer of them than Naruto would have expected. It seemed this term's student population would be mainly made up from orphans.<p>

'_That won't make things easier. The other kids from the orphanage never liked me.'_

Soon the yard was full even if there was an empty circle around Naruto, and the academy director made some speech about the greatness of Konoha and what role the young generation would play. Then the Hokage spoke some words in a similar vein before the students were divided into different classes and led away by their assigned homeroom teachers.

His teacher was a grizzled man with several scars and a stern demeanor who eyed him with thinly veiled hatred. The man's leg below his knee was replaced by a wooden prosthetic, giving him a pronounced limp. "My name is Kazuhiro Takaki, you will address me as either Kazuhiro-sensei, sensei or sir. I will be your main teacher for the next five years. When I call your name you will stand up and give a short introduction."

Kazuhiro took a sheet of paper in his hand and began reading names. "Aoki, Ai…."

During the process Naruto began wondering what most of the children even wanted at the academy. _'None of them seems to have any real idea why they want to become ninja. Most of their dreams don't even make sense from that perspective.'_

It took some time, but finally it was his turn. Considering the role he had to play, he didn't stand up but jumped on the table. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and my dream is forming my own clan!" he shouted.

Kazuhiro's face twisted into a sneer. "A clan of good-for-nothings, I have no doubt. Sit down, and detention for your unseemly outburst. Congratulations, Uzumaki, for managing to get a detention on your fist day. You seem to be in a hurry to make a name for yourself and your… clan." The last word was spoken in obvious disgust. Naruto sat back down while the rest of the class erupted in laughter.

'_Well, my first day could have gone better.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> And another chapter finished for you to enjoy and hopefully review. In the next chapter Naruto finally finds a few friends, it should be ready in about a week.

Originally I didn't intend to make the seal that bad, but that changed when I reread some of the manga. The part about the seal influencing Naruto's mind is my own idea, even if I think it likely considering the 4ths actions. The important thing is that the seal on Naruto and the Shinigami seal are two different seals. The latter was used to seal away the Kyuubi's Yin-chakra for no discernable reason (killing the Kyuubi permanently is a fanon theory and inconsistent with Minato's stated goal of maintaining the balance of the tailed beasts) and the reason for the Yondaime's death - prior to that he was not seriously hurt. The lethal claw attack happened later.

It's canon that the man knowingly condemned Naruto to a life as jinchuuriki even if his wife was perfectly capable of containing the problem for a time, more precisely resealing it into her. If Kushina died the Kyuubi would have reformed after a time - a time in which Minato could have told others about Tobi and make preparations and didn't leave his son orphaned. Just think how much damage could have been avoided if he had hunted Tobi down immediately (who was seriously wounded and tagged with a Hirashin seal). Heck, Kushina might even have survived if he got her immediate medical attention.

Then the man even had the gall to say he was doing all this for Naruto. Frankly, I lost all respect for him at the time. Sealing a bijuu into a human because there is no other choice at the cost of one's life is reasonable (while still shitty from the perspective of the now-jinchuuriki), but I consider deliberately creating a jicnhuuriki without need an evil act. The tailed beast taking over is a very real danger, like what happened with B's predecessors in Kumo. I wouldn't put it beyond him to put some additional things into the seal, just so that Naruto stays on his nice preplanned route. Naruto's reaction, or rather lack thereof, was very telling in my opinion.

What exactly was preventing Tobi from abducting Naruto after a few years and repeating his stunt with the Kyuubi? A teleporting enemy (that no one in Konoha knows about) is a security nightmare. He showed that he could undetectedly enter Konoha during the Uchiha massacre.

Note that in this story Minato had a (from his perspective) very good reason for what he did. It won't be revealed until much, much later, though.

So long!


	6. Chapter 5: Friends are hard to find

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 5: Friends are hard to find**

A lone figure stood in the midst of a grassy field under the night sky, gazing into the heavens. If some observer had been around, he would have taken the figure for a normal blonde child of perhaps six years of age who was known in nearby Konoha as the container of the nine-tailed fox, village pariah and occasional prankster. That impression would only last until said observer had the opportunity to look into the eyes of the figure.

In place of the normal eyes of deepest blue that the Uzumaki child sported he would have seen two solid colored orbs of the darkest black imaginable. They looked less like visual organs and more like gateways to some infinite abyss. If one had the willpower to keep looking one would perhaps notice some tiny dots of light that whirled in a complex dance in the endless depths. From the bottom of these pits an incredibly alien entity studied the world.

He was the Lord of the Starry Night, and he watched his work in satisfaction. The flow from the spring of magic he had created half a year ago was stable and slowly imbuing the landscape. Its creation had been a calculated risk, but fortunately all had panned out. The amount of power he had to channel through Naruto had posed a heavy strain on his precious son's sanity, but they had seen no alternative to the creation of this sanctuary at the earliest possible moment. He had reduced his possessions of his son's body to once a month in the aftermath to be on the safe side, but the danger was now over. Naruto's sanity was stronger than ever before and the magic supplied by the spring eased considerably on future pressure. No longer had he to completely rely on his own power that he had to cumbersomely draw from his realm on the edge of dreams, routing it around and through Naruto's consciousness before he could wield it in the waking world. He could now use a bit of his power as catalyst and take the rest from the spring. It would only work in the relative vicinity of the spring; the further away Naruto was from the sanctuary the harder it became.

In that the spring of magic behaved pretty much like a more mundane one on a completely flat plane. You had the spring itself that provided a lot of water in a constant flow. Surrounding it was a pool washed out by the pressure of the water that held a lot of volume but was ultimately finite. Outside of that a thin film of water was spreading in all directions, before it was absorbed by the ground. The sanctuary was the pool, and the magic was slowly permeating and changing the woods and meadows in its area. The colors seemed more vibrant, the woods more alive, everything was more real. At this point in time the process was gradually becoming perceptible. In the future when the effect grew stronger new unique species of plants and later animals would begin popping up in the sanctuary, perhaps even some supernatural beings like tree spirits.

The radius of usable magic had spread approximately twenty kilometers outwards and looked to stay that way. They would have to create a lot more springs and later connect them with lines of power until magic could be used in a more widespread area by humans. Konoha was solidly inside of the magic zone, meaning he could begin to teach Naruto the beginnings of sorcery. Nothing powerful, but small things that would help him in his life. In contrast to him his son would be unable to tap into the power of the spring if he left the sanctuary and would therefore need to settle for a lot less power. As they hadn't come up yet with a systematic approach to magic, most things had to be done in a rather cumbersome and energy-intensive manner until someone developed an organized system of mortal sorcery that fit this world. Come to think of it, that would probably mainly be Naruto's job.

But the most important thing was that he now had access to more power. He and his mate lived with the constant fear that some members of Akatsuki or someone completely unexpected would show up early and try to take Naruto away or kill him. The regeneration ability they had given him protected him adequately from accidents but was absolutely no good against a determined enemy. The Akatsuki would then proceed to use their ritual to try and extract the Kyuubi.

Unfortunately for them the Kyuubi as they knew it no longer existed. If they ripped out his mate via the extraction ritual they would only manage to completely obliterate their beloved Naruto's soul while injuring his mate grievously because of their close connection, but it would do absolutely nothing to him aside from giving him his freedom. Which he would immediately use to make their suffering legendary for eons to come. Not that it would do any good for their son; he would be irretrievably gone forever. His mate would eventually recover from her injuries after about a century, but they were determined to avoid such a scenario at all costs.

Now, with access to some external magic he could intervene directly in an emergency without undue risk to Naruto's sanity. There would still be trouble down the line with the villagers if he had to intervene, but it was no longer an existentialist threat to Naruto's wellbeing. If only his original plan had worked. He and his mate would be free by now and they would have found a loving family in a distant land far away from any potential trouble for Naruto who would have no longer to shoulder his fate as a jinchuuriki. Alas, the completely unforeseen attack of the caretaker on Naruto's mind had thrown everything off the tracks, and now they were both intimately bound to Naruto and saw him as their own son. And now the boy had an even grander destiny before him if he chose their path.

After some time he was finally finished with the monthly observation of the inner sanctuary. He had about an hour left before he had to end the possession and return to his realm. Delicately he placed his borrowed body on a soft bed of moss. It was time to check on the outer wards. Luckily he had succeeded with one of his other ideas and wouldn't need to drag his son's irreplaceable body around. With a bit of concentration he left the body in a newly created spectral form and took to the air on ethereal wings filled by the wind of magic. He wouldn't be able to leave the limits of the magical zone because he had to maintain a connection with the body holding the main part of his being, but everything in it was free game. The spectral form had almost no functionality as a spying tool because his perception was decidedly strange. He could perceive the normally invisible magic clearly and living things as well as chakra to a lesser degree, but sound perception and normal vision was beyond him. Meaning he could neither read notes or hidden scrolls nor was he able to eavesdrop on people. On the plus side he was incorporeal and invisible. Flying at a leisurely pace, he reached the boundary of the sanctuary.

He carefully observed the eddies created by flow of magic at the edge of the sanctuary. Two months ago he had finished the first and most important line of defense. It was now almost impossible to find the sanctuary if you didn't know where and what it was. It was by no means impenetrable, but it was a start. He would slowly add more protections until the sanctuary was reasonably safe. The next project would be the establishment of a direct connection to the sanctuary from a hidden location in Konoha to spare Naruto the strenuous monthly teleport from and to his apartment. Inspection finished, he decided to have a bit of fun for a few minutes and flew higher. His realm might appear almost indistinguishable from the real world to Naruto and his mate, but as its creator he was only too aware of its limits. Here, in the waking world, there was no feeling of confinement, and for a few minutes he was able to feel free.

* * *

><p>Daiki's amusement was cut short as he felt a strong draw on the magic field located in distant Konoha. That was cause for concern. Even if the humans were blissfully unaware of the existence of magic, some of the more esoteric chakra using techniques were conceivably able to tap into it in roundabout ways. Especially some rituals using seals or specific types of ninjutsu were potential candidates for that to happen. Until the creation of the sanctuary, there was simply no magic around to influence things, so who knew what could happen now when some hapless mortals used a ritual that inadvertently drew some magic? One thing was for certain, it would most certainly augment whatever they were doing to a dangerous degree.<p>

As he drew closer to the village, he could differentiate between two different sources of the draw. One was located somewhere under the Nara compound, but the draw it caused was steady and very slight, meaning investigating it could wait. The strong draw originated very obviously from the Kurama clan holdings. Most of the buildings were enveloped in a veritable maelstrom of flames made from chakra and magic, and the fire was even now spreading further. The flames seemed somehow sentient as they took the forms of monster and animals and seemed to make an effort of tracking some fleeing humans down. One specific line of flame was even zigzagging as it followed one particular shinobi. The man finally took to jumping from tree to tree, evidently hoping to escape the flames in this way. Unfortunately for him the line of fire split in two, one incinerating the tree he was standing on a moment ago while the other engulfed the tree he had jumped to. The shinobi did not survive.

The conflagration was very obviously not natural and still spreading. If not stopped soon, it could pose a threat to the village proper. Luckily the Kurama holdings were a bit isolated from the rest of the city. He had to find the origin of the flames and cut the draw before it was too late. As he neared the main building he noticed a considerable mental pressure. Whoever managed to escape the flames would be driven insane in short order. Interestingly it enabled him to sense his surroundings much better than normal. Phasing through solid walls he perceived several humans reacting to imaginary surroundings and enemies before the fire claimed them.

Finally he found the point of origin of the fire. It was apparently some sort of ritual chamber with a complicated seal array carved into the floor that was still partially active. A number of partly burned human bodies were strewn through the room. Some were still alive but obviously insane. More interesting to him were the occupants sitting in the center of the array. A monstrous semitransparent apparition was hovering in the air and screaming in agony. Torrents of flames were spreading outward from it, but not all seemed corporeal. That he could even perceive the screaming indicated that the figure was the source of the mental pressure as well. Directly underneath the phantom untouched by the fire sat a human girl of about the same age as Naruto who was holding her head and was screaming as well.

He needed more information on what was going on here, so he sent some mental probes into the still living humans. Normally he refrained from entering the minds of healthy humans because it cost him more energy than he could really afford in the current state of affairs and the affected humans would almost assuredly notice his attempts. These humans here posed no such difficulty. Their minds were shattered beyond recognition and offered no resistance. It was far more challenging to make sense of the fragmented remains of memories, but he wasn't an expert of the mind arts for nothing.

After a short while he managed to gather enough information to understand the situation. Apparently the Kurama bloodline was faltering, and had been for a long time, probably even before Konoha's founding. Most clan members couldn't access the enhanced genjutsu capabilities that it theoretically provided. The clan had tried increased inbreeding in an attempt to revive the bloodline, but that had only led to a more rapid decline. Many currently living clan members were infertile, and they had lost some key people in the last decades to a string of bad luck. The clan had long ago taken to elaborate rituals to awaken the weakening bloodline in the young members. The scene he was looking at should have been the initiation of the clan heiress, but the ritual had gone completely out of control when it tapped into the newly freed magic.

When he compared the aquired memories with his own knowledge about chakra he came to an suprising conclusion. Even if the ritual had worked without interference, it wouldn't have had the desired result. Yes, it would have strengthened the girl's capabilities in the area of genjutsu a great deal, probably even enabling her to blur the line between illusion and reality. At the same time, it would have weakened her already low physical capabilities further and damaged her mind permanently. Most likely a monstrous or psychotic second personality that would fight with the main one for control would have emerged. That was probably the semi-transparent apparition hovering in the room. Now that he knew what to look for he found a lot of earlier mental damage in all the adults present.

Apparently the Kurama didn't really know what they were doing. The used some barely understood seals in ludicrous combinations and hoped for the best. He could only compare it to randomly poking pointy sticks in someone's brain and expecting no negative effects. And they weren't even aware what they were doing to their own offspring. Fools and amateurs the lot of them. The girl's mind looked like someone had raked red-hot claws straight through it several times, and she was the least damaged. She was sitting in the proverbial eye of the storm, and aside from one older man that had apparently tried to reach her everyone else was either dead, dying or incurably insane. It seemed Konoha was about to lose a second great clan after the Senju, not that many people even remembered the Kurama.

The question was what he should do about the situation. He could simply kill the girl; that would interrupt the ritual and extinguish the fire, but it was very inelegant. There had to be a way for him to profit from the situation. He quickly calculated several scenarios in his mind. The girl was roughly the same age as Naruto, and if she survived with her health and mind intact would most certainly meet him at the academy. He could now assure that his son found a friend and ally. Perhaps there would even develop some romantic feelings later, but he wouldn't do anything to force that. His mate fantasizing about grandchildren was already enough for him, a downside of claiming the life domain. Though it would take all his remaining time this cycle and cut short the next one, it seemed a worthwhile investment.

He quickly isolated the intact parts of the girl's mind and wrested control of the fire from the apparition. Then he took control of the old man and had him carry the girl to a hermetically sealed cellar that he had seen in one of the memories. That should protect them from the fire. He proceeded to use the fire to destroy all incriminating evidence of the ritual and released the insane humans from their suffering. After that he severed forcefully the magic flow of the ritual. Immediately the mental pressure stopped, and the fire lost its supernatural properties. Now he had to solve the tricky part.

He entered the airtight shelter where the girl and old man were located. After a careful examination he decided he had to do something about the girl's bloodline. That thing was dangerously unstable. It took considerable effort, but he managed not only to repair the mind of both the girl and her uncle but twist the old bloodline into something new. The girl would no longer be able to make her illusions real, but would retain an unparalleled affinity to genjutsu illusions and gain the ability to create real sound and pictures easily via ninjutsu. Most people probably wouldn't even notice the difference until the girl was far older.

Daiki ran into a problem when he had to fix the damage from the inbreeding. He only had the access he did because of the aftereffects of the ritual. The next time he would be able to act in the real world he would be unable to further manipulate the girl's genetic makeup. Due to his tight time limit he had to take some shortcuts, meaning that the new bloodline would only be active in the girl's female descendants. Male descendants would carry an inactive form and would be able to pass it along to their children, but only the girls would be able to activate it. Additionally he brought the girl's physical abilities up to a tad below average. After leaving a few subtle compulsions to get to know Naruto in her subconsciousness, he turned to the girl's uncle. He barely had enough time to fix the worst of the man's injuries until his time ran out. The man would probably only be around for a few more years, his injuries were too grave for anything more.

He had done all he could for the girl, now he had to spend some quality time with his family. Quickly returning to Naruto's body, he teleported the boy back into his apartment and dove to the doorway anchored deep in his son's mind that led to his realm.

* * *

><p>Naruto was standing in the halls of the academy, holding a bucket of water in each hand. He had been sent out of the classroom for 'disturbing the lecture' when the asshole seated two rows behind him had ignited a firecracker. Naturally, he had been blamed and was therefore missing another lesson. The walls were thick enough to prevent even him from eavesdropping and learning at least part of whatever the old fart in front was lecturing about. He used the free time to think about his situation.<p>

After five months Naruto was sure: He officially hated the academy. All of the teachers he came into contact with seemed to dislike his presence or outright hate him. That fact didn't surprise Naruto, as many of them were chunin that were unfit for active duty due to crippling injuries and the Kyuubi attack had produced a lot of those. What surprised him was the degree to which they allowed it to influence their professional conduct. Their homeroom teacher was the worst of them. He was a middle-aged man named Kazuhiro Takaki who had lost his right leg in the attack. From his mutterings when the man believed himself out of earshot Naruto deduced that two of his brothers had also been killed. The teacher used the flimsiest possible excuses to punish him and sent him out of the class, thereby preventing him from witnessing the lectures. He even timed it specifically for Naruto to miss the most crucial parts of the lessons. The other teachers were somewhat better, but they too tried to make his education as unpleasant as possible. If he asked a question he was subjected to ridicule without being provided an answer, his test papers were graded much more harshly than those of his peers and some instructors even tried to teach him faulty lessons.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do anything about it because the slightly dumb persona he had created as a cover wouldn't be able to recognize that the lessons were faulty. The bastards were careful to limit themselves to forms of harassment and sabotage that could be easily explained away. The faulty taijutsu stance he was taught for example was inconspicuous enough that it could pass as an honest oversight on the instructor's part even if it would seriously hamper his balance in a battle, and the punishments had been gradually increased. They were even busy building a paper trail that painted him as a notorious troublemaker, inattentive in class and general academic underachiever. Combined with the less than stellar reports from his orphanage time it would lead even an unbiased person to the conclusion that he was a lazy mischief-maker that the teachers tried and failed to properly educate. It wasn't even a collusive effort on their part; each teacher did his little thing independently as far as Naruto was able to discover.

To top it off, none of his mostly noticeably older peers wanted to associate with him apart from some snide remarks. The adults had thoroughly poisoned them against him and his cover as low-skilled student didn't help much in the friendship department. Some of the faces he even recognized from his time in the orphanage. They were already busy with spreading rumors about him, making his social situation even more difficult. Not that any of them had enough potential to make the effort to befriend them worth his time. It may have been a bit early to judge, but Naruto was unimpressed with their potential. They were a thoroughly substandard bunch of mainly civilian, single shinobi or unknown origin. Some of them might acquire some modicum of skill and make it to a middling position if they put supreme effort into it, but most would end up either dismissed or as cannon fodder. Especially as none of them showed any particular drive to succeed. He wondered why this cycle of the academy was so overpopulated with lackluster students.

'_Probably because all potential candidates, or rather their parents, are waiting for the clan heirs to start their education. After all, if your child is in the same class and manages to strike up a friendship with one of them the connection could be very valuable later in political terms. I wonder how high the bribes for the members of the academy administration have risen._' Naruto mused.

All in all, it was a colossal waste of his time. He was neither gaining friends nor getting a decent education. The question was what he could do about it. If he had been the lonely orphan of six years that everyone believed him to be, the treatment would have almost assuredly caused him to develop a habit of neglecting his education and skipping class as often as possible. Luckily, his mind was far older than his six year old body, though even he wasn't sure by how much. The time flowed irregularly at the edge of dreams, and he could only guess the amount of time he had spent there. Around six years by now was his best estimate. He wouldn't even have caught many of the deliberate falsehoods he was taught if it weren't for his parents. A part of their weekly time together was always spent with a careful examination of the week's events. They might not have the necessary shinbobi knowledge to teach him themselves, but they could spot most inconsistencies and errors.

Still, all that double-checking cut pretty severely into his time to learn other things. He needed to learn the basics of the shinobi arts, but he didn't want to neglect his magical and other studies. They were far too useful for that. After a nightly visit to the teacher's library last week he owned copies of the various instruction manuals and the entire current school curriculum. Unfortunately, these things weren't as useful as he had hoped. The more advanced subjects required the knowledge of the basics, and he wasn't able to learn the basics without spending an inordinate amount of time playing trial-and-error. Whoever had written the manuals had assumed the reader already knew the material and needed only help in teaching it. Most practical subjects at the basic level were normally taught without the help of textbooks for the students as they required the molding of chakra or physical exercises; and it was generally considered easier for a teacher to show them how it was done rather than to give the students a written description for which they lacked the correct frame of reference to understand it easily. That changed somewhat starting with the second year, but one needed to know and completely understand the stuff from the first year to properly utilize the second year books.

The shinobi library probably had detailed guides for beginners in its inventory, but Naruto wasn't allowed in there until he made genin. Neither were his skills as a burglar developed enough to stage a break-in without setting off the security measures. After all, the details of shinobi training were considered a village secret, albeit a lower-ranking one. He had already checked the civilian library under a disguise. It was possible to reconstruct the necessary lessons from the books he found there, but it would be the same time-consuming process as if he used the teaching manuals.

Now the question was what he should do. He could simply soldier on and learn what he could, it would be enough to pass the tests but his grasp of the basics would remain somewhat shaky. It would come back to haunt him later in his career when he tried his hand on more advanced stuff and it would cost him a lot of time to revisit all the material he had missed or learned incorrectly.

He could invest the time to meticulously reconstruct and double-check all the stuff he was supposed to learn in his first academy year. That would help him in respect to his shinobi career, but throw him back drastically in his other activities. In both this and the first course of action he ran the risk that the teachers would sabotage him even more drastically in later years.

Or he could focus on the fields besides his shinobi training for now, take whatever the idiot instructors actually taught him and then deliberately fail the progression tests so he would be forced to repeat the year. Even if the new set of instructors continued in the same vein as the old ones, they wouldn't botch his education in exactly the same way. If he compared the teachings it would be relatively easy to figure out the correct ones. Heck, he might even get lucky with the new teachers and get someone who didn't hate his guts.

Furthermore, he knew a lot of clan heirs were roughly the same age as him and would be entering the academy at the usual age in a year or two. If he timed it right he might be able to get into their academic cycle. His father had said that it was important for him to get to know them, and that some might even grow to be his friends.

'_Right, that decides it right now. I don't want to stay friendless besides the nice ramen people and become some antisocial loner. Deliberately failing the tests it is.'_ he thought.

It was probably too late to do this for the upcoming set of progression tests at the end of this month as the test results of the in-semester assignments counted towards the end result. He had done badly on these assignments, but not badly enough. To lower his average score enough to repeat the semester he would have to totally bomb the progression tests. Unfortunately, if he did that badly he courted the danger of being thrown out of the academy altogether, and that simply wouldn't do. He had to achieve a low enough score to be barred from advancing, but not so low that he would be classified as hopeless and dropped from the program.

'_Great, another six months scooped up with these losers. Well, it could be worse._'

In that moment, the school clock rang and the door to the classroom beside him opened. The students began to pour out, eager to get home. Of course, some of his special friends used the opportunity to barge against him, causing the buckets to clatter onto the floor and spilling their contents.

'_Oh yes, how could I forget them?_'

Standing before him with a smirk on his face was Haguro, self-appointed top dog of the class and incidentally nephew to Kazuhiro-sensei, and his three little followers. The boy was already almost ten years of age and towered above his classmates, using his relative physical superiority to rule over the mostly seven- and eight-year olds. In reality he was quite pathetic, repeating the first year for the third time. Naruto suspected that his uncle had pulled quite a lot of strings to keep him enrolled in the academy, because the boy was only good at boasting and being a thug to children several years his junior. He had to lay low the years before because his former, more competent classmates didn't let him get away with his bullying. Unfortunately, now that he was in Naruto's class and with his uncle as sensei to boot, he apparently believed it was his time in the sun. He had found three little helpers that Naruto remembered as bullies from the orphanage and began terrorizing the class. With the general skill level what it was nobody stood up to him. Naruto could have handled him, but that would produce questions he didn't want to answer.

"Hey midget, too weak to hold two little buckets? Here let me help you pick them up."

Haguro bent down and picked the bucket up, but instead of giving it back he simply emptied it on top of Naruto's head.

"That's for your monthly bath, loser. Come on guys, let's grab something to eat."

Outwardly calm but seething internally, Naruto picked up both buckets and was about to take them back into the classroom when a rasping voice sounded behind him.

"I hope you didn't want to leave without cleaning up your mess, Uzumaki?" asked Kazuhiro with an expression that begged him to give his teacher an excuse for punishing him further.

"No, sensei. I will clean it up immediately." Naruto answered in forcibly calm voice.

"See that you do."

With that, the teacher disappeared in direction of the teacher's lounge. Naturally, he ignored the drenched status of Naruto's wardrobe. After cleaning the floor, Naruto left as quickly as he could towards his apartment. A change of clothes and some ramen later Naruto was lying on his bed thinking.

The bullying slowly reached completely unacceptable levels, but Kazuhiro wouldn't do anything about it. Neither would the other teachers as long as Kazuhiro held his hand above his nephew. Naruto couldn't act too much out of character lest some very uncomfortable questions be asked. That ruled out simply killing the assholes or putting them openly into their place. A murder of an academy student would trigger a professional investigation, and he wasn't good enough yet to hide his tracks from competent shinobi above genin level. Besides, he wasn't sure that he was ready to kill a human. That left pranking, but he would need to maintain plausible deniability.

He would have to ask his parents for some ideas, but this would be his first pranking campaign in contrast to isolated pranks. Slowly, an evil grin spread across Naruto's face and his eyes glinted with malice. Prank them he would, and by the time he was finished with the four boys and the teacher they would need quite a lot of counseling if they ever wanted to lead a normal life again.

* * *

><p>"Hokage-sama, Naruto Uzumaki is here as ordered." the ANBU with the rabbit mask said as he stuck his head into the room.<p>

"Thank you Rabbit, please send him in." Sarutobi answered in a tired voice.

"Hey Old Man, you wanted to see me?" Naruto shouted as he ran into the room, bright smile on his face.

"Hello Naruto-kun. Yes, I sent for you. There are some matters of importance we have to discuss."

"Great, are you finally ready to grant me clan head status? Or promote me to genin because I'm so awesome? Or send me on a super secret mission to rescue some princess? Or…"

Sarutobi had to suppress a chuckle at the boy's antics. He wouldn't let himself become distracted from the matter on hand.

"No, I'm quite sure you know what this is about."

The old man gave the boy his best 'I am so disappointed look', but Naruto simply stared back with an innocent and slightly confused expression.

"Huh?"

The Hokage sighed. Apparently Naruto wasn't willing to make things easy, as his mask of confusion was quite good. Not enough to fool a man of his experience, but quite good nonetheless. He tapped his pipe on a high stack of papers sitting on his desk.

"These here are complaints from your teacher Takaki-san on behalf of him and his nephew. He claims harassment of the boy and three others at your hands. Now, what do you have to say for yourself?" the Hokage asked in a stern voice.

Naruto folded his arms. "I don't know what you're talking about, Old Man. I've never laid a hand on any of them outside of spars at the academy."

"Then let me refresh your memory. " He grabbed the top sheet from the stack and began to read loudly. "Three days ago Takaki-san found termites in his wooden leg. On the same day, his nephew was found hanging gagged from the top of the academy building only clad in diapers. His friend found all his undergarments drenched with itching powder. Another one loses control of his… ahem, bodily functions at random times, probably caused by some unknown poison. Yesterday a family of weasels took somehow residence in Tataki-san's teacher's locker." The Hokage looked up from his sheet of paper. "Do I need to continue? You have been blamed for all of the pranks played in the last weeks."

"You can't pin anything on me! I wasn't even near them most of the time! There are a lot of people who might have done that. Haguro and his cronies are always bullying the other students. Just last week he broke the nose of Aya after she didn't want to give him her lunch money. She went to Kazuhiro-sensei but he simply said she did it herself to slander Haguro. Several people saw it, but none of the other teachers will do anything. The following day Haguro broke her arm for telling tales about him." Naruto shouted. "And besides, nobody saw whoever did the pranks." he added in a much calmer tone.

Sarutobi considered the complaints he had read and realized the boy was right. At no point had he been seen actually perpetrating one of the deeds he was accused of, and if what the boy said was true there were plenty of other people who had a motive. He would have to look into that. Some amount of roughhousing and bullying was normal between children and even served as a training tool. But if a teacher was showing nepotism to such a degree that he overlooked serious injuries, things were getting out of hand. The Hokage was pretty sure that Naruto had done the pranks, but there was indeed no proof. Besides, he didn't really want to punish the boy; some of the pranks were quite funny. He had laughed for half an hour after seeing the stern Kazuhiro Takaki covered in pink feathers trying to get away from a pack of hounds that were all trying to hump his legs.

"Very well, you can leave for now; I will look into the matter."

"Thanks Old Man. Say, do you want to go eat some ramen with me? " Naruto said while looking at him with hopeful eyes.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I have too much work to do. Perhaps another time."

They boy's shoulders dropped. "Okay. See you soon, Old Man."

After Naruto had left the office, the Hokage pondered who he could send to look into the situation. Normally the misbehavior of some academy students and a teacher wouldn't justify sending an ANBU, he had few enough of them at his disposal. Then an idea struck him. The ANBU Frog was currently on medical leave because of an injury and not fit for normal duty, but constantly badgering the doctors to clear him because he was bored. He could assign him to spy on the suspect children and teacher; that would get him off the back of the medics and the medics in turn would stop filing complaints. Less boredom for the ANBU, less hassle for the medics, less paperwork for him. It was light duty inside the village, and really, what could go wrong? He quickly scribbled an order and put it in his out-tray. Satisfied, he placed the stack of harassment complaints in the circular file and returned to some more important work. Now, where had he left the report on the increasing tensions between the Uchiha and the rest of the village? It would probably be best if he…

* * *

><p>Naruto was mentally laughing as he left the Hokage tower. The old man had reacted exactly as planned and would send someone to investigate soon. All he had to do was lay low for a while until the investigation was over. If it led to the sacking of Kazuhiro-sensei he could stop with his campaign for good. If not, well, there were so many usable plants and animals in the woods with interesting effects, some of them still unknown to the ninja world at large and he had barely tapped into his trapping skills. Who knew what fun you could have with a basic bear trap, three pieces of rope, a lever, a glass of honey and some fire ants? He would have to continue playing pranks occasionally to test his skills. Heck, he could even deliberately show himself to create a pursuit scenario. All for the sake of training, of course, not because it was fun.<p>

It was really surprising how few pranks he had to do to create his reputation; they had just to be widely visible. His favorite targets had been the civilian shopkeepers that treated him badly out of spite, but they hardly posed a challenge anymore. Kazuhiro-sensei had been a bit more difficult, but the man had let his skills decay badly. It was more difficult to keep the pranks from becoming dangerous than to hit his targets. A big prank every few months, preferably done while wearing that horrible bright orange jumpsuit he had acquired and nobody would pay him much attention when he wore his normal clothes. It would also lay the groundwork for a reputation of ingenuity, which would become useful later when he revealed more of the true scope of his abilities.

Naruto still wasn't sure what the Hokage's game was, and how much he knew about the seal's secondary functions. If he didn't know anything and was really that kindly, well-meaning grandfather-like man Naruto was wasting a lot of time by holding back and playing slightly dumb. On the other hand, if all that was an elaborate plan to mould him into a pliable tool it would be disastrous if Naruto gave any indication that he wasn't the seal-addled idiot that he would have become if not for the interference of his father. Naruto knew which of the two options he considered more likely. After all, one didn't become, and more importantly stay, the Kage of a major village by being overly sentimental and ineffective. He had no illusions that he could stand up to real shinobi that were out to kill him. Or survive a prolonged torture session with his mind intact. Heck, if Naruto was as important to Sarutobi as the man led him to believe, why didn't he offer him any help in his studies by assigning a tutor? He knew his progress in the academy was reported to him, he had seen one of the written reports on his break-in of the teacher's lounge, and another one lying on the Hokage's desk. There were enough shinobi who would do it simply because the village leader asked nicely. His grades were bad enough to justify it, and his living alone meant that there was no one he could ask for help.

Well, no sense in bitching about it further. Perhaps it was time to put more effort in the search for possible friends outside of the academy.

* * *

><p>"You can't play ninja with us!"<p>

The brown-haired boy was taken aback. "Why?"

"'cuz, whichever team that's got you will definitely lose! You're so slow."

He looked in the faces of the other children, but nobody spoke up in his defense. Disheartened, he turned around and left them to their game. Perhaps it would have been different if Shikamaru had been present. He knew him and Ino because their fathers were close friends, but recently the Nara boy had become increasingly lazy. It was hard to get him to do anything beside cloud watching and doing that in the long run was boring. He decided to ask his father for advice.

"…and they say that the Akimichi clan has only dumb fat asses. Everyone says that…"

"Hmm, I see." The large older man looked at his son in concern. "But Choji, you've got a kinder heart than anyone I know. There will be someone who will see that in you, and become your friend. If you meet him, treat him as your best friend, and become comrades who will trust in each other more than anything else."

Choji was reassured by these words and favored his father with a beaming smile. He would try again and find a new friend. The following day, Choji visited one of the many parks of Konoha. Unfortunately, his attempts at making friends were unsuccessful so far.

"Why would we want to play with a tub of lard like you? Get lost."

His shoulders sagging, he left the other children to their game and was already on his way home when something completely unexpected happened.

"Hello, do you want to play with me?"

Choji looked up in surprise and blinked. Before him stood a boy with bright blond hair and whisker marks on his cheeks who looked at him expectantly. He held a leather ball in his hands and waited patiently for Choji to answer.

"Um, sure. My name is Choji Akimichi, who're you?"

"That's great; nobody else wants to play with me. Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you."

Choji instantly liked the blond boy. He was friendly, energetic and didn't hold it against Choji when he was too slow to catch the ball. After two hours of playing in a private corner of the park Choji was exhausted but very happy to have found a friend.

"I'm done for. How about we get something to eat? There are several food stands close by." Choji said.

"There's no need, I've brought lunch with me. We can share if you like."

Now Choji was in a quandary. He didn't believe Naruto was familiar with the amounts an Akimichi considered sufficient food and he didn't want to eat all of Naruto's lunch, but it would be impolite to refuse. If he ended up eating too much, he would simply have to pay for additional food from the vendors. "I'd like that, thanks."

"No problem, I've more than enough with me. Wait a moment."

Naruto climbed a nearby tree and returned a few seconds later with a basket full of food, the amount of which would make every Akimichi proud. Cold duck, several pastries and even a simple cake. The taste wasn't entirely up to his usual fare, but quite good nonetheless. After all, there were few cooks better than his mother and other clansmen.

"That was quite good, thanks for sharing."

"Thanks, I cooked it myself."

Now Choji was truly surprised. A boy of roughly his own age had cooked all this? "Wow, that's impressive. Did you learn that from your parents?"

Naruto's face fell for a moment before he resumed his happy expression. "No, I learned it all by myself. My parents died long ago, I've never known them."

"Oh, sorry to have brought that up."

Naruto dismissed his concerns. "You couldn't have known. How's it like to grow up with a large family? I heard the Akimichi are one of the largest clans." he asked with a slightly wistful expression.

They spent the afternoon chatting amicably. Choji told of his life as part of one of Konoha's great clans and Naruto regaled him with tales of his exploits in the academy.

"Wow, you're already an academy student, that's great. How do you like it?"

Naruto scowled. "The shinobi training is great, but the teachers? It's like they try to make me fail. I don't think I'll make the next grade this year. On the positive side, if I repeat the year the kids should be more my age."

"Why would the teachers do that?" Choji asked in astonishment.

"I don't know why, but all the adults in the village either ignore or hate me, and they tell their children to stay away from me. You're the first one who actually played with me." Naruto looked at him hopefully. "Would you like to be my friend?" he asked and held out his hand.

Choji remembered what his father had told him and shook the offered hand. "Sure, I'd like that."

They continued talking for a while and Choji learned that Naruto's greatest wish was to found a clan so that he could have a large family and would never be alone. It was then that Choji realized for the first time how great a treasure his family was. Even if the other children didn't want to play with him, there were always his parents or some of his countless uncles, aunts and cousins to turn to. Shikamaru and Ino were the same, they had both large families. Naruto had no one. He could hardly imagine such a life. That only hardened his resolve to be the best friend possible for the blond boy.

All too soon it became evening, and Choji had to return home. He arranged a meeting with Naruto in one week at the same spot. Choji would have liked it sooner, but Naruto said he was busy with the academy. He couldn't wait what his father would say when he told him of his new best friend.

* * *

><p>Naruto could hardly believe his luck. He had tried for almost two weeks to befriend someone, and the first one to accept his offer of friendship was the Akimichi clan heir of all people. Naruto liked the boy and felt already the beginnings of a genuine friendship. It was advantageous that Choji would be politically connected later and had good potential as a shinobi. He would have tried to befriend him further regardless of that, people he could possibly call friend were precious in every case, but it was a nice bonus.<p>

The ball game had been fun, and it had served for Naruto to get a good impression of Choji's general physical skills while the following conversation allowed him some insights into the boy's mind. He liked what he found there. If he could gain Choji's friendship he would get an ally that would stand with him no matter what. Naruto intended to reciprocate. He would do his utmost to be a good friend to Choji.

The only question remaining was if Choji's parents would allow him to pursue this friendship.

* * *

><p>Choza Akimichi listened good-naturedly to his son telling him of his day in the park. Apparently he had made a new friend. He hadn't expected his talk to Choji yesterday to show results quite so soon. Only listening with half an ear, he became suddenly alert when he heard the name of his son's new friend.<p>

Naruto Uzumaki. The jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko and perhaps last person the Akimichi clan head wanted anywhere near his family. A demon container was dangerous, and he had pushed for the boy to be raised in a remote location far from the village. His attempts had been to no avail, the Sandaime had gotten his way to give the boy a 'normal' upbringing. What idiot counted being raised in an orphanage and confronted with the villagers' animosity normal he would never know. From what he gathered from Choji's still ongoing tale the boy had been extremely lonely and was desperate for friendship.

It was time for him to make a decision. He could forbid Choji from meeting Naruto ever again, but the consequences might prove disastrous. After his speech yesterday it would appear hypocritical to the extreme if he did that, especially because he couldn't explain his reasoning to his son. The Sandaime's law made that impossible. Choza knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he belied his own words and principles in such a way. Even worse, he might lose the respect of his own son.

'_Damn my luck. Why had it to be the jinchuuriki of all people that my son wants to befriend? If it had been Shikaku's boy things would have been so much easier.'_

"… wanted to ask if I could invite Naruto the week after next?"

This was it, his moment of decision. "Sure Choji, whenever your little friend has time."

Choza only hoped his choice wouldn't cost his family dearly.

* * *

><p>Naruto was bored. Naruto was very bored. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and ended the attempts to feel and direct his chakra. The boy left the sitting position to stretch himself before he lay down on the grass. Cloud watching was definitely more interesting than chakra exercises.<p>

"Already slacking off, kit? What would your father say when he learns about it?" a voice sounded from behind him.

Naruto jumped up and spun around to see his mother standing behind him with an amused expression.

"But mom, it's soooo boring. Why do I have to do so much training to make my control better?" he asked in a whiny voice.

Youko studied Naruto for a few moments. "It seems a lesson is required. Come along, I show you why you need to learn control."

"Okay." Naruto said before following his mother. The day had just gotten a lot better, not only was he spared from the exercises but his mother was giving him a lesson. The lessons were always interesting, even if he didn't believe that there was anything to justify continuing those boring exercises with his current level of proficiency.

After about ten minutes of walking they came upon a strange arrangement. Three rows of ten granite blocks each were standing on the grassy field, at least ten meters space between each row. They took a position before the first block of the first row so that the remaining blocks of the row were obscured by the first one.

"The first example will be an application of nearly uncontrolled amount of power. Please step a bit back." Youko said.

After Naruto complied, his mother threw her arms forward. A veritable stream of white-hot fire flew from her hands and hit the stone, creating clouds of smoke and dust. Arcs of fire swerved widely and hit everything in a wide area. A few seconds later Youko stopped the power flow and let the dust settle.

"Examine carefully the results of uncontrolled power. When you are finished we move on to the next row."

Naruto approached the stone and took careful note of the attack's effects. The fire had carved deep gouges and holes into the hard rock, but none of the blocks had been destroyed. The second and third blocks in the row had taken some damage from the arcing fire, but the rest was completely intact. All around the row small trenches and burned vegetation were visible where the fire had wasted itself by hitting nothing but earth. After he thought he had seen enough Naruto returned to his mother's side who had moved to the second row of blocks.

"Now I will use the same amount of power, but this time much more controlled. That's roughly your relative level of control."

She pointed at the first stone and once again a stream of fire shot forward. This time it was compressed into a narrow beam, with hardly any flames leaving the main mass. With a crackling sound it hit the first stone and seemed to disappear there, but a series of cracks was clearly audible. The attack ended, and Naruto could see it had neatly pierced all of the stones in the row leaving fist-sized holes in its wake. The still smoldering holes were somewhat ragged but clearly aligned in a straight line, with cracks spreading out from each hole. One of the blocks had completely collapsed into rubble. They moved to the third set of stones after Youko believed Naruto had seen enough.

"This time I will use still more control and knowledge of the target." Youko explained.

She pointed a single finger at the final row and a bright pencil-thick beam shot out. The first block completely shattered upon contact with the beam, obscuring the rest of the row in a cloud of dust. Repeated explosions left few doubts about the fate of the rest of the blocks. After the dust had settled Naruto saw that all blocks had shattered into small fragments.

Naruto turned to his mother with stars in his eyes. "You're so cool, mom."

Youko smiled. "I know, but I prefer to be considered hot. Anyway, these are the benefits of control and knowledge. Knowledge to know where to hit to do the most damage, and control to actually hit the spot with sufficient force to make use of the weakness. There are occasions when overwhelming power is enough or appropriate, but it never hurts to have more options as I have learned to my chagrin. You can apply that lesson to almost anything. This is why we have you do so much control exercises. You will wield a great deal of power, more than you can easily control. It will help you enormously to develop your control early. Now, do you want to be a moron who throws a gigantic amount of power around to accomplish little or someone intelligent who has the same power but uses it efficiently?"

Naruto didn't even have to consider it, after that demonstration it was blatantly obvious which way was better.

"I want to learn control." His expression changed to a pout. "But the control exercises are still so booooring."

"I know, I know. How about you continue the exercises for an hour, after that I take you hunting into the woods?"

Naruto's face lit up considerably. "Sure thing, mom. Fox or human?"

Youko pondered for a moment. "Human I think. There are some ways to lay traps that I want to show you, as well as how to find some roots that can be used to create dye."

"Yay!"

* * *

><p>'<em>A touch more power.'<em> he thought before infusing the lowest amount of magic he could grasp into the construct. His efforts seemed successful as he could feel the structure expanding, but he still needed to maintain a tight grasp lest it collapsed ineffectually.

'_Keep the structure steady…steady…now!' _He felt the structure reach the planned spread and pulled on the connections he still maintained to the construct before him. As expected the connections were severed by this action, but the tug they conveyed to the structure was enough to cause it to fold in a complicated pattern and assume its final shape.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at the small ball of dim white light that was floating in the air before him. Slowly his expression transformed into a broad grin.

"Yes, I did it! I finally did it!" he shouted while jumping into the air. "I finally made it work. DAD! MOM! Come here, you have to see it."

A few moments later his parents appeared from the house. One look at the floating light brought a smile to their lips.

"Congratulations, kit. This is a very important step for you." his mother said while giving him a hug.

"Indeed. Your first piece of actual working magic is a cause for celebration." Daiki remarked before examining the hovering ball closely. "You have a long way to go, son, but now we all know you can do it."

"Thanks. Now that I pulled it off for the first time it should get easier. I will be a grand sorcerer in no time!"

In his excitement he completely missed the knowing glance as well as the smirk his parents exchanged.

When he left the realm of his parents several days later Naruto was very happy due to several reasons. The most important one were his advances with magic. It was incredible difficult to make headway there because he had to think in more than the normal three dimensions when he tried to directly weave magic into something with an actual effect. Youko and Daiki didn't have the same problems because their way of thinking was decidedly non-human.

Naruto had to find a way to weave and cast magic that was more accessible to a human mind. It was a learning experience for all of them how he could properly conceptualize what he wanted to do and bring about the proper effect. He had to use magic from his own personal reservoir to gather and shape more magic from the surroundings. At this point things got tricky. When his parents did it they interacted in an intimate way with the magic that caused it to do pretty much what they wanted. For him it wasn't so easy, first he had to condense the magic into strands that he could then weave into complex patterns that could even become multi-dimensional. These patterns made up the building blocks he could combine for actual effects. At least he thought of the entire process like that, he had no idea if that was what he really did or if it was only a crutch for his mind.

It was pretty much trial and error by this point because they didn't know what patterns did what. His parents often had some idea how something could possibly work, but they couldn't test it themselves because when they tried their own magic made it automatically work in a way Naruto couldn't replicate. That meant he had to do the testing himself.

Once they found a way to do a particular thing they could package the individual steps into a spell which Naruto could use without too much problems. The only difficulty was that the more defined and therefore easy to use the spell was the more inflexible it became. For example, they now knew a way for him to create primitive real illusions, meaning actual sources of light without a physical body instead of the mind-affecting stuff ninja usually called illusions. They could ingrain things like the color of the light, size and relative position to the user into the spell, but that would require a new one for every little variation. If they left the color or other things modifiable the spell required more concentration and in-depth knowledge of the mechanics behind the casting to work.

Instead of assembling an array of specific spells they tried to explore these mechanics. In effect his father wanted to identify the proper building blocks that would make the assembly of arbitrary spells possible. If they reached that level Daiki could begin translating spells he had encountered in different worlds to a form that would work in Naruto's world. It was a daunting task; normally the development of a useable system of magic took generations and left quite a few people with broken minds behind.

In some regards magic was much like chakra. In their first academy year the students learned to mould chakra in specific ways and intimately associate a specific pattern with a specific hand seal until they could do it instinctively. When they later used a jutsu the hand sign-coded patterns would do most of the molding without requiring the conscious attention of the user. Oh, there would still be a lot of molding to do consciously to make it work, but the hand signs created the figurative bones of the jutsu. That was why it often wasn't simply enough to repeat the hand signs to replicate a jutsu, you needed to know what you were supposed to be doing.

This was the primary reason why the Uchiha were such a feared clan. With their eyes they could see and memorize the hand signs a well as the chakra flow of a technique. There still existed limits to their copying skills, for example they had problems with techniques that required physical prerequisites, further knowledge to properly utilize the effect or when the user they tried to copy was good enough to skip some hand signs, but it was a fearsome ability nonetheless.

The second reason for his happiness was his developing friendship with Choji. He met with the chubby boy as often as he had time, and it was simply great. Naruto had even visited Choji's family, and they seemed to at least accept his presence. They had a great deal of fun together, and Naruto was really glad to have found a friend. Choji had even celebrated Naruto's seventh birthday with him, a completely new experience in the real world.

Thirdly, Kazuhio-sensei had officially retired last week because of health concerns, but unofficially it had been discovered that he had used blackmail to cover up quite a lot of his nephew's escapades, some of which were crimes. Both uncle and nephew had been removed from the academy, and if Naruto was any judge at least Kazuhiro would soon suffer an 'accident' arranged by one of his victims while Haguro had been shipped off to somewhere else. Possibly to an asylum, the boy had become quite twitchy at the end of Naruto's pranking campaign. His three helpers where in a similar state and were lying low for now.

The new teacher seemed to dislike Naruto a little less, but it would soon be moot either way. The exams were coming up, and Naruto had already ensured that he would have to repeat the year. In a little more than a month he would meet his new peers. Sadly Choji would only join the academy half a year later, but perhaps Naruto could arrange to be relegated to his friend's class at some point in the future.

* * *

><p>Yakumo Kurama was nervous and excited at the same time. Today would be her first day at the academy, and she really wanted to be a kunoichi. She had gotten up extra early and was now waiting for her uncle Unkai to get ready.<p>

The last year had been difficult for both of them as they came to grips with the fact that their clan was no more. Yakumo herself didn't remember what exactly had happened; only that she was on the way to her initiation ceremony into the clan when suddenly a fire broke out. The next thing she remembered was waking up in the arms of her uncle in a shelter with the door sealed. Unkai was badly hurt, but he calmed her down and held her close until help arrived.

It had taken hours before the rescue forces had dug them out of the shelter. Once outside, they had seen that the clan holdings had been completely destroyed and only ashes remained of the compound. The following days had been a blur; the only memorable event had been the mourning ceremony for her dead clansmen. That was when it really sunk in that she was alone in the world apart from her uncle.

The old man had been badly hurt in the fire and would never really recover. He had only limited use of his left arm and needed a walking stick to move longer distances. Additionally he often suffered from agonizing coughing fits that got slowly worse with time. Aside from comforting Yakumo he had spent the last months teaching her about the clan's history and writing down what he knew of the clan's techniques. All their belongings had been destroyed in the fire, meaning that all the secret techniques exclusive to the main branch had been lost, as had all the clan rituals. Her uncle feared that he didn't have much time left and did what he could to teach her everything she needed to know.

Finally Unkai was ready to leave the house. Before he opened the door he gave a few last pieces of advice.

"Yakumo-chan, today is very important for you. In the academy you will meet many people who don't want to invest the necessary effort to become serious shinobi because they see it more as an adventure. Don't let them mislead you to neglect your training. Try to find some friends who have a good determination, their grades aren't that important. Be careful with people that only want to befriend you because of our vote in the council. Still, you need to make good connections if we want to have any hope of resurrecting our clan. Your parents would want you to become a great kunoichi who can bring honor to the clan. Give always your best."

She nodded resolutely. "I won't disappoint you, uncle. Everyone will recognize our clan."

After the short conversation they left the small house that was their home since the fire. Most of their fortune had been destroyed, and they had to sell their land to cover outstanding debts. They had even had to pledge their council vote to a rich civilian for six years in exchange for waiving some large debts they couldn't cover with their money. The remaining funds sufficed to buy the small house and see Yakumo through her academy years, but after that she would have to earn her own money.

A short walk later they arrived on the square before the academy which was slowly filling up.

"Look at them Yakumo-chan, all these civilians whose children only play at being ninja. It's despicable that such riffraff are even allowed to visit the academy. The only true ninja originate from the clans with a long history."

She had her own opinion. If the child of some civilians wanted to be a ninja, why not? After all, the person who became the first ninja couldn't have had ninja parents himself. Despite these thoughts Yakumo kept her mouth shut. Her uncle was set in the way of tradition, and she didn't want to start an argument on her great day.

The director of the academy and the Hokage gave some very inspiring speeches before they were separated and their assigned teacher led them to an empty classroom. As soon as they had all been seated the teacher began with a roll call. Soon it was her turn, and she nervously stood up.

"Hello everyone, my name is Yakumo Kurama and I want to become a great kunoichi to continue the traditions of my clan."

Relieved to have passed the introduction she sat back down and tried to calm down. She really wasn't used to the presence of so many other children; she had hardly left the presence of her uncle in the last months. Yakumo listened to the introductions carefully, trying to learn which of the children showed genuine motivation. No one really stood out until finally a blond kid spoke up.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and my goal is forming my own clan!"

What impressed Yakumo weren't the words, but the conviction behind them. There were always those that hoped to establish a new clan, but it was rare for a boy her age to be so determined. He would bear watching.

* * *

><p>Naruto was sitting on a swing and observed his classmates leaving the academy for the day. The new semester had only begun two weeks ago, and he could already say that it looked to be much better than his last one. Their homeroom teacher seemed only to intensely dislike his presence instead of hating him outright, and he might actually get to learn something. His class even seemed to be mercifully free of bullies.<p>

On the matter of his classmates, they were much more promising than the last bunch, not that it was possible to be much worse. Naruto hadn't tried to befriend anyone yet; he preferred to observe them for a time before making his move. Most appeared to be a good average potential-wise, with the positive exception of the Kurama heiress. Under her cheerful exterior she seemed to be watching everyone else with a calculating mindset that reminded him of his own, even if he was much better at hiding it.

Being academy students, they had access to some of the training grounds and Naruto used that privilege liberally. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one at the current time. The others were content to leave their ninja training to the academy hours and acted pretty much like civilians the rest of the time, but Naruto knew it was not enough. It was obvious that the classroom lessons only served to lay the groundwork and familiarize them with the general principles, but they had to actively train to become truly proficient. Every day he spent one hour after the academy closed training his 'official' skills before heading home to hone his… less official skills.

'_Perhaps it is too early to expect such seriousness from the others. I only hope they get better in time.'_

He stood from his seat and was about to leave when a female voice caused him to come to an abrupt halt.

"Hi there Naruto! Where are you going?"

Naruto looked around to see Yakumo Kurama standing behind him. The brown-eyed and brown-haired girl was looking at him without the hostility he usually expected to see and was waiting patiently for him to answer.

'_Huh, she made the first move, I wasn't expecting that. Let's see where this goes.'_

"Hello Yakumo. I was about to head to the training grounds to do a bit of additional training."

"Do you mind if I join you? My uncle says I have to train hard, but doing it alone is boring."

"Sure, I would be happy to have you as my training partner."

Half an hour of intensive training later, Yakumo was completely winded while Naruto was hardly sweating.

"How do you manage that?" she wheezed.

"I have a lot of stamina and an additional year at the academy." Naruto answered shrugging. "Just rest a bit while I finish my workout."

After Naruto finished his exercises Yakumo was recovered enough to join him in basic practices of kunai and shuriken throwing. It was obvious that Yakumo had already some former training, but not as much as Naruto would have expected from a prospective kunoichi of a great clan. He asked Yakumo about it, and her answer was definitely interesting.

"You're right, I was trained as long as I can remember, but it wasn't so much physical training. My clan specializes in genjutsu, we rarely engage in direct combat."

Naruto shook his head. "That may be so, but what if you encounter an enemy who is resistant to genjutsu? Or what happens if there are too many, you don't have enough time to set it up, or when you are low on chakra?"

Yakumo looked startled. "I… don't know. I guess I never really thought about it."

"Don't sweat it. We're only at the start of our training, and you'll have a lot of time to improve. I thought about it a lot last year, and I think most shinobi tend to overspecialize too much. You should always have some additional skill sets you can use as a fallback position when your favored style proves ineffective. It's still too early in our career to know what we'll be doing later, but it is something to keep in mind."

The girl giggled. "You sound so much like an adult when you say it like that, Naruto-kun."

'_Naruto-__**kun**__ already? That was quick.'_

"Well, I've been living on my own for two years now. There's nobody who really looks out for me, so I have to do it myself. It's better to think beforehand than to make avoidable mistakes."

Yakumo nodded solemnly. "I understand. I'm the same way since my clan perished, even if I still have my uncle. He's often ill, and I have to do more and more by myself. If you want to realize your dream you need that forethought."

"You aren't going to make fun of me because I want to found my own clan?"

"Why should I? It is a lofty goal, but I'm sure it is possible. After all, a clan has to begin somewhere." she assured him.

Naruto favored Yakumo with a bright smile. "Well, Yakumo-chan, I think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship."


	7. Chapter 6: Truth is a terrible thing

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 6: Truth is a terrible thing**

"Why are you holding back in class, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto froze for a second before he turned to Yakumo. The girl had quickly become close to him, especially because they often trained together in their free time. Choji had joined them since his enrollment in the academy this summer, but due to his different schedule they couldn't spent as much time together as they would have liked. Aside from training together they simply hung out and played together, but as always not as much as they wanted. Yakumo often had to take care of her uncle whose health was slowly but steadily worsening. Naruto still kept the extent of his forays into the woods and hunting a secret from the others. They were his friends, but trust was a matter of degrees.

Generally his second first year was much better than his first one. His new teachers still tried to discourage him from learning and occasionally one tried to sabotage him in inconspicuous ways, but it was a far cry from his previous experience. Sadly he and Yakumo hadn't really been able to make additional friends in their class. Whenever they tried that someone would attempt to drive a wedge between Naruto and Yakumo to monopolize the time of the clan heiress.

"Whatever do you mean, Yakumo-chan?"

"Don't take me for an idiot. Whenever we are working together outside of the academy you know almost all the subjects better than I do, but as soon as the teachers or other children are present you act like you have a hard time with understanding the stuff. You could ace the tests, but you always score far below average. What I want to know is why."

'_So much for my attempts at playing dumb. Well, I guess it was unavoidable that someone who works as closely with me as Yakumo would see through it before long. The dangers of having friends, I suppose.'_

Yakumo's eyes widened when Naruto's usually happy expression was replaced by one of utter seriousness she had never seen before. Determination or concentration, yes, but never this.

"You're right. I do deliberately hold back, and I think I have very good reasons for it. Did you know that my education was sabotaged from the beginning? This year it is much better, but still the teachers try to make my time at the academy as unpleasant as possible and occasionally try to teach me something wrong. If the bastards weren't so careful to disguise their sabotage I would have gone to the authorities."

"Why should they do that?"

"I believe I know the reason, or at least part of it. You are my friend, one of the two I have, but this is a matter of life and death. There are village secrets of the highest order involved. If I tell you, you can never talk about it to anyone else. It may change your opinions about the village and me."

Yakumo stared at him helplessly. "I don't know what to think or do."

"Just pay attention to how exactly the teachers and villagers treat me. Ask your uncle for advice. Then make your decision and ask me again. Or not, if you decide you don't want to know."

* * *

><p>A week later Yakumo still hadn't asked him about his reasons. It was an uncomfortable situation but he couldn't see a way out of it. To distract himself Naruto tried his hand at the three academy jutsu. Normally they were taught from the second year onwards, but he thought that his grasp of the basics was now good enough to give it a try. His chakra control relative to his reserves was certainly better than that of the vast majority of academy students. For safety's sake he conducted his experiments under the watchful eyes of his parents.<p>

The Henge worked straight away, or so he thought. In a cloud of smoke he transformed into an exact copy of the Hokage. Youko came closer to inspect the result, but soon narrowed her eyes.

"Hm, something seems off about this technique, but I am unsure exactly what." Youko circled around Naruto until she suddenly pulled on the beard. Hard.

Naruto cried in pain. "Ouch! What are you doing?"

"Sorry kit, but that definitely proves something is wrong. There's no way that an E-rank technique is an actual transformation, which would be way to powerful. What did the textbooks say about the jutsu?"

Still rubbing his chin, Naruto's expression grew suddenly thoughtful. "You're right; you pulling on my beard shouldn't have been possible. The Henge should only create on overlaying illusion, not be an actual physical transformation."

"What happens if you stop concentrating? Does the technique dispel then?"

"Only one way to find out." A puff of smoke later and Naruto was back to his usual form. "Very strange."

"Indeed. I suggest we think about that later and move to the other two jutsus first." Daiki said.

Naruto had some problems to get the Kawarimi to work properly, but after a few tries it worked. He needed to concentrate on an object to replace himself with, and it required a considerable time and amount of concentration to pull it off. The more similar in mass the object was to him, the easier it was. After testing it for a while, Naruto scratched his head in thought.

"That's a nice technique. If I become good enough to pull it off without or drastically reduced hand seals it will be really powerful. But if my enemies use it it could be a real pain in the ass. We have to develop a countermeasure in the future. Now to the Bunshin."

A puff of smoke later a dead-looking copy of Naruto was lying on the ground. Youko tried to poke it with her foot, but the appendage went right through it. "Okay, this one here is an illusion as it should be, but it is still not working correctly. Keep on trying."

Two dozen tries later the technique was still not working as advertised and Naruto was getting frustrated. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It looks like I'm overloading the things, but I'm sure I'm using the exact amount of chakra they should require in relation to the other two techniques."

"Try using more or less chakra and see what happens." Youko counseled.

"Okay mom." The attempts with more chakra were even more useless, the clones often completely refused to form. In contrast, if he used less chakra than the technique should require the Bunshin looked better. It was still useless, but now it looked only sick instead of dead. "That's as low a chakra investment as I can make. There's something strange going on."

"Shelve the problems for now, kit. Your father and I will do some research and see if we can come up with something."

* * *

><p>A few weeks before his eight birthday his parents called him for a serious conversation. They had spent most of the day as foxes and had just transformed back into human form. Their current resting place was a small copse of trees quite a distance from the house on the border between the plains and the lush meadows.<p>

"Son, I think it is time for us to tell you who your biological parents were."

This immediately got Naruto's full attention.

"Please sit down; this will be hard for all of us."

After they had taken their places on some tree stumps, Youko began to speak.

"Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki from the now destroyed land of whirlpools. She was my previous container until a man who claimed to be Madara Uchiha forcibly released me from the seal after you were born. Normally a jinchuuriki doesn't survive if his demon is released, but her heritage allowed her to cling to life for a little while longer. She first objected to the Yondaime sealing me into you, but ultimately relented. Your father however… he was Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto had thought that nothing could truly shock him anymore, but he was wrong. "My own biological father inflicted this abomination of a seal onto me? And my mother agreed with him?"

"Even if I hate her I don't know if she was aware of the seal's secondary functions, but I think it unlikely. She occasionally came into the seal to taunt me, and from that I gathered that she very much wanted a family. Kushina was send to Konoha by the Uzumaki elders for the express purpose of containing me because Mito Uzumaki, wife of the Shodaime Hokage and my first container was nearing the end of her life. Shortly after she had arrived here Uzushiogakure was destroyed and the Uzumaki almost completely wiped out. She was around six or seven when I was transferred into her. I only met your father in the short time between my release and subsequent sealing."

Daiki plucked a red-tinted sphere from nowhere. "Enclosed in this sphere are copies of your mother's memories of that night. If you want we can watch them now or later when you feel up to it. I must warn you though, they are not pretty."

Naruto took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as it sounded. "I want to see them now. No sense in delaying it."

"As you wish." The sphere levitated from Daiki's hand into the air a short distance away and enlarged itself tremendously, almost filling the clearing. A moment later the formerly clear inside changed into a red swirling light before it sucked him into a vision of the past.

_All of Kyuubi's limbs were impaled to a hovering rock, but it could feel the bonds that kept it chained weaken. It struggled with all its power to finally free itself from the seal. The effort had been unsuccessful so far, but it could now perceive the surroundings of its loathsome container. Several humans were attending the container who was busy giving birth to her spawn, with one of them preventing the seal from opening. From the conversation Kyuubi gathered that the man was the Yondaime Hokage and mate to its container._

_Its attempts at freeing itself grew more desperate as the child was born. If it wasn't able to use this opportunity it might have to wait decades for the next. In spite of all its power it was losing ground as the seal tightened again. Then something surprising happened. A new chakra source entered the room through the ground… a very familiar one. In fact, it resembled one of the main culprits responsible for its current situation. _

_That person was Madara Uchicha, the man who had used his cursed eyes to gain control of the Kyuubi so long ago and used it in his fight with the Shodaime Hokage, Hashimara Senju. The Hokage had won and used his powers to temporarily imprison the Kyuubi, giving his cursed wife enough time to seal it into herself. At the birth of her child the seal weakened, but Kyuubi was prevented from escaping. Later it was transferred into its current container._

_Madara managed to get the Hokage away from his wife and the still unstable seal by threatening the child, encouraging the Kyuubi to redouble its efforts. The Hokage escaped Madara's trap, who took Kushina to a prepared ritual site. Before the Kyuubi could free itself the damned Uchiha enslaved it again with his cursed sharingan. As a prisoner in its own mind it watched as Madara ripped it out of Kushina's seal and tried to use it to crush Kushina. Unfortunately the Hokage arrived in time to save the hated woman._

_Following that Madara summoned it right inside Konoha to destroy the village. For a short time it was free to wreak havoc before the Yondaime Hokage arrived again. The wretch even managed to teleport a bijuudama away before it could hit him or the village. Madara engaged the Hokage, and the enslaved Kyuubi continued with its task of destroying the village. Suddenly it felt Madara's mental grip fade, and it was back in control again._

_In the moment of confusion the human insects pushed it out of the village, but it proceeded to slaughter them with abandon. Nothing they could throw against it would be enough to truly hurt it. The Kyuubi was about to wipe the despicable village from the face of the earth with a second bijuudama when a giant frog summon tackled it. In the blink of an eye the Yondaime teleported them away. Before it could do anything the still living Kushina trapped it inside a barrier. It could do nothing but listen in helpless rage as its captors discussed its fate._

"_I'll drag the Kyuubi… back… and die with it inside me. That'll… prevent it from coming back… for a while… It's the only way to save you both… with the little bit of chaka I have left. Thank you… for everything." Kushina said before they engaged in the exchange of some meaningless words. Dying with Kushina and subsequently reforming would be extraordinary painful for the Kyuubi, but it would be free again in a few years. That hope lasted until the next words of the Yondaime._

"_Kushina… you don't need to take the fox down with you. We can use our last bit of chakra to see Naruto one more time! I'll seal the last of your chakra in Naruto with an eight trigrams seal. Then I'll lead the Kyuubi away with a seal only a non-jinchuuriki like me can use, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. But I'll only be able to seal half the fox's power… It's just too great, it's physically and conceptually impossible to completely seal it all. I can't let the Kyuubi be revived without a jinchuuriki, the balance of bijuus would be destroyed. But with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal I can permanently seal half the fox's power along with myself. And the remaining half…"_

_Rage pulsed through the Kyuubi as it heard that. The Shinigami was one of the few beings that could actually seriously damage it. There had to be a way to escape. By focusing its power of sensing emotions solely on the Hokage it managed to cross the line to outright telepathy for a moment, getting the partial thought_ '…and the destined child will be its savior.' _but nothing that could help it escape._

"_I'll seal the remaining half inside Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Seal. I know what you want to say… but Jiraiya-sensei spoke of the world undergoing a revolution, and with it, a great disaster! The first is that masked man, the one who attacked you… he is the harbinger of that disaster! And Naruto will be the one to stop him. The jinchuuriki who will blaze the trail to our future. I just… know it."_

"_But Minato…" Kushina objected, but the Yondaime was already summoning the Shinigami. Meanwhile an old man had arrived outside the barrier, but he could do nothing but watch. "Have a little faith! He is our son after all! After I finish the Dead Demon Consuming Seal I'll place your remaining chakra into Naruto as well. You'll meet the grown-up Naruto sooner than you think. The time will come when he'll attempt to take control of the fox's power… I want you there to help him."_

_Kushina was still not done objecting. "Our son…"_

"_That's why! I don't want him to bear such a heavy burden all on his own!"_

"_But why… why the Dead Demon Consuming Seal? There's no reason for you to die… just so I can meet him for a few minutes when he's older! I wanted you to be there for him… I wanted you to raise him! Why… Why are you sacrificing Naruto just to preserve the balance of bijuu… to save the village… and the country… Why are you sacrificing yourself for me?"_

"_Turning your back on the country, on the village is just as bad as abandoning a child. Your should understand… you saw your own country fall apart. You know the pain of growing up without a home of your own… and you know that we are a family… of shinobi. Besides, even if I lived I could never substitute for you. There are things Naruto needs to be told, things I could never say myself. That's the mother's job, and I need you to carry it out even if you only have the briefest moments to do so. This isn't just for you… This is for Naruto. Dying to make a better life for his son… That's the stuff you let the father handle."_

_The Kyuubi's had vainly tried to free itself, but now it was almost too late. It felt the ice-cold grip of the Shinigami ripping the Yin-half of its being away._ 'Curse you, Yondaime!' _It saw the Yondaime summon a ceremonial throne and place Kushina's spawn on top of it. Suddenly it felt Kushina's chains slacken somewhat. It had only moments to utilize this slight chance to escape a new imprisonment by slaying the prospective container. Alas, it was not to be, the Yondaime and Kushina shielded the child with their bodies and prevented its claw from taking the life of the child._

"_You win… First argument you've ever won. I guess you're really serious."_

"_Thank you, Kushina." A strange scroll like toad was summoned by the Yondaime while the Kyuubi strained to impale the child before it was too late. "Gamatora, I'm entrusting you with the key to the seal. Hurry to Jiraiya-sensei. Store it with him." he said before the toad dispelled again._

_What followed was a stream of advice and a declaration of parental love before the Eight Trigrams Seal took hold and the Kyuubi was sealed screaming into the child before it lost consciousness from the shock of the sealing._

With that the vision ended, and Naruto found himself back in the clearing. The rage that had been building inside of him during the vision simply became too much to bear and he began to violently tremble. He clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug painfully into his flesh and he could feel blood beginning to flow.

Youko and Daiki held tight onto him. "Let it out, Naruto. Release the rage before it destroys you."

His voice began as barely above a whisper. "They abandoned and sacrificied me. THEY SACRIFICIED ME EVEN IF THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO!" He wasn't sure how he did it, but all at once the floodgates opened and he began to howl his wrath wordlessly at the heavens. The formerly clear sky darkened with clouds that came from nowhere until it was almost black. A strong wind picked up while Naruto could feel his chakra and magic reacting violently in tune with his anger. Lightning began raining down from the sky like raindrops, striking the ground all around them again and again. The winds grew to hurricane strength, forming several tornados that ripped large chunks of soil from the earth. Trees from the copse snapped like kindling if they weren't completely uprooted.

It seemed an eternity, but finally the storm subsided as quickly as it came. His rage, magic and chakra spent for the moment, Naruto fell to his knees sobbing. He had hoped beyond all reason that his original parents wanted the best for him, but what he had seen was beyond the pale. He buried his face in Youko's clothing while his body shook with sobs.

After his tears had subsided Naruto began to whisper. "I hate them. They simply threw my life and happiness away. You were right when you told me the generalities so long ago; they committed an unspeakable crime against me. What sort of parents sacrifices their child when they don't need to? And then have the gall to say they did it for my sake?"

"I don't know, kit, I don't know. Their rationale doesn't make much sense. Practically no one even knew that Konoha had the Kyuubi, so my loss wouldn't shift the balance of things. As far as the world knew I was simply lying low for a few decades." Suddenly Youko seemed to remember something. "Oh, and I'm sorry I tried to kill you. I was an evil being of hate and rage, you know."

"Don't be, mom, in your position I would have done the same." Naruto's expression grew curious. "What happened with all the hate I felt in your memories? Did you lose it when you ascended?"

"Actually it is still in me. It's just that I gave gained so much other emotions and memories that the hate no longer defines my being. I still hate Konoha and would like nothing better than to burn it to the ground, but currently you do need the resources the village provides. In the event of my freedom I would leave them alone if you want me to."

The blond boy shrugged. "For the sake of my friends I would like to keep Konoha standing for now. Another thing, why did the Yondaime seal your Yin-chakra before sealing you into me?"

"We haven't the foggiest idea. Perhaps your seal wasn't strong enough to hold me with all my power, perhaps the Yondaime needed to perform the summoning of the Shinigami as a prerequisite for his own sealing technique. It could be that he believed it would prevent me from reforming in the event of your death. It's not true, but even I didn't know it then. Your father was so free to wrest my chakra back from the Shinigami, but I believe I would have slowly regained the missing Yin-chakra from interacting with the ubiquitous nature chakra in the event of my freedom. Yin is associated with the spiritual realm, perhaps it would have interfered with the mind control functions of the seal."

Naruto's expression darkened when he was reminded of this part of the seal's purpose. "Did Kushina know about the mind control?"

"As you have seen, it didn't come up in their conversation, meaning we can only guess. I don't think so, in the few conversations I had with her she mentioned the Yondaime working on a new seal. Apparently the Yondaime felt the old containment seal wasn't enough and wanted one that would allow the jinchuuriki full access to my powers, but naturally she never told me details. I had to provoke her quite a bit to even get this information. She was quite the hot head, never thinking things through."

He scoffed. "I saw that. What idiot thinks spending a few minutes with their child is worth an entire life as an orphan? Granted, the Yondaime started with his invocation before she could do anything, but if she truly loved me she would have ignored the man and sealed you back into her. I would have still become an orphan, but at least not one with a demon stuck into his guts. If it weren't for dad changing you and helping me out, I would have lived a completely shitty life."

"Part of the blame for your life belongs to the Sandaime. If he hadn't announced you as the new jinchuuriki you wouldn't have to face such an amount of hostility. Conversely, if he had told everyone of your parentage it may have offset the animosity. I believe he feared enemies of your father coming after you." Daiki explained.

Naruto objected to that. "That's so much bullshit. The Old Man has made at least as many enemies as the Yondaime, and I don't see a lot of assassins coming after his children or grandson. If my parentage was known he could easily have adopted me. Or assign a permanent guard, it wouldn't be the first time the child of some high-ranking person was orphaned."

Youko shrugged. "It's only a possible motivation of the Sandaime. We simply don't know how much he knows about things, or what his own plans are. He saw me getting sealed into you together with two others, but that is pretty much the only verified fact we have. He was too far away to overhear the conversation between the Yondaime and Kushina. From his actions it appears as if he wants you to form an emotional dependency with him so that you follow his agenda without you being really aware of it. All other things are conjecture."

"Everything comes back to the stray thought Youko managed to pick up from the Yondaime. 'Destined Child' and 'Savior'. From some snippets that Kushina let drop earlier we know that the Toad summons gave Jiraiya and Minato a prophecy about someone who would save the world. Apparently the Yondaime decided to help things along." Daiki explained.

"But that makes no sense. How was I supposed to subdue mom? And what about that sharingan guy? The Yondaime could evidently fight him on equal terms, but no one else knows about him. He's probably busy planning his next attack in this very moment."

"You're right. We think the Yondaime was years from the planned implementation of his plan, but events forced his hand. What the Yondaime did was an act of desperation. If the Kyuubi had escaped his entire scheme with the new seal would have fallen apart. So he did the only thing that still offered a slight chance of success, even if it meant leaving Konoha ignorant to the danger the unknown attacker posed."

"Wouldn't he have had to kill Kushina to extract you and use the new seal?"

Youko nodded. "Yes, he would have. But consider, would a man that is ready to sacrifice his own son and life for this nonsensical reasons really shy away from killing his wife? I know they loved each other, but what if the prophecy and his idea for the fate of the world were more important to the Yondaime than his wife? Kushina was madly in love with the man and trusted him completely. It would have been only too easy."

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger. "I hate them, I truly hate them. If it hadn't been for the fluke of dad turning up they would have destroyed my life. They don't deserve to be called parents by me. I only wish I could ask them why they did it."

"Actually, it may be possible for you to talk to them once. You remember when I told you about the seal? Both left a part of their chakra and a splinter of their souls behind. Currently they are in a form of stasis, but as soon as I can completely isolate them from the other parts of the seal I can arrange a meeting. It will take a lot of time though, I don't want to risk that they could still access some functions of the seal."

"I understand. It's probably better anyway if I don't meet them for some time, currently my emotions get in the way of my judgment." For the first time since breaking down he looked at his surroundings. His eyes widened upon seeing the destruction. Practically everything inside a radius of 100 meters was completely desolated, and damage outside of that area was still heavy if slowly decreasing with distance. "Whoa! Did I do that?"

* * *

><p>It was a good thing the revelation took place at the beginning of Naruto's time with his parents. If he had been forced to return to the waking world immediately he wasn't sure if he would have been able to sufficiently maintain his self-control to keep his act intact. Luckily he had more than a week to calm down. His anger at the actions of his so-called parents was still going strong, but it no longer threatened to overwhelm him. That was important whenever he was in the company of the Sandaime. The Old Man knew who his parents were and what he carried (or at least the Old Man thought he knew), but still pleaded ignorance. How much better would his life have been if the Sandaime simply announced his heritage to the village, or at least if he knew why the villagers treated him like they did?<p>

Granted, at this point in time the issue was largely moot because of Youko and Daiki, but the principle of the matter still irritated him. He couldn't even call the Old Man's lies if he didn't want to blow his cover and had to consciously restrain himself when he was with him.

His eight birthday was spent with Yakumo (who still hadn't asked him about his secrets) and Choji in one of the restaurants belonging to the Akimichi clan. It was a great deal of fun, especially as Choji's family was slowly warming up to him. It had taken him a great deal of carefully disguised manipulation, but apparently the Akimichi clan head no longer saw him as a danger to his family. Naruto was sure that without his knowledge of human interaction provided by his parents he wouldn't have made so much progress for a long time if ever.

The New Year came and went, and another issue began to irk Naruto. In his opinion he had made no true progress in his magical studies. Sure, he was now able to create some pretty colored lights, but that wasn't especially useful. Especially because he could only cast it perhaps two or three times a day in the outside world and keep it going for around five cumulative minutes before his personal store of magic was empty.

Like with chakra he had his personal store of magic that replenished slowly over time, more quickly when he was sleeping or meditating. In contrast to chakra the energy in that reservoir wasn't plentiful enough to cast anything even if his maximum capacity was slowly increasing; he had to use it as a catalyst to draw additional magical energy from his surroundings. In his parents' world that didn't pose a problem and he could continue casting practically all day long. Unfortunately things were different in the waking world. The magic was somehow much more diluted and spread out, meaning he had to use substantially more of his own to gather a much lower amount.

His father had told him that in the vicinity of the spring of magic things were much the same like in the world at the edge of dreams, but he still hadn't gotten around to visiting it. It would take him too much time to reach it by foot to hide his absence, and the shortcut Daiki was working on was still not finished.

It therefore was a considerable surprise to him when his father approached him with a fist-sized facetted violet crystal in his hand. There seemed to be a complex luminescent pattern inside of the crystal that bore a striking resemblance to how he visualized the weaving of magic.

"What's this thing?" he asked curiously.

"This is my first attempt at transcribing a spell from a different world. Your outburst gave me some new ideas. It only deals with mental things, so it shouldn't cause any damage I can't repair." his father declared proudly.

"Gee, thanks dad. I will certainly remember your words if I blow my brains out. What is it supposed to do?"

Daiki patted the orb. "This baby here enables you to copy the information from one sense into a sort of extra storage area in your mind. Aside from deliberately purging it, you won't ever forget anything you store via this method."

"I have already a very good memory. Will that really be useful?"

"Certainly, and for several reasons. For one, you can memorize a sheet of text in the blink of an eye without having to truly read it, which is important if you only have limited time. Secondly, whatever you put into that storage I can physically recreate here."

Naruto took the crystal into his hands and started to observe the structure inside. For everyone else it would have appeared as a jumble of random lines, but Naruto actually understood what it meant and what he was supposed to do to bring about the desired effect. Sometime later he was sure he had studied the thing enough to cast it. He started to concentrate and implement the directions. The casting time itself was about fifteen seconds, but when Naruto finally completed the patterns of the memorization spell he felt something shift in his mind. It was like something was ready to pounce and only awaited his command.

"This is the ready state of the spell. You can't maintain it for long in that state, but you can now activate it to do its job anytime you want. Let's test it." Daiki explained and whipped out a sheet of paper full of a small script. Naruto mentally poked the feeling while looking at the text without reading it, and something snapped into place. If not for the years of mental exercises he wouldn't have known what changed, but he knew his mind quite well by now.

The image wasn't exactly in his normal memory. He had to consciously concentrate on the storage area to examine it, and he still needed time to read through the text. After he had done that he remembered the content normally, but he could examine it again for details he had missed, like the exact texture of the paper.

"Wow, now I understand what you meant. Is there a maximum storage capacity or something like it?"

"I don't know, but I consider it unlikely. A human brain has quite a lot of free space, and you can always purge things you don't need any more. Just remember that looking through the memorized things to properly internalize them takes time, and I doubt you can cast it more than once per day. Let's try to manifest it here."

Naruto could feel something reach into his mind towards the scroll, but it stopped before actually touching it. "It seems you have to release it for me to access. Interesting, that means your privacy is guaranteed." The boy tried to actually allow his father's probe access by leading it to the place where the image of the text was stored. A few seconds later, an exact replica appeared on the ground between them while the image disappeared from Naruto's mind.

Daiki smiled proudly. "Good work, son. That spell should make things easier. By the way, it has several variants for different senses and a continuous mode if you have to move your field of vision or leaf through a book. You can access them if you look through different facets of the crystal."

"Thanks dad and I think I have already an ideal target in mind."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"Do you remember the forbidden scroll? If I can get my hands on the thing I will get to learn a lot of powerful jutsu. The Old Man never put it back into the secured Hokage library; it still sits on a shelf in his office."

His father looked thoughtful. "You're right; it would present a good target. Still, you have to be alone with it for a while. Simply luring the Hokage out of his office won't work; there will still be some ANBU present." Daiki continued humming thoughtfully. When Naruto was about to give up on the idea he spoke again. "Tell me Naruto, do the Uchiha act somehow different than normal?"

Naruto was surprised for a moment by the seemingly unconnected question, but he caught himself and went over his memories of the last weeks. "Yes, there is something. They are all more tense and act even more arrogant and superior than usual. One of their famous members named Shisui apparently died a few days ago. Why do you ask?"

"Because I believe they are planning a coup."

"WHAT?"

"You heard me. From what you've told me in the past they are discontent with their already large privileges and consider themselves the elite which should be worshipped by the rest of the village. In my visions I've always seen them attempt to take over the village, only the exact date varies. The other events seem play out mostly identical, meaning we can use it to our advantage. In a few days time the Uchiha clan will be destroyed."

"Do you want me to save them?"

Daiki shook his head. "We can't. Too many powerful people have a stake in the events for you to be able to stop them, and any interference would draw the attention of someone we really don't want to notice you at this time. If Shisui is already dead the culmination of the crisis draws near. No, what I want you to do is mentioning to the Hokage that the Uchiha seem to observe and follow you more than usual."

"I think I understand. That will lead the Old Man to believe that they might want to capture me to use the power of the Kyuubi."

"Precisely. He should let you stay in his office, and when the message of the massacre reaches him he will leave you alone for a while. I think it likely he will activate a security barrier around his office, but as long as you're inside it shouldn't be a problem. If there are any ANBU left you can signal me to take over and I will be able to put them into a sleeplike state for perhaps five minutes, but I hope to avoid that. Unscheduled takeovers are very stressful for your mind."

"That sounds manageable. I wonder how many cool jutsu are written inside of that scroll?"

"Who knows, but I want to promise me one thing." Daiki went to his knees to properly look into Naruto's eyes. "Promise me you won't look at the copied image of the scroll until you are back with us. The scroll is probably forbidden for a reason, and your mother and I want to be there if something dangerous happens."

Naruto looked a bit dejected but gave his consent in the end. "It's one of those situations with potentially dangerous knowledge, isn't it?"

Daiki nodded. "It is. I doubt there is anything in there that is as dangerous as my mind, but it pays to be careful."

* * *

><p>In the end the plan went off without a hitch. The Sandaime jumped at Naruto's suspicions and didn't let him leave his presence without a heavy guard, and even then not for long. He didn't even have to wait three days before a panicked messenger brought news of the massacre.<p>

"Stay here, Naruto. I'll seal you inside the office. ANBU with me!"

After the door closed behind the Old Man a visible seal array spread out over the entire room, glowed blue for a moment and disappeared. Naruto strained his senses as much as he could, but it appeared that all ANBU had left. Wasting no time, he immediately got the scroll from its shelf. Naruto had observed the Old Man very carefully each time he had seen him handle the scroll, and there didn't seem to be any defenses. It was even logical; the scroll was supposed to be stored in one of the most secure locations of the village. If some thief managed to come that far additional safety measures wouldn't help much and would only make using the scroll more uncomfortable for authorized personnel.

Naruto drew as much magic as he could and cast the memorization spell before opening the scroll. Without really reading he quickly scanned the full length of the scroll while the duration of his spell was ticking away. Unfurling the scroll was difficult for a boy of his age, but he managed. When he was finished with the inside he began scanning the seemingly blank outside while furling the scroll back up. The entire action took perhaps thirty seconds, and his spell gave out a second before he reached the end. Naruto carefully looked the rest over, memorizing the structure of the paper. It was unlikely for anything to be written there, but he wanted to make sure.

After he was finished he put the scroll back onto the shelf. No one could tell from simply looking at the thing that he had used it, but to make sure he touched most other things on the shelf a few times like he had done before under the Sandaime's eyes when he was bored. The other stuff in the office was rather uninteresting; the books were mostly about the different laws of Konoha and other countries that he could find in the normal library and the paperwork didn't make sense without context.

Naruto had already found the Old Man's hidden stacks of sake and Icha Icha books, but they were of no interest to him. He had read parts of them out of sheer boredom, but he could already say that they only bore a passing resemblance to reality. They had covered some of the concepts in the academy, and his parents had answered every of his questions exhaustively. It was really useful sometimes to have parents that had the memories of thousands of human lives and were not bound by any form of human morality. He had still some time left before entering puberty, but he was better informed than practically all of his peers. With nothing better to do Naruto grabbed one of the law books and began to read.

* * *

><p>Finally the time had come to visit his parents again. He had spent the last four days scooped up in his apartment under ANBU guard before they left an hour ago. The entire village was in an uproar because of the massacre. Of the hundreds of Uchiha only two had survived, Itachi Uchiha who had apparently single handedly slaughtered his own clan before fleeing the village and his little brother Sasuke. Sasuke was in the hospital because of mental trauma, and the academy was closed until further notice.<p>

Naruto was severely tempted to sneak a peek at his mental copy of the forbidden scroll in the meantime, but he managed to resist. No matter how big the temptation, he had promised his parents and wouldn't disappoint them. After the usual recounting of the past week and praising of his successful effort of obtaining the scroll, Daiki manifested the forbidden scroll out of Naruto's mental storage. He placed it on the large table in the center of the room and began to unroll it. Naruto was almost bouncing with excitement. Finally he could learn the super cool jutsus hidden in the scroll! His parents shared an amused look; it was always funny when Naruto acted his age.

"Let's see what we got here." Daiki announced after the three took seats side by side.

The first jutsu in the scroll was a clone jutsu of some sorts. After the technical descriptions of the hand signs that could be shortened to a single one after he learned the technique and instructions for chakra molding began the general description. Naruto began reading aloud. "The Shadow Clone technique allows the user to create identical physical copies of himself that are fully autonomous and are capable of the use of nin- and genjutsu. Clones are delicate and easily dispelled even by weak hits. Experience gathered by a clone is transferred to the original upon the clone's dispersal. WARNING: The technique carries a high chakra cost for creation of the clones and the user's remaining chakra is distributed evenly between original and clones. Once initiated, the technique WILL draw the necessary amount of chakra. Use with caution." Naruto looked up with a grin that threatened to split his face and pumped his fist into the air. "Yeah, jackpot on the first hit! By using this baby I can learn tons of stuff in a jiffy and swamp my enemies with clones. I have to try that out."

He jumped from his seat and began making hand signs.

"NARUTO! Stop that foolishness at once and use your brain! What did I teach you about using unknown abilities and easy ways to power?" Daiki admonished sharply in a voice laced with anger.

Naruto winced and stopped his hand signs immediately, his head hanging in shame. It was a rare event for his usually soft-spoken and patient father to react so strongly, and never without good reason. He used that voice only when Naruto did something incredibly stupid when he should have known better.

"If someone or something promises ultimate power, proceed with utmost caution. There is always a cost, sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden. Never try techniques or spells without knowing exactly what they do and carefully consider their implications before you use them." Naruto recited.

"At least you do remember my words. Mind them in the future." Daiki's expression softened. "Son, we are only worried for you. We know it is difficult for you to overcome your natural exuberance, but this is really important. More than one promising novice fell prey to the lure of power and failed to account for all the consequences of his actions. Frequently that was the last thing they ever did. Of course, the consequences aren't always fatal or even harmful, but it is far better to adopt a habit of circumspectness. Here in this place your mother or myself can protect you from almost anything, but in the outside world you are on your own. We don't want to lose you to some stupid mistake. Do you promise me to be more cautious in the future?"

Naruto nodded earnestly. "Yes dad, I will remember."

"Good boy. Now, sit back down and try to find the potential problems of the shadow clone jutsu. From first glance, I found already three problems with the technique, one of which doesn't really apply to your special case. Let's see how many you can identify."

The boy took up his previous seat at the table, carefully reading over the jutsu description and supplementary explanations several times while his parents conferred in low voices about their own discoveries on the technique. After he finished, he stared at the ceiling deep in thought for several minutes. Youko and Daiki shared a smile; obviously Naruto took the warning to heart. After roughly ten minutes, Naruto let out a deep sigh and began to speak.

"The first problem is obviously the high chakra cost. Shouldn't be a problem for me, I have already more chakra than most jonins. Second thing is this memory feedback thingy. I mean, if I make too many clones and they dispel, wouldn't I get kind of overloaded with all the memories? But I can't figure out what the third problem would be, sorry."

Daiki smiled. "Good reasoning. While the chakra problem is obvious and spelled out in the scroll, the memory overload issue is not. I imagine that is because most of the users simply didn't have enough chakra to create enough clones for it to become an issue."

"The chakra usage of the shadow clone jutsu is clearly not a deciding factor for someone possessing your chakra levels," Youko continued the explanation," but not only in the obvious way. You already know that traces of my Bijuu chakra are constantly running through your system. What I didn't know myself until you learned the Henge and Bunshin is the fact that it reacts in a funny way with certain shinobi techniques. Normally, a Henge creates only an illusion, but you managed to turn it into an actual transformation."

"A Bijuu is primarily a mass of intelligent chakra given physical form. Even small amounts of my chakra have a tendency to take a more physical shape than you would normally expect. You will experience that yourself if you draw directly on my chakra in the future. It will most certainly form a semi-corporal protective cloak around you and enable you to use pure chakra attacks that will take the shape of arms, claws or something of the sort. Because traces of my chakra are intermixed with yours some amount of that quality rubs off on you. Notably clone techniques will be far cheaper for you to perform."

"By the way, that explains your difficulty with the standard Bunshin. Even for normal shinobi it is a low cost technique, but for you it is almost impossible not to overload the poor things." his father interjected.

"More chakra control excercises?" Naruto asked dejectedly.

Daiki nodded. "I'm afraid so."

His mother chuckled softly when Naruto pouted.

"Right, where was I? Ah yes, the characteristics of bijuu chakra. An almost unknown fact is that when an amount of my chakra is separated from me but not directly bound in a technique or sealed, it will try to get back to me to rejoin the main mass. This is the main reason why a bijuu can't be permanently killed; the dispersed chakra will simply slowly aggregate until the original bijuu is reformed. Within limits that applies to your chakra too."

"To summarize, not only would you need far less chakra than usual for the creation of one clone, but you would get a higher percentage of the shadow clone's stored chakra reserves back when the clone is forcefully dispersed. I imagine you could throw hundreds or even thousands of the things around at the same time and still be able to create more if they are destroyed in battle. Most Kage-level ninja could only create perhaps a few dozen shadow clones before their chakra level becomes too low to be useful."

Naruto was once again bouncing on his chair. "Yeah! I could be my own one-man army!"

"And here we touch upon the third issue." Daiki said."Have you considered what the memory feedback would be if the clones are killed in combat? Especially in such huge numbers? And I can tell you from personal experience, dying really sucks in most cases. More so with all the creative ways the shinobi have come up with to send one on the journey from living to dead."

Imagining droves of clones incinerated by some fire jutsu Naruto winced. "Ouch."

"Ouch indeed. Luckily, the creators of the technique took that into account. Judging from what we estimate would be the actual result from these instructions, there is a filter in place that prevents the transfer of the actual death experience. Additionally there seems to be something like a cutoff-point that prevents the memory transfer if the clone is dispersed in a small time frame after its creation. It's hard to tell without seeing the technique in action, but I would guess it to be between a few seconds and a minute at maximum. "

"Now there is a fourth problem. Disregard the previous problems for this hypothetical scenario. Imagine you employ the shadow clone horde as a standard battle strategy. Some of them will inevitably be destroyed, and each time you get the memories of some deathly situation but without the actual death. Over time these memories accumulate. As the amount grows, you will subconsciously employ more and more reckless tactics and disregard your own safety, because that is what the clones did. You have their memories, and after a time you won't be able to differentiate between them and your own. You will remember doing some things in battle, and because you're still alive they must have worked. But one day you will take one unnecessary risk too many."

Naruto sighed."So that means no spamming of endless hordes of shadow clones for me? That sucks."

After moping for a few seconds his face assumed a thoughtful look. "But I should still be able to use a small number of them in non-combat roles like spying and training, shouldn't I? I've seen some jonin doing that."

This time it was Daiki who let out a heavy sigh. "Regrettably you can't, and it's because of something I did."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked with a confused expression.

"You remember when we told you about your seal? How it was messing with your mind?"

After seeing Naruto nod he continued."The stuff I did to counteract that, combined with all the rest I had to do that affects your mind, like isolating the seal, creating and anchoring this place here and some other things I tell you later about made your mind particularly vulnerable against the memory reintegration shocks that results from using the shadow clones. Even after only a few uses of single shadow clones your sanity would suffer dramatically. It's really a shame; the shadow clones would have made so many things easier."

"It can't be helped, what you did was necessary for Naruto's survival. We just have to shelve that jutsu for now. If we someday get our hands on advanced jutsu creation theories and procedures and have a lot of free time we can try to remodel the technique into something useful or create a similar one from scratch," Youko said," Now let's see if there are any other goodies."

After concluding their discussion the three continued to carefully peruse the forbidden scroll. Naruto's face got longer and longer as his parents tossed out jutsu after jutsu as unsuitable. Not that he didn't understand their attitude. Many of the jutsus were glorified self-destruct techniques, and he didn't feel particularly suicidal. Others had such serious drawbacks that it made them virtually useless outside of very limited circumstances. The few of them that could be theoretically useful to him almost always required knowledge of other, more basic jutsu or advanced knowledge in specific fields that would take him years to learn.

"Hm, interesting, I remember that one." Youko remarked.

Naruto had somewhat dozed off and perked up upon hearing his mother speak.

Daiki looked interested and read out loud. "The Bringer of Darkness technique creates an illusionary effect that disables the opponent's eyesight, effectively blinding him. User's uninterrupted, focused concentration is required to maintain the effect. Use is banned for non-members of the Senju clan by edict of the great council." He let out a low whistle. "This is one neat technique. It got it's A-rank because of the concentration and relatively high chakra requirements, but it's really easy to use. Great against doujutsu users. I bet it was the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans who got it banned; it wouldn't do for them if someone could simply shut their almighty eyes down." Daiki looked at his wife."How do you know about it?"

Youko grinned. "The battle of the Valley of the End between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju. Hashirama used it to disable Madara's sharingan. I think the Uchiha bastard invented a few new curses that day. It was almost enough to do him in, but Madara managed to break the Shodaime's concentration at the last minute after he realized that I wasn't affected and his control over me still held. Still, I think that is one sweet jutsu that the kit is ready to learn."

"Yeah, I get to learn a jutsu, I get to learn a jutsu!" Naruto did a little victory dance.

"Don't get your hopes up son; you won't be able to use it. If someone from Konoha notices you using it they will throw you into prison for violating the ban. They will ask some very pointed questions, like how and where you were able to learn it. After all, there are no more Senju in Konoha who could have conceivably taught it to you. This is one of the cases where you learn something and hold it in reserve until a life-and-death situation arises where only this ace in the hole can save your ass."

Naruto nodded. "Yes dad. Still, I get to learn a jutsu, I get to learn a jutsu!"

Chuckling at their son's antics Daiki and Youko turned back to the scroll. A few jutsus later Daiki frowned.

"Something is very wrong with this technique."

"You mean this one here? Edo Tensei? I guess it is pretty immoral to force the souls of the dead back into artificial bodies, but I didn't know you cared about such things." Youko asked.

Daiki gave her a deadpan look. "I know it's hard to believe, but I do indeed care occasionally for things that disrupt the natural order. But that is not the point here. Most of it is pretty much standard fare for such acts of false resurrection, like the need for a living sacrifice. No, what I'm wondering is where the energy comes from that gives the resurrected the ability of basically unlimited regeneration."

Youko assumed thoughtful pose. "That is pretty good question. It can't be the victim because he is already consumed by the initial resurrection."

"Neither does the user provide the energy. The resurrected don't need the user anymore aside from matters of control. Heck, these zombies keep on running even if the user dies. That leaves pretty much one option."

"I don't understand what you're talking about." Naruto complained.

"The Edo Tensei jutsu is basically a false resurrection to create combat drones from the dead with varying degrees of awareness and all the skills of the original. You need some body part of the dead person you want to resurrect and a living sacrifice. This creates an artificial body made from ash that the soul of the dead animates. The body is practically indestructible because even if ground to dust it would regenerate. What we are wondering is where the energy for the regeneration is coming from." Daiki patiently explained.

"As it is neither the sacrifice nor the user of the technique who is the source of the energy it has to come from the surrounding natural chakra. The effect of a single resurrected shouldn't be noticeable provided he doesn't stay too long in one area and doesn't use the regeneration too much, but you could easily create an army of them provided you have enough mortal remains and sacrifices. There are enough unscrupulous shinobi who would run with such an idea. That would drain the life of the environment in record time; creating dead zones were no life could survive for any length of time. The process would start slow and barely noticeable because natural chakra from the neighboring unaffected areas would try to compensate for the imbalance. But once the drain becomes large enough you reach a tipping point, and tada! now you stand in the middle of a zone where all life is dying because everything practically bleeds its chakra out since the surrounding air and earth have no natural chakra of their own anymore. Even if you remove the resurrected such an area would need decades to recover. If you keep an army of these things around long enough you can do some pretty heavy and widespread damage to the land." Youko continued the explanation.

Naruto shuddered. "I sure hope that I never have to face these things."

"Hope is good but it pays to be prepared. We should think about a counter to this technique some time, but I have a feeling that this is more a case for magic. Luckily it is very difficult to perform and practically unknown, so the probability of encountering it should be low. By the way, I wouldn't use this technique if I were you. This enslaving of souls will surely attract all kinds of attention we want to avoid." Daiki said.

Incidentally, there were no more pure nin- or genjutsu written in the scroll. The following part dealt mostly with different kind of seals. Still lacking even basic knowledge in the sealing arts, most of the details remained incomprehensible to them. Most of the depicted seals fell in the 'suicidal to use'-category anyway. The basic Dead Demon Consuming Seal provoked a growl from Youko, but there wasn't much interesting stuff. Apparently Konoha's very few seal masters had abstained from leaving the knowledge of their more useful creations in the scroll. Interestingly, the seal on Naruto's stomach wasn't described. Even after exhausting the jutsu and combat seal section, they had barely examined a tenth of the scroll. The rest was filled with complicated drawings and extremely intricate seals that weren't designed for use in battle by a single person or even a group of people. Both adults became a lot more focused as they read through this last and by far biggest section of the scroll.

It had gotten late, and Naruto had trouble staying awake. He wondered what it was that had his parents so excited over a bunch of overcomplicated drawings. He had only gotten one useable jutsu out of all the effort to get a look at the scroll and wanted more! Finally they had finished reading the scroll.

"That was a major haul, good work son," Daiki said.

"Thanks I guess, but what's so great about this stuff? There was only one jutsu for me that I'm not even allowed to use." Naruto wondered.

"These," Youko tapped her hand on the scroll," are the detailed descriptions of Konoha's original construction plans, in particular the seal-powered infrastructure. Barriers, water supply, and the chakra sources which generate the power for the seals… it's all here, complete with the methods to get master level access to all systems. This is a dream come true for every spy. Granted, most of the information is probably out of date, but it opens the way for a lot of interesting possibilities. For example, right here is a way to pass Konoha's inner detection barrier completely undetected."

Naruto thought he had spotted an obvious problem. "Won't they change the codes from time to time? If I was the one in charge, I would change that stuff in irregular intervals."

"Certainly, we will have to verify that information carefully. But you must understand, most of this is directly embedded into the structure of the seals and not subject to change in any way. It is more intended for use during the construction phase by the seal masters doing the work, or for the occasional general overhaul that happens one or two times a decade. The people who do light modifications, normal maintenance or simply use the system aren't supposed to know these backdoors. You'd have to completely redo large parts of the seal arrays to change it. For that, you would need several high level seal masters, and Konoha has always been a little short on that front. They relied heavily on external assistance from the now extinct Uzumaki clan." Youko answered.

"My human mother's clan? Weren't they wiped out at the beginning of the third shinobi war?"

"Indeed. The Uzumaki clan was the premier clan of Uzushiogakure and was famous for his mastery of seals. Before the time of the villages they were often hired for complex sealing projects that surpassed the skills of the local seal masters. After the introduction of technology augmented the general decline of the sealing arts they were the foremost authority on fuinjutsu left in the world. They were kin and close allies to the Senju and therefore friends of Konoha, even if they decided to stay independent at their ancestral home. Alas, their prowess with seals was seen as too great a threat to be left alone, and rather than let their knowledge fall into the hands of someone else, Kumo and Kiri decided to wipe them out in a short-lived alliance. It's possible and even likely that there are still some isolated descendents scattered across the world, but the clan itself and its secrets no longer exist. It seems that Konoha relied heavily on them for seal work. I wonder how they compensated for the loss." Youko explained.

Seeing Naruto's drowsy state, Daiki cut in. "I believe we can continue tomorrow. It's bedtime for you, young man."

Naruto was too tired to protest, and soon he was sleeping peacefully in his bed.

* * *

><p>Unkai Kurama was slowly getting ready for the day, careful not to make any hasty movements that would send a spike of pain through his body. His health had gotten rapidly worse, and soon he wouldn't be able to leave the house anymore. Even slowly walking short distances left him out of breath and courted the danger of triggering one of his agonizing coughing fits. After he had seated himself at the kitchen table he allowed his thoughts to wander.<p>

That Yakumo had befriended the resident jinchuuriki of all people had been surprising at first, but Unkai had immediately seen the advantages of the connection. The boy seemed stable, and from what his niece told him he was the only one of her class that had a decent amount of determination to make something out of his life. Unkai wasn't sure if Naruto would ever reach his goal of establishing a new clan, but he would certainly grow into a very powerful shinobi like all the other stable jinchuuriki he knew of. A powerful shinobi who would support Yakumo in her own goals, provided she continued the friendship.

It was a gamble on his part, but Yakumo would need all the help she could get. Their clan had been slowly disappearing in obscurity before the fire, but now even most of their previous so-called friends and associates ignored their existence. The Hokage practically ignored them because of more important matters after they had transferred their council vote temporarily. He now suspected the deal had been a set-up by the Hokage, the new civilian councilor surely seemed to vote for Sarutobi's proposals an awful lot. They didn't have any money or useful connections left, so the vultures had found a new target. It made Unkai incredibly angry when he saw and heard how the entire village fawned over the last loyal Uchiha while ignoring his dear Yakumo.

He could understand it from a rational viewpoint; the Uchiha was incredibly rich after inheriting the many possessions of his clan while they had practically nothing, but that didn't do anything to stem his anger. Unkai had already noticed how every family with female members of the appropriate age began conditioning their children to seek out the last Uchiha and try to gain his affections. If one of them managed to marry the boy it would be the coup of the decade. He didn't consider even for a moment encouraging Yakumo to do the same. The Kurama and Uchiha held a longstanding enmity, mainly because the Uchiha had frequently stolen many of the genjutsu the Kurama were once famous for.

Unkai watched as his niece was preparing breakfast for them. No, it was better that she continued her association with the Uzumaki boy. It had already yielded a connection to the Akimichi heir and might even be more useful later. He didn't know why the Hokage thought it necessary to keep his status a secret even from the boy himself and let him grow up alone and ignorant. A properly trained jinchuuriki was a force to be reckoned with; a symbol of strength they could have used after the losses inflicted by the Kyuubi so short a time after the third shinobi war.

His late son-in-law had even talked about adopting the boy shortly after the incident; he would have been a welcome boost to their waning influence and Murakumo had been sympathetic to the boy's likely problems. The Kurama knew only too well how it was to have powers that you couldn't completely control; more than one clan member had lost control over his abilities in the past and had to be put down for the good of the clan. They knew how to live with that constant danger and would have provided the best possible upbringing for the boy. Unfortunately the Sandaime would have none of it and insisted on a 'normal' upbringing. In Unkai's opinion that could have backfired badly, an orphanage wasn't exactly a cheerful place even for normal children. Withholding the knowledge of his tenant from the boy and not training him in controlling that power was simply criminal negligence. He shuddered to think what could happen if the boy tapped unintentionally into the Kyuubi's power.

"Uncle, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Yakumo-chan. What is on your mind?"

"It's about Naruto. I noticed that he was holding back in class and asked him about it. He said almost everyone treats him badly or tries to ignore his existence. I watched him, and he's right. Most adults purposefully ignore him or glare at him, and that doesn't touch upon all the whispers behind his back. Naruto said he knew why they did it, but that it is a village secret and that I should be sure I want to know because it might change my opinions of him and the village. I simply don't know what to do. Do you have any advice?"

'_Does the boy know?'_ Unkai wondered. It seemed that way, but he was certain that nobody had told the child about it. The Sandaime had declared on a council session so long ago that he would tell the boy when he made chunin. That only left the option that he had stumbled upon the fox by himself. If he considered his niece trustworthy enough to reveal his secret and she reacted properly it would cement their bond for years to come.

"I think I know what this is about, but I'm not allowed to tell you. If Naruto is truly your friend, ask him and listen. No matter what he tells you, keep his faith. I told you already that our bloodline grants great power, but also poses a risk. This is similar. If your opinion of… certain authority figures and the village lessens after you learn the facts remember that our clan has a list of grievances against the village too."

Yakumo was a bit confused by that answer, but it helped her make up her mind. "Thank you, uncle. I will ask him tomorrow."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>My thanks to all my reviewers.

Naruto now knows who his real parents were, and he is not impressed. I took the description directly from the manga, so it should be close to canon. I never understood Naruto's lack of negative reaction when he learned the truth from his mother, if it had been me I certainly would have been furious that Minato effectively committed an unneccessary act of suicide to saddle me with a tailed beast and Kushina let him get away with it.

At the same time the entire plan for Naruto to subdue Kyuubi was so vague and hare-brained that it's a wonder it worked at all. For example, how did Minato know of Kumo's secret island, and how did he expect Naruto to learn of it and use it? Nobody else seemed to have any idea how to really subdue a bijuu. The story about needing an infant is obviously false, Mito Uzumaki was a grown woman when she sealed the Kyuubi into herself and Kushina was about six or seven by my estimate when it was transferred into her. And the entire time Madara/Tobi was running free unopposed...

Just a reminder, the characters don't know everything and might have quite different and biased viewpoints of the same facts. Just as in the last chapter the Akimichi wanted nothing to do with Naruto but weren't really hostile, the Kurama would have welcomed him with open arms in my story. There will be some politicking later, and I will try to stay halfway realistic. (No brain-dead civilian council that calls for Naruto's execution no matter what, nor will the councillors have all the same opinions)

So long.


	8. Chapter 7:This time it's the right class

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and likely never will.

**Chapter 7: This time it's the right class**

"You can't talk to anyone, and I mean anyone, about what I'm about to tell you, do you understand?"

Yakumo and Choji nodded earnestly. When Yakumo had finally approached him Naruto had decided to bring Choji into the loop too. The boy hadn't even needed time for consideration; Naruto was his best friend and he trusted him completely. The three children were currently sitting in a small park that provided optimal protection against eavesdroppers.

Naruto took a deep breath. "You remember the history lessons about how the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi? It's a lie. He didn't kill the fox, he sealed it into me. I'm what usually is called a demon container, or a jinchuuriki. A jinchuuriki is usually considered one of a village's ultimate weapons. The adults know and don't like me because of that, and I think the Sandaime decreed that nobody is allowed to speak about it on pain of death."

Both of his friends stared slack-jawed at him for a few moments. Choji was the first one to recover. "You have the great demon fox sealed inside of you? Really? That is why almost everybody treats you so badly?"

"Apparently a few idiots think I'm the Kyuubi reincarnated or some such crap. Some transferred their hate of the fox to me. Most want simply nothing to do with me and are probably wishing I would simply disappear. Oh, and I can show you the seal." He pulled up his shirt and channeled some chakra. Promptly an intricate seal appeared on his belly. When Yakumo began poking it he hurriedly covered himself. "Hey, that tickles!"

"You said there is a law against telling anybody. Does that mean nobody told you about it?" Choji asked while Yakumo pouted.

Naruto laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I didn't know myself why everybody treated me like shit until I was meditating some day. Suddenly I stood before that giant cage with a comatose fox-like thing with nine tails imprisoned behind the bars and a seal holding it closed. It didn't take much figuring out from that point. I even found an old history book in an abandoned cellar explaining things a bit more. Apparently there are nine tailed beasts, eight of them were captured by the Shodaime Hokage with his powers and distributed between the villages as a sign of good faith or some such. Instead all villages began sealing the demons into humans to access their power almost immediately. There were quite a few occasions when they were used in the shinobi wars." To prove his words he pulled an old history book from his pockets and showed it to his friends.

"Why haven't we heard anything about that at the academy?" Choji wondered.

"Apparently all knowledge about the demons has been purged from the easily available books, probably in an attempt to prevent anyone of the young generation figuring things out. I think that is dangerous, now an entire generation will be completely unprepared should they meet one of my fellow containers on the battlefield. And from what I know they can become exceedingly dangerous. The information in the book is severely out of date, I believe it was written between the second and third shinobi war. According to my information the Ichibi should be in Suna, Nibi in Kumo, Sanbi in Kiri, Yonbi in Iwa, Gobi likewise in Iwa, Rokubi in Kiri again, the Nanabi is the only one that belongs to a minor village, in this case Taki, the Hachibi is in Kumo and yours truly is the container of the Kyuubi associated with Konoha. The containers are often treated rather badly, which is pretty stupid considering that the others and I probably could release the beasts if we wanted to."

Yakumo had been silent until now, thinking hard. "Are you really the first container of the Kyuubi? I remember my uncle telling me about the battle between the first Hokage Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha that created the Valley of the End. The Kyuubi was involved, and that was the last time anyone saw it. It would be logical that the Shodaime imprisoned it like the others and kept it in Konoha. That would explain how it suddenly appeared inside of the village with no warning."

Naruto blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected Yakumo to guess so much of the truth. "Actually, you're right."

Now it was Yakumo's turn to be suprised. "How do you know that?"

"The night after I discovered the cage I had a strange dream, it was more like a memory, but not my own. I think I saw the time immediately before the sealing from Kyuubi's perspective. There were two people present, the Yondaime Hokage and a dying woman. I could hear their conversation." Naruto sighed. "The woman was Kushina Uzumaki… my mother and second container of the Kyuubi. It's really strange that I had to get the name and image of my mother from the memory of a genocidal monster."

Choji and Yakumo stared at him in shock. With an even deeper sigh Naruto continued. "That's not all. During the entire time I could hear my mother begging the Yondaime to let her seal the Kyuubi back into herself. She was already dying, but in that way she would have taken out the Kyuubi for a while. It probably would have reformed after a few years, but the crisis would have been averted. The Yondaime would have none of that, he insisted on using a sealing technique that would kill him." His expression hardened. "I learned another fact. The Yondaime was my father."

"Are you sure about that?" Choji asked disbelievingly.

"Well, obviously I have no formal proof. But look at this." Naruto pulled out a second book. From the looks of it, it was an old academy yearbook. He leafed through it until he arrived at the desired page. Choji took it in his hands while Yakumo looked over his shoulder. The opened page belonged to Minato Namikaze and displayed a photo. The depicted child bore a striking resemblance to Naruto. "I stole it from an old storage room under the academy. My mother is also in there."

"I believe you. But why did your father do that, and why didn't anybody tell you about your parents?"

"I don't know; his arguments I overheard in the dream didn't make much sense. My mother was probably already too far gone to put up much of a resistance. Still, even if he did it to give the village a weapon, there's really no reason to keep that a secret from me. The Sandaime treats me nicely, but I only get to see him one or two times per month. In the meantime almost everyone ignores me or treats me badly."

"He could try to form you into a tool loyal to him, your treatment sounds a lot like it was deliberately set up to create a psychological dependency." Yakumo speculated.

"The Sandaime wouldn't do that, he's a great leader!" Choji objected.

Yakumo arched an eyebrow. "What has his being a leader to do with that? The man has been Hokage for almost half a century; you don't stay that if you aren't capable of making hard decisions. He is a politician and quite capable of doing such things if he believes it for the best of the village. It would certainly be advantageous for him if the resident jinchuuriki is emotionally dependent on him; that's much more secure than simple loyalty to the village. He could easily assign a tutor or caretaker to Naruto if he wanted; they can't all hate him."

"But the will of fire…"

"Is a nice fig leaf. My uncle occasionally rants about how the Sandaime tricked him into mortgaging our council vote to a civilian who unquestioningly supports him. And he wasn't exactly supportive when my clan still existed. I say it again: The man is a politician; he is not above employing dirty measures if they further his goals. You just don't notice it so much because you Akimichi are allied with the Sarutobi."

It was a familiar point of contention between the two. Choji was idealistic while Yakumo had adopted a much more cynical view of the village in general. Probably because her uncle had been tutoring her in politics while Choji was still largely shielded from that stuff by his father. Naruto had to interrupt them before it descended into one of their usual hour-long arguments. The two had decidedly too much fun arguing with each other in a firendly way.

"I don't know what the Old Man wants; I simply plan on getting on with my life. Get a few more friends, become a good shinobi, found a family. The crap that has been done to me is largely in the past, and my parents are dead. As long as I'm treated fairly I'll stay loyal to the village." That wasn't exactly the truth, but he doubted his friends would like to hear that his loyalty was more a matter of necessity than affection for the village. Naruto knew that there were people out to get him, and the village provided a handy shield and source for training. "Still, just in case the treatment is deliberate, I prefer to play slightly stupid and harmless. Now that you know, what do you think of me?"

Choji immediately responded. "You're my best friend, that doesn't change because you are the jailor of the Kyuubi."

"My clan is only too familiar with a power that has great dangers. It doesn't make a difference to me if you're in a similar situation." Yakumo added.

"Thanks you two, you don't know how much that means to me."

Yakumo broke the following silence. "Say Naruto, do you get any cool powers from the fox in your gut? I mean, there have to be some benefits." she asked playfully.

"Well, a tiny amount of the fox's chakra is always mixing with my own, causing my chakra capacity to skyrocket. I think I'm slowly approaching Kage level in that regard. The whisker marks are an obvious sign, but they don't seem to do anything. I heal injuries extremely fast and have boatloads of stamina, but I'm unsure how much that is because of the fox or my Uzumaki heritage. My sense of hearing is simply phenomenal, both in sensitivity and audible range, and my sense of smell is good enough for me to able to track someone by scent, even if I'm not as good as an Inuzuka. Additionally I have pretty good low light vision. According to the book I should be able to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra, but I don't think it a good idea to try it while inside the village."

"Wow, that's as good as a major bloodline. Do you know if some of that is inheritable?"

'_Huh, that's a good question. I have to ask mom or dad about that.'_

"How should I know? From what I've been able to find out it may be possible, but jinchuuriki in general don't have officially known children. I've been exposed to some amount of the Kyuubi's chakra even before I was born, which could have changed me on a genetic level. I guess we find out as soon as I father children." A somewhat evil idea came to Naruto and he asked in an earnest tone "Why Yakumo-chan, are you volunteering?"

After a moment of shocked silence Choji began to laugh loudly and Yakumo's face became as red as a tomato while she spluttered denials. Naruto's facade cracked and he too burst into laughter, Yakumo's expression was simply too funny.

"Stop laughing you idiots!"

* * *

><p>"Mom, can you tell me more about my special abilities like the increased senses? It came up in a conversation with Yakumo a while ago, and I was wondering if they are inheritable."<p>

"They should be. I certainly took great care to make them so."

"So I wasn't born with them?" Naruto asked curiously.

"No, originally you only had the increased health and lifespan of the Uzumaki and slightly increased senses. When I had to heal your body after the attack on you I used the opportunity to make a few modifications. It was quite easy thanks to your lifelong exposure to my chakra, and because of your father I knew how to circumvent the restrictions of the seal in that instance. I made your senses as good as I could without requiring obvious physical changes." Youko explained.

"Your eyesight was already good enough so I added as much low light vision as possible. Any more would require slitted pupils, specific activation with chakra or some such, and I don't think the villagers would appreciate that. I also ramped up your hearing and sense of smell, but they aren't as good as they could be because I added security functions that prevent the overloading of a sense. You should be able to regulate them down further mentally, like when someone is blowing one of these awful dog whistles and you don't want to hear it you can deactivate that part of your audible range."

"Great senses, but no accompanying weakness, got it."

"All jinchuuriki get some increased healing, but yours would have been especially good because of the combination with your Uzumaki heritage. Normally intensive use of bijuu chakra would cause premature aging, but your increased lifespan would have made that bearable. I did better. Using the Uzumaki genes as basis I created a genuine regeneration bloodline combined with making you highly resistant to the corrosive effect of my demonic chakra. It will still do some limited cellular damage, but you can regenerate that over time easily. Normally the regeneration is quite slow, but you can speed it up with chakra even if it is hideously expensive, and it becomes supercharged while you use my chakra. If you don't draw my chakra you can still regenerate limbs, but that extent of damage would take about a month to repair. You should be able to shorten that time by some amount if you invest more of your own chakra."

Naruto was silent with awe. Crippling injuries were some of the most feared things for an active ninja, and neither he nor his descendants would have to worry unduly about them. It was still better to not get hurt in the first place, but when it happened it was nice to have a safety net. His expression changed to a slight scowl as a thought struck him. There was probably no chance that his abilities would be recognized as a bloodline, everyone would attribute them solely to the Kyuubi.

"Anything else?"

"It's connected to the regeneration in some way, but you have a high resistance against poisons and diseases. Not an immunity, mind you, so don't grow overconfident. Your iron stomach is a combination of physical changes and your upbringing, while your massive stamina is part of the regeneration package. It's still possible for you to die of old age, but you will probably outlive even the most long-living Uzumaki. The exact time span is a bit uncertain, but you can look forward to around two or three centuries years of life, most of it with hardly any signs of aging after you reach your twenties."

"Are there any downsides?"

Youko seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Well, because I used the Uzumaki genes as a basis you no longer have the normal Uzumaki package, like the potential for the Uzumaki special chakra or any other possible benefits. Blood tests or seals should still recognize you as an Uzumaki, so if you ever come across some of their leftover things secured by blood seals you should be able to use them. There might be some other side effects; it is a new bloodline after all."

"Thanks mom, that's much better than I thought. I don't care much about the Uzumaki abilities, after all there is no one left who could teach me using them. Did dad anything I should know about?"

"From what he told me he mainly repaired the damage the seal had done to your mind in your first three years of life. He gave you a few boosts in raw brainpower, memory retention and mental flexibility, but they mostly compensated for your less than stellar early childhood and laid the groundwork for your later training. You are a bit more intelligent than you would have turned out with an ideal upbringing and without the seal, but nothing major as far as I know. All the other mental improvements have been caused by your own training, not by anything we did without your knowledge."

"That's all I wanted to know, thanks again."

"You're welcome, kit."

Naruto contemplated all he had learned while his mother began to play around with some chakra constructs. It wasn't really unexpected, but it was nice to have confirmation. The start of a new bloodline was nothing to sneeze at. "Where do bloodlines come from anyway?" he wondered out loud.

Apparently his mother had heard him. "The origins are manifold in the extreme. It varies from divine or demonic interbreeding in the age of gods, deliberate creation by higher powers, accidental contamination, medical experiments or rituals, cross-breeding of older lines, deliberate selective breeding to essentially random mutations. It wouldn't surprise me if a large percentage of all the humans in the world have inactive vestiges of one bloodline or another. There is a reason why most bloodline-carrying clans practice inbreeding to a degree. It's a fine line between losing the powers and damaging one's heritage by marrying too close a relation. Your descendants won't have to worry about that for at least two dozen generations; I made quite sure of that."

A specific part of his mother's words attracted Naruto's attention. "The age of gods? What's that?"

Youko stopped what she was doing and turned back to Naruto. "The age of gods refers to an era long gone when gods and other beings freely walked this world. I only have some vague memories of the time. It was then that my predecessor was created, the Juubi. Eons later the Sage of Six Paths split it into the nine bijuu, thereby creating me as an individual demon of hate and rage. I spent more than a millennium in that form, until the day your father came." She smiled a bright smile while continuing her work. "And what a glorious day it was."

* * *

><p>Telling his friends about Kyuubi had been a gamble, but their reaction took a load of Naruto's mind. Sooner or later it would have happened anyway, and it was better for them to hear it from him under controlled circumstances. He had been confident in the strength of their friendship, but if they had broken up it would have been better to happen now instead of later when it would be only more painful. As an added bonus he was able to sow some seeds of doubt regarding the village leadership. Things would be much easier if his friends didn't completely trust the Sandaime when he needed political support or if the time ever came for him to cut ties with the village.<p>

All in all, things went as well as he could hope for. He had two loyal friends; he was slowly learning how to become a competent shinobi; his skills as a ranger were far ahead of everyone his apparent age and his magical studies made some progress. Naruto had finally been able to visit the sanctuary after his father had completed the shortcut, enabling him to get more practice with magic.

The entrance was a small densely overgrown copse of trees wedged between several abandoned buildings at the edge of Konoha. For everyone else it was simply a short winding path through the trees, but if he concentrated he somehow entered a path that was not part of the normal world. The transition was seamless, but once he was on the special path he had to follow it to its end because it disappeared behind him. After a short walk the path would deposit him in the outskirts of the sanctuary inside the unfinished inner defensive zone, bypassing the outer wards. The first time he had visited he had only encountered a few drifting banks of fog, but each time he returned the fog grew denser and the forest more dark and foreboding as his father added to the defenses. Apparently the path and the woods were based on several different haunted forests his father had encountered and some complex space-time manipulation that was far above Naruto's level both in skill and power.

If the defensive area was the haunted forest, the sanctuary proper could only be described as an enchanted forest. Colors were brighter and the woods felt more alive than anything he had seen in the waking world, not to speak of the abundance of magic. Naruto still had a limited ability to channel magic, but in contrast to the normal state of things he could draw in magic and continue casting almost indefinitely. The center of the sanctuary and location of the invisible spring was a large field with some rocky outcroppings, and it undeniably bore the impression of both his parents. By day the sun felt warm and comforting while by night a spectacular starry sky became visible, and a touch of their presence simply permeated everything.

Naruto visited as often as he found time to get away from the cold stares of the villagers, and especially each time before his father took possession of his body. Apparently it was far less stressful for him when he did that inside of the sanctuary. His main problem was a lack of time to learn everything he needed or wanted to learn. With the academy taking up a good chunk of every day his free time was severely limited, especially because he wanted to spend time with his friends and needed to do household chores like buying food and cooking.

Unfortunately this good time came to an end two months before the end of the summer semester. Yakumo had missed the academy, and Naruto came to her house to check on her. When he knocked, a tired looking Yakumo with puffy eyes opened the door.

"Yakumo-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto asked in genuine concern.

"Not here, come inside."

Mere moments after the door had closed behind him Yakumo flung her arms around his neck and began to sob uncontrollably. Naruto was completely taken by surprise and almost fell backwards, but managed to regain his balance at the last moment.

'_What the hell? I've never seen Yakumo-chan like this.'_

The girl held on for dear life; he wouldn't be able to pry her loose in a gentle way. Looking around, he searched for something that was large enough for both of them to sit on. Naruto didn't want to support her weight indefinitely in this position, and the hard wooden floor looked too uncomfortable for his taste.

'_I think they had some large furniture in the living room if I remember right.'_

Luckily he was far stronger than he seemed and carried his friend to the nearby sofa in the living room. It took a long time and a lot of soothing words for Yakumo to calm down. She was still sniffling occasionally, but finally managed to tell Naruto what the problem was.

"It's… it's my uncle. This morning he had a seizure, and he already had lost consciousness when I managed to get help. He's in the hospital now, and they say… they say he is dying. It could be over tomorrow, or he could last a few more months."

Naruto didn't know what to say. It had been clear to him that Yakumo's uncle was slowly dying with his steadily declining health for a long time. He offered what comfort he could, but it seemed to him that Yakumo had still something weighing on her mind.

The girl took a deep breath. "Naruto, I will leave the academy for a while. I want to be with my uncle as long as possible. I'm sorry I have to leave you alone in the class, I doubt I will be able to rejoin you."

"Don't be, I understand. I would do the same if I was in the same situation. If you need help with anything just ask."

Yakumo offered him a small smile. "Thank you, Naruto, you are a true friend."

* * *

><p>"Attention, students! We have a new pupil this year. Uzumaki-san, please introduce yourself."<p>

After Yakumo had paused her education indefinitely to be with her dying uncle fulltime, Naruto had seen no reason to remain in his former class and had promptly failed the progression tests again. His results were still good enough that he was placed in the academic cycle directly after his instead of having to repeat a whole year. As expected, there were a whole lot of clan heirs in this one. The teacher wore a mask of neutrality, but Naruto was experienced enough in reading people to pick up the underlying disgust.

'_Alright, time to make an impression.'_

"Hello everyone. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I will one day found my own clan!" he said while giving the last part as much conviction as he could.

"Thank you for that… inspired introduction, though I doubt someone like you will ever be able to found a clan."

"Sure I will. I will work hard and won't give up!"

"We have seen what your work is worth in the last years, haven't we, Uzumaki. If you had the abilities you wouldn't have to repeat a class for the second time. Admit it, you're a failure."

"I don't care what you say; I will succeed in my goal."

"You worthless…" The teacher was about to explode when he noticed the rest of the class staring at him. "Ahem… enough of this nonsense. Take a seat and don't disrupt the class any further."

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto made his way to the seat his friend Choji had kept free for him in the second to last row. They had already known beforehand that he would be added to Choji's class and planned accordingly. On Choji's other side a boy with dark hair in a pineapple-like style was apparently sleeping peacefully. Naruto had met him a few times and knew him as Shikamaru, heir to the Nara clan and possibly the laziest person in the entire village. Slowly his classmates shifted their attention back to the teacher, but Naruto still felt someone watching him. Turning quickly, he managed to see the enraptured expression on the pale face of a girl with bluish-black hair and strange lavender-white eyes before she noticed him looking and turned immediately away.

'_Huh, that was the Hyuuga heiress. I wonder what I did for her to stare at me like that.'_

Soon the lecture started and everyone's attention was focused forward, enabling Naruto and Choji to have a whispered conversation.

"Sorry about what the teacher said. That was very unkind."

Naruto shrugged. "It was pretty much like I expected, I've come to accept the fact that most people don't like me long ago."

"Still, that was pretty unprofessional behavior. Our normal homeroom teacher Iruka-sensei wouldn't have done such a thing." Choji answered. "He's currently on sick leave but should be back soon."

* * *

><p>Naruto had hardly time to blink before a flurry of blows came at him. He managed to block the first few strikes, but a kick broke through his guard, rattling his teeth. A right hook drove the air from Naruto's lungs as he was stumbling back, and a following leg sweep had him falling to the ground outside of the circle that marked the boundary of the fighting area.<p>

"Winner, Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hn, you're just another loser." Sasuke said in a bored voice before leaving the ring while the rest of the class cheered for the winner.

Naruto picked himself up from the ground and trudged back to his place besides Choji, keeping his head down the entire time. His fight had looked like all the others the Uchiha had fought before and just served to reinforce Sasuke's feelings of superiority. He would probably forget about him in a short time. Just as planned.

"Why did you let yourself to be beaten so easily? I know you're stronger than that." his friend asked curiously.

The blond boy spit out a small amount of spittle laced with blood before answering. "Because I don't want to draw his attention, or that of the teachers for that matter. How do you think they would react if it was me beating their precious last Uchiha up?" After letting that sink in, he continued. "If I had given him a hard fight, beaten him or spouted some crap after I had lost, some sort of rivalry might have formed. I don't want that, I've nothing to prove to some schoolboy. My goal is to learn as much as possible so I can become a good shinobi. Grades and the opinions of most people only count insofar that I don't want to fail."

He sighed heavily. "I know it's hypocritical for me to say that, but I don't want to become Sasuke's friend or have anything to do with him. Sasuke has a ton of admirers that would like nothing better than befriending him. Many are probably only in for his inheritance or bloodline, but he could search until he found some genuine friends. He can practically pick from our entire generation, but he doesn't want to. The only things he does are brooding and training. I won't waste my time on someone who doesn't want to be friends, and his superiority complex grates on my nerves. I confess he is a very good student, but have you ever seen him offer help to someone?"

Choji had to think a moment, but nothing like that came to mind. Sasuke had been in his class from the beginning scoring top marks, but he had never truly connected to others. He was an Uchiha, and therefore he belonged to the elite which put an invisible wall between him and everyone else. After the tragic loss of his family things had become worse. He seemed to view other people just as obstacles holding him back. Oh, aside from some snide remarks he didn't do anything especially mean, but when Choji offered his condolences and friendship, he was brushed aside quite rudely.

"I saw it in his eyes; he is so full of hate for something that no other thought or emotion has room. Someday that hate will erupt and destroy everyone in the vicinity. When that happens I don't want me or any of my friends getting hurt by it."

The big-boned boy had nothing to say to that, and the continued watching the fights. Choji's turn was already over, but he hadn't gotten to fight. His opponent had been Shikamaru, and the lazy boy had given up without leaving his resting place. Naruto would fight Choji later in their regular after-academy training. Currently Kiba Inuzuka was trashing some hapless civilian boy.

"May I sit with you?"

Naruto and Choji turned around to see Shino standing behind them. The boy was always clad in heavy clothing and wore sunglasses. Combined with his general lack of facial expressions, the fact that he rarely spoke and the occasional faint buzzing noise it made for a rather creepy appearance. Normally he preferred to simply observe things silently, but obviously something had caused him to approach them voluntarily.

"No problem, you can sit with us. Didn't you sit on the other side before?"

"Some of the female members of our class that were sitting near me were disturbed by the presence of my allies and… encouraged me to find a new place."

Choji winced while Naruto shook his head. "Idiots. If they hope to become kunoichi they shouldn't be so squeamish because of some insects, especially if said insects are the allies of an Aburame. Say, could you show me one of your bugs?"

Shino's only sign of surprise at that request was the raising of one of his eyebrows. A single insect crawled out from somewhere under his hood and took flight, landing on Naruto's outstretched hand. Naruto brought his hand closely to his face to get a better look.

"Interesting, your kikaichu shares features with a lot of different species of bugs. Are all your bugs the same, and have your clansman different sorts of bugs?" Naruto asked while still closely observing the bug on his hand.

Now both of Shino's eyebrows had risen above his glasses. "My own allies are largely the same, with occasional mutations showing up that I can choose to keep or reject. This process differentiates the allies of each member of my clan after a time. The more advanced members of my family have more than one hive. Why do you ask? To give them more flexibility in combat by developing the hives in different directions." Shino tilted his head questioningly. "Are you interested in insects?"

Naruto gently removed his hand and let the kikaichu return to its master. "I'm not really an entomologist, my interests in plants and animals are more general and more on the practical side of things, but I do know a lot."

That was all it took to start an in-depth conversation about different kinds of insects and their effect on the environment. They continued talking through the rest of the sparring session and the following lunch break. Naruto made an effort to include Choji in the conversation whenever possible, which the big boy seemed to appreciate. When Shino agreed to join them in their usual after-academy training session Naruto was sure: He had found another person he might be able to call friend.

* * *

><p>Once again, Naruto was bored. They were currently revisiting some history lessons for the upcoming tests at the end of the semester which Naruto knew perfectly well. In his opinion too much time was spent on hammering home the lessons into the heads of children that didn't really want to learn instead of using the time productively. Naruto had allowed himself to show a bit more of his skills and was no longer in the danger of failing any tests. His grades were still in the lower third of the class, about the same level as Choji's, but he cultivated a reputation as a hard worker. He supposed the Hokage would attribute his improvement to the teaching skills of their homeroom instructor, Iruka Umino.<p>

Even if the man was rather uncomfortable around Naruto he was fair in his grading and teaching practice, so he didn't begrudge the man the credit. His assistant Mizuki was another matter, the man treated him rather friendly, but Naruto recognized the friendliness as a mask. Still, he had refrained from sabotaging his education up to this point, more than could be said of many of his earlier teachers. Naruto got the impression that Mizuki secretly hated teaching but didn't see another career path he could pursue. In contrast, Iruka seemed to love teaching above all else. Unfortunately, his lessons were rather dull in Naruto's opinion.

'_Well, I can see it as training my patience. I wonder what Yakumo is doing at this moment?'_

His only female friend besides the nice ramen lady Ayame had spent the last seven months scooped up with her uncle. Naruto visited regularly and did most of the necessary shopping for his friend as well as helping her continue her education as best as he could. In spite of all the medics' expectations the old man still clung to his life, but it seemed the end was finally in sight. If things went according to Naruto's expectations Yakumo would join his class in a little more than half a year. He could hardly wait being reunited with his oldest friend.

In his current class he was close friends with Choji and Shino while Kiba Inuzuka had more the status of a friendly acquaintance. The younger brother of the Inuzuka clan heiress was simply too rash for more than a casual friendship. Naruto couldn't risk the boy noticing some of the more unusual things about him. If he became his close friend he might be able to trust him with his life, but not with his secrets. Kiba was simply too immature at this point in time. Shino understood such things, and the time would come soon to reveal his status as a jinchuuriki to him if their friendship continued to develop.

Shikamaru Nara was an enigma. The boy clearly possessed a genius-level intellect, but he only used it to minimize the work he had to do. He was so incredibly lazy that Naruto sometimes feared he would stop breathing because it was too troublesome. Several attempts at befriending him had been in vain, and Naruto was at his wits' end. There simply seemed to be nothing that could motivate Shikamaru to do anything besides sleeping and cloud-watching. According to Choji he hadn't been that bad in the past, but changed sometime before Naruto met Choji.

Then there was Sasuke Uchiha, best pupil in the class and owner of quite a lot of mental problems. While it wasn't uncommon for a shinobi to develop some quirks after some years on the job, starting one's career with these problems wasn't a good sign. Watching his family getting slaughtered could have such effects, but there seemed to be something more. Perhaps his brother had done something to him, he knew that some Uchiha had developed some quite nasty genjutsu related to their eyes, and Itachi had always excelled at genjutsu from what he gathered. Naruto had a bad feeling about Sasuke, but that might have been his mother's aversion against all things Uchiha influencing his opinion. He had made some half-hearted attempts at talking with the boy, but to no avail.

Naruto didn't plan on investing more work into that matter. It might be possible to pierce Sasuke's shell with a lot of effort and time, but Naruto had better things to do. The last Uchiha was alone by choice, and Naruto was content to let him be. His superiority complex was bad enough to suffer even if he wasn't in continued close contact. Not to say that some of that wasn't warranted. Sasuke was very good compared to most of his peers due to a combination of a strong heritage, previous education by his clan and a single-minded focus on getting stronger. Still, he was no genius even if he was hailed as such.

Unfortunately, his cold attitude was seen as 'cool' by most of his peers; and combined with his prowess in class, bloodline, wealth and future political influence it had created a veritable horde of admirers. Many were further encouraged in this behavior by their families hoping for a valuable marriage or friendship.

It had a devastating effect on the average skill level of the future kunoichi in particular, who spent almost all their time pursuing a boy that would probably never acknowledge any of them. Naruto found it almost physically painful to watch them squander all their potential, but he didn't have any idea what he could do to change that. The worst thing was that Sasuke seemed to completely ignore them, neither acknowledging nor rebuffing them. If Naruto had been in his shoes he would have chosen the girls he liked best and used them to control the rest of the horde while encouraging them to concentrate on their training. Then again, mabye it wouldn't have worked. Maybe he would have resorted to ignoring the unwanted attention as well.

Only one girl in their class wasn't enamored with the Uchiha, and she was a strange case. Hinata Hyuuga was terminally shy and always seemed as if she wanted to hide inside her own clothes. Naruto hadn't been able to talk with her normally a single time. On each attempt she had started to stutter incoherently and either fled as soon as she could or one on particular occasion fainted outright. It hadn't been fun to explain that to the teacher who had discovered them at that moment. The unnerving thing was that he could feel her eyes on him every time he wasn't looking in her direction. It slowly began to creep him out, but he didn't know what he could do about it.

The male side of the class wasn't much better, only he, Choji and Shino took their training seriously enough, mainly due to his influence. Contrary to appearances, they weren't normal schoolchildren. Sure, some time to play was normal and important, but in around four years they could expect to be thrown into battles where their life was at stake. Additionally, what he knew of the school curriculum just didn't seem adequate to prepare them for that reality.

'_I have to somehow get my hands on older versions of the school curriculum just to see if something has changed over the years. Most of the stuff is either superfluous or could be covered in just two or three years, not five.'_

A piece of chalk colliding with his head interrupted his musings. He had seen it coming from the corner of his eye, but didn't want to give his reflexes away. Watching the outside through the window while simultaneously listening to the lecture and thinking unconnected thoughts was excellent training for splitting his attention successfully.

"Naruto! Pay attention to the lecture."

"Sorry Iruka-sensei."

* * *

><p>Naruto woke with a start. After a moment of confusion he felt something sticky covering his nether regions. A look under the sheets confirmed his suspicions.<p>

"Great. Puberty."

He hadn't expected that for at least a year, possibly longer, but it seemed he had an abnormally early start. At least if he counted only his biological age. His mental age was rather difficult to determine. The time spent with his parents just didn't flow right. When he examined his memories of the last months he noticed an increased interest in attractive females on his part. Nothing serious, but it was noticeable.

Naruto hadn't been consciously aware of his changing behavior at the time, but it was clear in hindsight. At least he knew what was happening and why because of his parents. He didn't want to think about what could have happened had he been forced to find out about things on his own, the academy lesson on that part was utter crap and the important stuff was planned for third year anyway. The basic kunoichi lessons on that topic had already taken place in early second year, but he gathered from his stolen materials that they were wholly inadequate, especially concerning the mental and emotional aspects.

'_Well, there's nothing I can do about that.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto felt a headache approaching while he tried to make sense of the information he had collected about Konoha's political structure. Surprisingly the academy hardly covered the generalities, apparently it was expected that parents taught their children or that they learned it on their own somehow. He had pumped Choji, Shino and Yakumo for information, secretly visited the village library and generally used his enhanced hearing to gather more information. Now he tried to make a coherent whole out of all the individual pieces of information.<p>

Most importantly, the Hokage wasn't the absolute ruler some people believed him to be. While he had a lot of power in the day-to-day running of the village as well as in the setting of policy he couldn't simply do what he wanted. He had to answer for his actions to the great village council of Konoha. Said great council was politically divided into a shinobi and a civilian side, with the shinobi subdivided into three groups.

On the shinobi side the majority of political power was held by the nine great founding clans of Konoha: Aburame, Akimichi , Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Kurama, Nara, Senju, Uchiha and Yamanaka. Each clan held a voting seat on the council and had additional special privileges granted by the Shodaime Hokage according to the terms of the individual agreements made upon their joining of Konoha. For example, the command and staffing of the military police was the prerogative of the Uchiha clan. Even the Hokage couldn't interfere directly, at least legally. Of course, political horse trading and backroom deals were frequently exercised options.

The second group consisted of the numerous minor shinobi clans like the Sarutobi, Morino or Hatake. They were represented by two elders who were chosen from among the heads of the minor clans. The appointments usually lasted for life or voluntary retirement because of the difficulty of assembling the necessary two-thirds majority of the clan heads to remove an elder. Only a simple majority of the votes was required to be appointed in case of a vacant position. Danzo Shimura and Koharu Utatane were the current holders of the positions.

The third and last group encompassed invidual shinobi, shinobi families and family groups that didn't qualify for clan status for one reason or another. Although more numerous than the minor or great clans they were only entitled to a single elder representing their interests, one Homura Mitokado.

Procedures for each civilian council seat were different, mostly because their number had grown over time from the original five to currently nine since the time of Konoha's founding. The original five seats were connected to specific important professions, namely blacksmiths, builders, foresters, local merchants/crafters and long-distance traders, while the newer seats were open to any civilian who could gather enough votes.

In addition to this there were countless committees, special councils, precedents, exemptions, customary laws and rights, the advisors appointed by the Hokage himself (Koharu and Homura held these positions as well), promotion and audition boards and positions like the jonin commander or the heads of the different shinobi divisions, often with the same people holding several positions. At least the influence of the Fire daimyo had stopped with the latest version of the treaty, and Konoha was now in effect a quasi-independent city state. Meaning the laws of the Land of Fire generally didn't apply to Konoha's territory or shinobi on a mission, at least in theory.

If he tried to draw an organizational chart it would look like something a crazy spider on an acid trip would weave. The entire thing had grown rampant over the decades of Konoha's existence, and like any human organization old enough it was rife with corruption, selective applying of laws, favoritism and all these other interesting things while presenting a wholly different image on the surface.

"Isn't the whole system horrible slanted in favor of the great clans?" Naruto asked Yakumo. He was currently visiting her, and they used the time of her uncle's afternoon nap to go over everything Naruto had learned. The old man had been discharged from the hospital because there was literally nothing that could be done for him there.

"You are right of course, but that is because the first Hokage had to offer something of value to the great clans to convince them of his idea of a shinobi village. They had to give up their independence to partake in an experiment with unknown outcome. Would you gamble the fate of your family and people for mere words?"

Naruto considered that. "No, I wouldn't. Still, the unaligned shinobi outnumber the great clans as well as the minor clans, why do they have only a single vote?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think mainly because they aren't a coherent force. Most of them aren't politically active and simply let their superiors handle things. The rest plays the political game inside of the organizational structure. There simply isn't enough pressure to grant them more votes. Additionally, this large number of unaligned shinobi is a relative recent development. At the time of Konoha's founding there were only the great clans, some minor clans and a very few independent shinobi and small shinobi families. From what I know the votes are a pretty accurate representation of the situation at the time. At first the minor clans grew greatly in power and number, but that development didn't last. Since then the minor clans have taken the brunt of the damage from the wars and steadily lost influence while the number of unaligned shinobi skyrocketed. There have been no new minor clans formally recognized for over twenty years."

"Okay, I understand that. But why did the number of civilian seats almost double?"

Yakumo looked thoughtful. "That is a good question. The non-shinobi members of any clan fall under the umbrella of the individual clan's representation. From what my uncle told me the number and influence of the civilians has been rising as long as he can remember. Furthermore, the Hokage's powerbase mainly consists of the civilians and the longstanding alliance of the Sarutobi clan with the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka. It follows that he is the one that has pressed for more civilian seats."

She sighed. "Unfortunately, my uncle was never in the thick of our clan's political endeavors, these things were handled by my father and another uncle. He can't tell me much about the details of the political situation aside from the generalities and the laws. In reality there are countless backroom deals and verbal agreements involved that can make a situation entirely different from what you would expect from a purely theoretical standpoint. The great council is important, but the people you know and the posts they occupy play a huge role. That's perhaps even more important. Look at my situation. We had a council vote but few other assets. Currently my only politically valuable connections are Choji and Shino in their role as clan heirs. Heck, my uncle sometimes doesn't believe we will ever get our seat back. He doesn't trust the Hokage as far as he could throw him."

"How do you become Hokage anyway?" Naruto asked.

"Theoretically the great council chooses the Hokage even if the acting one can recommend a successor, but that right was really only ever exercised with the Shodaime and the Yondaime. In the first case it was either Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha, and Hashirama was much more popular. The Nidaime Tobirama Senju simply took over from his brother while we were at war and it seemed like a natural choice. In the case of the Sandaime Hiruzen Sarutobi it was a bit different; he was the chosen successor of the Nidaime and likewise took over while we were at war. Nobody else had the backing to successfully challenge him at the time, and when the war was over things simply continued. My uncle mentioned that Danzo Shimura was his main rival, but he could never rally enough votes. The choosing of the Yondaime was a bit more complicated, because the Fire daimyo had a lot of influence on that one. When the Sandaime retired he recommended Minato Namikaze, with Orochimaru as his main rival. The great clans each tried to elect one of their own, but each time the rest united against that, finally leading to Namikaze's election as a compromise canditate because he didn't belong to a clan. After his death around a year later the Sandaime took over again without an election, and has held on to power ever since. He has held power for longer than a large percentage of the village population has been alive, and it just seems natural to most people."

A loud cough from another room interrupted their session, and Naruto knew it was time for him to leave. Yakumo would need to attend her uncle, and the old man couldn't bear when other people saw him in his weakened state.

"Thanks for your help, Yakumo-chan. Choji and I will bring you the supplies you need tomorrow."

Yakumo only answered with a nod, she was already busy brewing a tea that would hopefully ease her uncle's cough somewhat.

* * *

><p>One afternoon a few weeks later, Naruto was still training his kunai throwing skills after Choji and Shino had gone home when he suddenly felt being watched. He continued throwing his kunai at the practice dummy as normal, but began to inconspicuously search for scents and noises out of the ordinary. A shift of the wind brought a familiar scent to his nose.<p>

'_Hinata'_

It didn't take long for him to pinpoint her location from the small noises she made. The girl was hiding behind a tree some distance away and watching him train while occasionally making a soft sigh. Without his increased senses he would never have noticed her.

'_What is the matter with her? If she wants to spend time with me she just has to approach me.'_

Hinata had begun to secretly follow Naruto several weeks ago, and it was freaking him out. He knew he was somewhat prone to paranoia, especially because he knew there were people out there to get him. The Hyuuga's stalking was feeding that feeling, and he wanted it to stop. He had tried talking with her again, several times in fact, but she just stammered something and fled. If he approached her during her stalking she did the same, and because of her byakugan he couldn't get close enough to surprise her.

Sometimes his instincts were a liability, it was very difficult for him to ignore being followed or watched. The Hokage's crystal ball had been dealt with years ago, but now Hinata caused another problem in the same vein. Naruto didn't know how far she could see with her eyes, and it made pursuing his secret activities impossible. Unfortunately, he had to visit his hidden workshop today. Several hides he had stored in different tanning liquids had to be processed further if he didn't want to lose the batch.

Silently he contemplated his options. It was possible for him to give Hinata the slip without making it look suspicious, but it always took time. For a city-dweller the girl was surprisingly good at pursuing him. That garnered her no small amount of professional respect in Naruto's book, but he would have preferred if he wasn't her chosen prey. Anyway, he didn't have enough time today for his usual modus operandi. Luckily he had another way.

After finishing with his exercises he packed his belongings and left the training field. He could hear Hinata following him, but as soon as he entered the streets of the village the normal noise drowned the sounds she caused. There was some traffic, but not enough for his purpose. When he reached one of the main roads of the village he was ready. With a few seconds of concentration he activated the newest spell of his repertoire. The effects became noticeable immediately. All the people who had sent him glares suddenly hesitated and assumed their normal expressions after a few moments of confusion. People who had made a point of deliberately ignoring him now looked in his direction without hesitation. Only they didn't really see him anymore.

For everyone he had just become a random face in the crowd that looked completely harmless, the proverbial random citizen that no one paid any attention to. Savoring his precious moments of anonymity, Naruto entered a corner behind a market stall, made a few hand signs and whispered "Henge" to transform into a middle aged man. He returned to the main street and quickly made his way to his destination, passing a confused Hinata in the process. The spell faded soon enough, and he felt the emptiness indicating he had spent all his available magic power.

His new spell had proven unexpectedly useful despite its limitations. Originally they had intended it only as a test if anyone could detect the subconscious compulsion like many experienced shinobi could with genjutsu. The answer was no, apparently they couldn't once the spell took hold. Unfortunately it worked only in dense crowds, if there were too few humans around to blend in the spell had no noticeable effect. If he tried to take any action that went specifically against someone's interests, like for example entering a building he wasn't allowed to or stealing something, the spell broke immediately. Apparently it relied somehow on him really taking only harmless actions. Additionally, one use lasted for perhaps three minutes and sucked his reserves dry for more than a day.

As a tool to evade his little stalker it proved priceless, the minutes were more than enough to use a henge to change into a different form and make his escape. Unless Hinata looked closely and specifically at his new form she wouldn't be able to notice his special version of the henge. Whistling merrily, Naruto approached the abandoned building that held his secret workshop. Perhaps he could get her to stop following him if he escaped often enough?

* * *

><p>"Mom! Dad! We have to do something about Hinata, her stalking drives me crazy."<p>

"Have you tried talking with her?"

Naruto looked at his mother and rolled his eyes. "Of course, with the emphasis on the 'tried'. She doesn't seem to be able to talk to me normally, and doesn't take a hint. I want her to stop stalking me, it's creepy. As things are, it's only a matter of time until she sees something she shouldn't. I already had to blow my entire daily magic several times just to escape her notice, and it's putting several things I want to do on hold." His shoulder's sagged. "I don't want to hurt her physically or emotionally if I can help it, that would veer too much into 'kicking a puppy'-territory, but things can't continue as they are."

His parents looked at each other and an entire silent conversation seemed to take place. After a short time his parents turned back towards him.

"Would you object to her presence if she stopped stalking you?" Daiki asked.

Naruto shrugged. "If we were able to have a normal conversation I see no reason not to spend time with her. She seems nice and gentle, and from what I can see she does at least some extra training, unlike the fan girl horde. Why do you ask?"

"Because we are contemplating extraordinary measures. You are right that the stalking can't continue, but we had hoped that you would be able to form a friendship the normal way." his mother answered.

"Is this another part of your future knowledge?" Naruto asked warily.

Daiki nodded. "In most possible futures she was friends with you, and she would be a great asset. I believe that with the right kind of encouragement she would be loyal to you above all else."

After thinking about it for a moment Naruto agreed. "Yeah, her byakugan would be really useful for our plans. I hear a lot, but I still can't get into the really interesting places. Hinata could simply look through the walls and dig up all sorts of information. Still, can't you give me more information how I was supposed to get her to talk to me?"

"Unfortunatey I can't, my prophetic abilities don't really work like this. There is no guarantee that what you did in one possible future would work now. The future isn't set in stone, there are endless possible variations. Imagine time as a river, with smaller streams splitting from the main flow all the time, with some of them rejoining it later while others lead to entirely different results. When I first mapped out the future I did it from a high vantage point, like a bird's perspective. Now that I'm mostly stuck here my perspective is more akin to that of a fish who is swimming in the water. I can still see, but only the immediate surroundings before everything blurs into unrecognizability aside from vague visions. It's still better than being blind, but not really suited to solely base long-term decisions on it. Furthermore, I originally only explored your mother's futures, not yours. I have only indirect knowledge of some of your actions and experiences because the alternate Kyuubi I looked at knew of them. Additionally, my original predictions aren't accurate anymore because everything shifted. Although they are still valuable from a what could have been point of view even if they are full of holes."

"Can you show me? I want to know how my life could have turned out." Naruto asked.

"One day, sure. I will have to bring them into a format you can understand first. One the matter of your little stalker, if you aren't able to get close to her in the normal way, we have to use extreme measures. This is what we will do…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>As always I want to thank my reviewers before everything else. Next chapter Hinata will learn that stalking can have quite unexpected results.

I gave Naruto a bloodline, but his regeneration is not really better than in canon. The effects are more long-term than actually usable in battle outside of Kyuubi-mode. Of course, should he one day lose access to the Kyuubi's chakra he will retain his regeneration abilities…

I always answer my reviewers and additional questions via PM, but some points I feel like addressing here because they come up relatively often.

**Aren't you very harsh on Kushina?**

Yes, I am. I feel she should have used her own plan to seal Kyuubi back into her instead of going along with Minato, but there attenuating circumstances (her dying from the seal breaking, completely trusting her husband). Naturally, my Kuubi and OC have no interest in Naruto developing any friendly feelings towards his biological parents. While they won't lie or conceal facts, they will subtly make sure that he sees Kushina's and Minato's actions in the most unfavorable light possible.

**Why doesn't Naruto leave the village?**

My Naruto doesn't love the village or is especially loyal to the village as a whole, but he doesn't really hate it either. Intense dislike, yes, but he can live with that. At the current time he would probably defend Konoha out of loyalty for his friends and to keep up appearances even at risk to his life, as long as it isn't clearly suicidal.

There are several good reasons for Naruto to stay in Konoha and learn to be a shinobi:

a) The Sandaime and the other leaders would never let him leave and become highly suspicious if his attempts at encouraging Naruto to follow a shinobi career proved fruitless.

b) Kyuubi and the OC have some knowledge of the possible futures and know of Akatsuki and that they will come after Naruto sooner or later. A village is a handy meat shield to discourage or delay attacks.

c) After studying for years, Naruto has no magic that is useful in combat, and it might not be possible for a human to effectively wield it in a fight as sole weapon.

d) Therefore, he needs to be a shinobi to be able to defend himself, and neither Kyuubi nor the OC can teach him.

e) Other villages would probably attempt to transfer the Kyuubi into another host with proven loyalty should Naruto defect successfully.

f) To ultimately dismantle the seal without killing Naruto advanced knowledge of the sealing arts is required, which is hard to come by even for most normal shinobi, but the village can provide the resources for him to learn it as long as he is seen as loyal enough.

**Is the Sandaime evil? Is he good? Misguided? Senile? In on the Yondaime's plan?**

All these impressions of Sarutobi are certainly possible, but remember that so far I have only shown external opinions like Naruto's perspective (who only sees the Sandaime's actions, or lack thereof, and whose view is strongly influenced by his adoptive parents) or that of Unkai Kurama (who has mainly second-hand knowledge from his son-in-law and is an ill and bitter old man). Even genuine acts of kindness might be perceived as manipulations by Naruto. Hiruzen Sarutobi is a politician who is responsible for the whole village, and he might have very good reasons or hardly a choice for what he is doing. Or he could be an evil schemer. Or anything in between. Not telling at this point in the story.^^


	9. Chapter 8: The dangers of stalking

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 8: The dangers of stalking**

Hinata Hyuuga was a frustrated girl. She had taken to stalk-… err observing her secret crush, but somehow he managed to escape her with increasing frequency. Her admiration of Naruto had started at the beginning of her second year of the academy. Naruto had already joined the academy more than one year prior to her, but had failed advancement two times already, thus landing him in her class. Upon entering the class he had immediately started to quarrel with their teacher because the man disparaged his dream of founding his own clan. It had set the tone of their academic career.

Some teachers were constantly denigrating Naruto's efforts and sometimes crossed the line to outright sabotaging the boy, but he avoided rising to the baiting and simply worked harder. Despite the constant pressure to fail he managed to keep his grades acceptable, if on the lower end of the class. She wished she could do something about it, but the one time she brought it up with her family she had been told in no uncertain terms to stay away from the boy. Needless to say, she never mentioned him again in her family's hearing.

Naruto had no one to help him or to rely on except for Choji whom he seemed to know from before the academy and lately Shino, and still he kept the determination to become something great. Oh, how Hinata envied this determination. Her father was becoming colder and colder to her, and the elders openly called her a failure as she struggled to keep up with her training exercises. They focused increasingly on her little sister Hanabi who despite being five years younger than her showed great promise. The height of humiliation had occurred when her father pitted them against each other a few months ago and the little four-year old had defeated her. Now, no four year old girl no matter how thoroughly trained would be able to defeat someone five years her senior in an open spar, but it had been more a contest of who could execute the forms of the Gentle Fist better. She had failed that contest miserably. Somehow, the traditional forms just never seemed completely right to her, and she had to actively work against her body to perform them. And it showed. After that disgraceful event her father had formally revoked her nomination as clan heiress, but omitted naming a replacement. The Hyuuga clan had kept quiet about it, meaning everyone outside the clan still thought of her as the heiress.

For now, the title was left in abeyance. The talk was to name Hanabi clan heiress and relegate her to the branch house, but no decision had been made. It didn't seem likely for the matter to be decided in the foreseeable future as some elders were using the opportunity to attempt to usurp the position for their own immediate family. The Hyuuga main house consisted of ten family lines that each was continued by a single heir for each generation. Superfluous siblings were branded with the caged bird seal and relegated to the branch house. The only escape lay in marrying the heir of a main house family, upon which the seal would be modified so that only the main house spouse could trigger the more unsavory functions. Like pain or death.

The day after the lost contest she had been more depressed than usual. Usually she had been escorted to and back from the academy by a branch house member, but after the loss of the title apparently no one bothered anymore. Combined with her father's growing indifference towards her actions she had a lot more unsupervised free time on her hands. Occasionally she would be called for further training, if one could call the humiliations she suffered at the hands of her clansmen training. Hinata never managed to perform to her instructors standards, no matter if the instructor was her father or any other clan member.

In desperation Hinata had taken to secretly following the one bright star in her life around and observed Naruto for hours while he trained. It gave her some small solace seeing a person like her who was called a failure stand up against his fate. If only she could talk to him! But she was far too shy to approach him on her own. The few times he had tried to talk to her she had been so overwhelmed with emotions that she stammered some nonsense and ran away, or on one particular occasion had fainted. Naruto was gone when she awoke, but she had learned later that he had been apprehended by a teacher for 'assaulting the Hyuuga heir'. No serious punishment came of it, but it served to further her embarrassment. Her lack of emotional control was one of the points of criticism she had to constantly face from her clan, and now it had created trouble for her object of admiration.

It didn't help that she found him attractive and had developed somewhat of a crush. Her body reacted in funny ways that served to further unbalance her if she was near the blond boy. She was developing early and had the most womanly body of her age group. To hide her growing chest she had begun to wear an oversized jacket. She was only too aware how the bodies of every other girl and boy looked, as she couldn't help but to see them naked when she activated her Byakugan. It had been especially bad at the time when she was just developing the control over her eyes and the damned things kept partially activating randomly, showing her the cross-sections of things and people around her at the worst possible times. At least Hinata didn't believe any amount of blood and gore could frighten her anymore after she had seen the insides of everyone for several days. The temptation to use her special powers to check her contemporaries (and some of the more attractive members of the older generation) out was increasingly hard to resist. She indulged far more than she probably should, especially since her clan frowned on such 'perverted' behavior.

Sometimes she wished to have a female friend to talk about such things, but all the girls in her class were after the Uchiha heir since the end of the first year of the academy. Hinata simply couldn't stomach the constant fawning over the boy who in her insignificant opinion was a brooding, arrogant, unmitigated asshole with a haircut looking like a duck's ass, not that she would ever voice that view to anyone. The girls from the branch house always treated her with icy formality, making a friendship or talking about intimate things unfathomable; while there were no girls in roughly her age group in the main house at the current time. All the other main house families had only male children in her generation. She wasn't that close to her sister, who was too young to understand such matters anyway.

The closest she had come to a talk about boys were the lessons of Aunt Chihiro which consisted mainly of phrases like 'do your duty for the continuation of the clan' and similar things, while the instruction at the academy was purely technical with some focus on seduction. Not that she or any other clan heiress would ever be asked to perform seduction missions, such a thing was simply not done to owners of a bloodline or really anyone who had some political clout. Hinata had simply no idea how to deal with the veritable storm of emotions that raged inside her. The behavioral training of her clan prevented most of it showing, but didn't really help her coping with the emotions. Sometimes she even thought bottling them up in the Hyuuga way made it worse.

Back to the present, she was again following Naruto after the academy closed for the weekend and determined not to lose him this time around. How the boy managed to escape her seemingly without being aware that she was following him eluded her. After he had eaten a meal at his favorite ramen stand (two pork, one beef and one vegetable ramen), Naruto headed to the outskirts of Konoha.

'_Perhaps he wants to train again?_' she thought.

That thought brought memories of earlier training sessions to the foreground, where she had watched Naruto. Suddenly the idea of her observing him training without his clothes via her bloodline entered her mind. The image was almost enough for her to lose concentration and start a fainting spell.

'_Where did that come from_?' Hinata wondered.

Abruptly she realized that she was about to lose track of her crush. That was unacceptable. She quickly reduced the distance between them. Today he wouldn't escape her rightful admiration! Naruto seemed determined to make following him difficult and she had to resort to her byakugan several times to avoid losing him. He wandered through back alleys, used several shortcuts she hadn't known about and gave her a good workout in general until he finally entered a small grove that was secreted behind several abandoned buildings.

Hinata was too winded to pay much attention to her surroundings and simply followed him into the grove. As soon as she entered the sounds of the village disappeared. After about a half a minute walking amongst the trees on a winding path she became suspicious. It was simply impossible for that many trees to fit into the small grove she had seen. Confused she stopped walking and looked back at the way she had come.

It wasn't there.

A few meters behind her the path abruptly ended at a thicket of decade-old trees and undergrowth. Even her footprints stopped there and didn't continue underneath the trees, as she discovered when she activated her byakugan for a short look around. As she shifted her attention forwards she noticed that Naruto was nowhere in sight anymore. She took a few careful steps forward and looked back again.

The distance to the wall of foliage was the same as before, even if the positions of the trees to the side of the path clearly showed that she had moved. Suppressing the beginnings of a panic attack Hinata conducted a few experiments. She confirmed that the plants were indeed solid and not some kind of illusion. That she couldn't detect anything suspicious with her byakugan ruled out genjutsu. As soon as she didn't look anymore the path behind her simply vanished. The environment in range of her bloodline stayed the same until she deactivated her enhanced sight, then it changed in the blink of an eye. It remained in the changed form even if she immediately reactivated her byakugan.

Someone or something obviously wanted her to stay on the path. Not ready to give up she tried to force her way beyond the foliage at the end of the path. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience as branches scraped her limbs and leaves flew directly in her face. After a few dozen meters she saw some light shimmering through the leaves. With a final push she left the dense barrier of plant life behind her… only to stand once again squarely on the forest path she had just left. Repeated attempts on the sides of the path yielded identical results. If she used her byakugan the damned path would appear before her almost as soon as she lost it out of her sight, no matter that she had clearly seen it located to her back only moments before.

Finally resigning to her fate, Hinata decided to follow the path wherever it led. She didn't know how much time passed, but the narrow path ended abruptly. One moment she was still walking on the path, the next she was standing in a free space between large trees that looked similar to those in the forests outside of Konoha. When she turned her head, the path had completely disappeared. There were only huge trees in all directions with mist swirling between them. At least the underbrush was far more open then before and only consisted of some bushes or young trees here and there and not an almost massive wall like before.

Because the mist made it impossible to properly orientate herself, she took off in a random direction. These woods seemed very strange to Hinata. The forest before had been dense, but aside from the inescapable path normal.

Here she felt as if something was watching her warily, and several times the creaking of the trees seemed almost like whispers. Somehow the trees looked grey and hostile, with thick patches of black lichen hanging from the branches. The mist grew denser and denser, until she could hardly see the ground between her feet. It was like the mist was alive, and several times she could almost feel invisible fingers touching her body while the whispers of the trees grew louder. At one time she saw a pair of glowing eyes on the edge of her vision, but when she turned her head towards them nothing was there aside from swirling mist. Her heart thumping loudly, she continued on her way.

Without warning the mist ended. Hinata was now walking through a forest flooded with sunlight that shone through gaps in the canopy high above her, but this time she could see the bank of fog behind her that she had just left. She felt a gentle pull in a specific direction and decided to follow it. After all, where else would she go? Hinata didn't have the slightest clue in which direction Konoha was.

Had the first set of woods been normal and the second set creepy, these ones were different still. The colors were brighter; the plants looked healthier; the multitude of animal sounds that had been missing from the first two woods indicated a lot of animal life. Somehow, this forest felt more real and alive than any forest she had visited before in her life. She felt her nervousness melt away and even slowed her pace to enjoy her surroundings.

Finally the trees grew sparser and she reached the edge of the forest. Hinata gasped in surprise at the sight that presented itself. Before her stretched a wide field dotted with a myriad of shimmering flowers in all colors that she could imagine. Some rocky outcroppings and the occasional bush and tree were scattered through the field. And in the distant center of the field she spied a familiar blonde shock of hair, standing before the largest of the rocky spires.

Unsure of what to do, Hinata hid behind one of the larger trees to observe the situation some more.

"You know, it's not nice to spy on other people inside their home."

The girl jumped as the voice sounded directly by her ear. But as she wildly looked around, she saw nobody near her.

"Come closer, don't be shy." sounded the voice again.

Now close to the edge of panic Hinata backed away and was about to escape back into the forest.

"No, no, we can't have you running away, can we?"

Hinata cried out in surprise as she lost the ground beneath her feet. For a moment she hovered a short distance above the ground before she was pulled to the distant figure at high speed. She felt a peculiar weightlessness as she floated above the field, almost but not quite clipping the flowers with her feet. When she reached the center of the field, she came to a sudden stop. The unknown force gently set her down and she managed to stay on her feet.

The boy before her had his back towards her and seemed to observe something above the spire. She tried to find what he was looking at but saw only empty sky. As she shifted her attention back to the boy she noticed the strange grey cloak he wore and definitely hadn't worn while she was following him. The fabric seemed to flow and glitter like some mixture out of mist and light.

"N-N-N-Naruto-kun?" she stammered.

Abruptly the boy turned around and met her gaze, causing Hinata to gasp in surprise. What normally were two fairly normal eyes of the deepest blue were now solid pitch-black orbs with some dots of light slowly moving inside them.

The voice from before spoke."I fear Naruto is currently not in possession of this body, but you will meet him shortly. Now look into my eyes, child."

Hinata wanted to avert her gaze, close her eyes or do anything to not have to gaze into these black depths, but to no avail; she was unable to move or even blink. Deeper and deeper she stared into the abyss with the whirling stars of light. The blackness grew and spread out over her entire field of vision and she was falling… falling…

…

…

"...ake up, Hinata-chan." she heard a voice penetrating the darkness and felt someone shaking her shoulder.

Hinata abruptly opened her eyes to see some mossy grass directly before her face. Sitting up, she recognized Naruto standing close to her and looking at her worriedly, this time with his usual blue eyes. Surrounding them was a quite normal looking meadow bordered by woodland. She quickly got to her feet.

"N-N-Naruto-kun, w-w-w-where a-a-am I?" she asked.

Naruto sheepishly scratched his head. "Well, after you didn't stop following me around and I wasn't able to get a rational conversation going we decided to take some extreme measures. This is the place where my parents live. Oh, and my mom wants a word with you." he said and pointed behind her.

Turning around, Hinata came face-to-face with an elephant-sized fox with gold-red fur that stared directly into her eyes. Absentmindedly she noted the nine tails whose tips were visible from her perspective. For what seemed like an eternity she stood frozen, neither the girl nor the fox making a move. Finally, the fox had enough of the staring contest and proceeded to use its tongue to give the stunned girl some very wet full-body licks. After a few good licks she started to giggle because of the tickling sensation, which prompted the fox to intensify its assault. Eventually the fox backed off, and she had finally time to get her laughter under control and remove the worst of the spittle from her face. It was then that she felt a hand on her shoulder. Twisting her head she could see the hand belonged to Naruto.

"You're in luck, it seems mom likes you."

'_Naruto-kun is touching me._' This thought drowned out every other thing in Hinata's head. Combined with the newly fanned emotional turmoil caused by Naruto's proximity it was enough to overload the poor girl's brain, with a predictable result: Hinata fainted.

* * *

><p>Naruto blinked. The giant fox blinked. Both stared at the unconscious girl at their feet.<p>

"**You know, kit, that was unexpected. I would understand fainting when facing me abruptly or receiving the tongue treatment, but just from you touching her? I begin to suspect there is something deeply wrong with your little admirer.**"

Naruto was alternately gazing at Hinata and his hand as if the latter had become some weapon of mass destruction. Finally he lifted his eyes to look at his mother.

"Yeah, you're right mom. I say we take her into the house and have dad examine her mind later. From what I've seen of the other girls' behavior that's definitely not normal."

Youko used some of her tails to gently pick the girl up and placed her on her back. The pair began slowly walking in the direction of the cottage.

"**You know, she is very cute.**" Youko remarked after a while.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Please mom, I hardly know her. In the whole time I was in class with her we have spoken perhaps a dozen times. That is if you can me trying to speak to her and she stammering something count as conversation."

"**Still, you need some female companionship. Choji and the boys are nice enough I suppose, but you really should get to know some girls.**"

"I so don't want to have this conversation; I'm nine for magic's sake. Why do you try to hitch me up with every girl I meet?"

"**Now, now, the nice ramen lady and the Kurama girl are hardly the majority of Konoha's female population. And I've never suggested for you to mate with them, only for you to get to know them a little better.**"

The blonde boy snorted. "Yeah, right. At least you didn't suggest for me to try and woo Sasuke-teme's fan club away from him."

The giant fox got a thoughtful expression. "**You know, that isn't a bad idea at all. The Uchiha obviously doesn't value them, so he shouldn't object too strenuously. Why, especially the Yamanaka girl looks like she'll be quite a hottie in a few years**. **If you're lucky you could land a nice little threesome with her and Hinata-chan here.**"

Naruto stopped with a gob smacked expression and opened and closed his mouth several times without uttering a sound before his face grew red and he began spluttering incoherently. Roaring laughter filled the air and seemed to further fluster the boy. Finally he managed to compose himself and muttered "Bad ero-kitsune, I'm too young for such things."

"**Too easy, kit, too easy. But enough with the teasing. Now tell your old mother, how was your week?**"

The boy's face brightened considerably because of the changed topic of the conversation.

"Last weekend I managed to find a Mountain Country birch in the woods, they are really rare here in the Land of Fire. A whole copse of them in fact, I think the Shodaime must have planted them or something. The academy was boring, just stuff I already knew. Oh, and Mizuki tried to teach me a wrong taijutsu stance that would have left me wide open in certain circumstances. Boy was he frustrated that I kept doing the right one. Later that week I found a new merchant willing to buy the pelts I gathered. There I met this old woodsman and he said…."

Chatting amicably, the pair of boy and fox with one unconscious girl in tow continued their walk through the meadows towards their home.

* * *

><p>With a soft sigh Daiki finished the examination of the sleeping girl's mind. Ethereal silvery tentacles retracted from the inside of Hinata's head back into his hands. He rose from his kneeling position besides Hinata's resting place on a pile of furs and took his customary place at the main table while shaking his head.<p>

"That bad?" asked Youko who had changed to her human form and was already sitting at the table.

"You have no idea. It's like her father and the rest of her clan are determined to make every wrong decision possible and destroy the poor girl and then have the gall to say it was her own fault." he answered while holding his head in his hands.

The following silence stretched for some time until Youko asked "Won't you tell me the details?"

Daiki sighed again and fixed his mate with a serious look. "I will, but you have to keep this to yourself. No telling Naruto the details or teasing the girl. It will be hard enough to get her to open up without some untimely comment that causes her to close up again. After we have established some trust we can help her work through her problems until the girl becomes at least halfway functional."

Youko nodded in understanding. "That's why you sent Naruto for a walk. It's probably for the best, I agree."

Daiki launched into an explanation. "Basically, Hinata is a very kind girl who suffered immense psychological damage at the hands of her so-called family. The memories of her early childhood are somewhat fuzzy, but I was able to understand everything. Her life is practically a series of traumatic events. It begins pretty much on her third birthday, when her cousin was branded with that slave seal the Hyuuga use. Before that event she was close to her cousin, but his branding destroyed that. A short time later some shinobi from Kumo kidnapped her. Although the attempt was unsuccessful in the end, the aftermath cost her uncle his life, making the rift between the girl and her cousin unbridgeable. He blamed Hinata and the main house for the death of his father. Some of the older generation blamed her too, as if a three year old could have done something against an experienced shinobi. When she was around five years old her mother died shortly after the birth of her sister, who was pretty much her last pillar of support. Since then she had nobody really supporting her."

"It didn't help that she did badly in the excessive training regime she had to go through, which drew the ire of her father and the clan elders. Before her mother's death it was already bad, but after that it grew infinitely worse. I couldn't find a single memory where her sorry excuse for a father or really anyone else was smiling at her or applauded her for a task well done or even acknowledged her efforts, only a steady stream of disdain and calling her a failure. That culminated a few months ago in stripping Hinata of the position of clan heiress. Incidentally, that was when she began to follow Naruto around." He continued after a short pause. "The girl doesn't have anyone she can trust. The main house members are obvious in their contempt, but there is more. I don't think she herself is consciously aware of the fact, but even most branch members I could get a read on despise her. They see her kindness as a weakness that the branch house can exploit should she ever become clan head. The efforts of the clan elders are estranging her from her little sister who she loves dearly by pitting them against each other. The poor child had her self-confidence completely crushed, is chronically depressed and suffers from a crippling shyness for fear of making some mistake. Her stutter is a symptom of that. She has latched onto her admiration of Naruto like a lifeline. If she hadn't done that she would probably be suicidal by now. He is basically the only bright point in her life."

"Her situation is made worse by the fact that she seems to possess a greater emotional depth than the typical Hyuuga. Their traditional behavior code only suppresses the emotions, but hers are too strong for that and cause all sorts of problems when bottled up. Because Naruto is the only point for emotional release she has, she is regularly overwhelmed when she comes in close contact with him. That is what causes these extreme reactions like the fainting. She also had a very early start into puberty which magnifies her emotional problems. By the way, some of her thoughts are remarkably naughty for a nine year old. If she can get over her shyness you two should get along famously." Daiki said with a wink. "Someone with a personality type like Hinata here needs a lot of affection and support. Her clan doesn't provide that. Still, she is more psychologically resilient than one would think. Should Hinata get some people she can trust she would be able to make a recovery given time, although it would take several years before the main issues were resolved. Most likely there would still be some lasting damage though; those humans are not the best when it comes to preserving their mental health."

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, digesting these insights. Finally Youko asked the questions that had been bothering her.

"What is Naruto to her?"

"Our son is her paragon. The admiration she harbors for him for his determination in the face of an unfavorable world borders on obsession. Additionally she has an increasing crush and some amount of physical attraction. I'm certain they will develop a deep friendship if given the chance, but if it will grow into something more is impossible to say at this time. Even if it does, there is no guarantee that it would be permanent. They are both too young to be certain."

"How does she factor into the plan?"

"She could be a very valuable asset. Given appropriate training, the girl has it in her to become one of the greatest kunoichi of this age. In light of my discoveries while examining her mind, I no longer think it the best course of action to simply brainwash her into a more functional state and wipe the memories of our encounter. The results would be suboptimal; to really make use of her we need long-term exposure. Unfortunately, we will have to establish a genuine emotional connection to the girl to make that happen."

Youko looked repulsed by that, and a swirling red aura became visible showing her distress.

Daiki took his mate's hand into his own. "I know you don't want to forge any more emotional bonds with mortal humans, especially ones from Konoha, but I believe it necessary. In all the possible futures I have seen, the girl fell far short of her potential. What small part she managed to unlock on her own would be too little too late to be of any help to our plan. We have to include her regularly in this world at the edge of dreams to gain the necessary time with her to change that, and I can't reuse the method I used to bring her through the seal too often. It would be too dangerous to our son. We need her to develop her own connection to us."

The red-haired woman looked torn between different emotions. Her aura whirled chaotically, with images beginning to flicker and die in the air. Hate for Konoha, desire for family, fear of losing loved ones, aversion of letting a mortal close to her true self, worry about Naruto, cold calculation regarding their future; all that fed into the formation of an intense but highly localized whirlwind around her. Daiki left his place at the table to embrace Youko from behind and whispered in her ear.

"There is another reason. I discovered that the byakugan is the last vestige of a divine heritage, making a new plan feasible. It would enable me to create a second anchor for this world beside Naruto, and you would be able to take possession of her body occasionally. You can't do that with Naruto because of the seal. The only other possible candidates would be other Hyuuga or the last Uchiha because of his sharingan, and I doubt you would want to go anywhere near him." Youko shuddered in disgust while Daiki stopped his speech for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "There is another matter. Someday Naruto will be ready for the confrontation, and he will have to choose which aspect of his heritage to follow. The odds are he will choose us. In time, I believe it possible for Hinata to follow the same path."

Youko's eyes widened at that and she turned her head to look into Daiki's eyes for confirmation.

Her mate nodded. "Yes, it is possible for her to join us forever, either as adoptive daughter, or perhaps as daughter-in-law should she develop a permanent bond with Naruto. Furthermore, it really is in the best interest of the girl. Without our intervention it is almost certain that she will lead a completely miserable life."

Both looked at the peacefully sleeping girl for long moments. Ever since her ascension Youko wished for children. She figured it had to do with her new connection to the domain of life. When she was the Kyuubi it had never felt the urge to procreate, more precisely it hadn't even been able to. The problem was that she wasn't able to create genuine new life while imprisoned by the seal and cut off from the world at large. At first after her metamorphosis the urge had seemed manageable, but then they had been forced to act to save Naruto in a drastic manner before they were ready. In a very real sense she had given birth to the new Naruto, and ever since the urge for more children had grown stronger. If she had another child to mother it would ease that pressure, even if the girl in question would be more or less adopted. The issue was that she didn't want to get close to a mortal that would die after a few short years. She had seen from the acquired memories what the passing of their mortal children did to some immortal beings and she was determined to avoid that pain. The uncertainty if Naruto would choose to remain with them was bad enough, even more because he didn't know that he had that choice. But if there was a chance to join young Hinata permanently to their family it took neatly care of most issues.

'_Blast it, he did it again. How does he manage to convince me to doing things his way so often?_' she thought.

"You have a way with words, my love. So be it, I will allow the little Hyuuga to join us. In exchange, I want your cooperation in destroying every shred of love Naruto may have for Kushina."

Daiki sighed. "Do you truly hate that insignificant mortal that much?"

"You should know better than anyone that I still retain a large part of the Kyuubi's hate and rage, even if the amount isn't that much anymore in comparison to the other parts of my being. She willingly let me be transferred from my first container into her, thereby earning her a place on my list of eternal hatred. Right there with the Sage of Six Paths, Madara Uchiha, Hashirama Senju, Mito Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. Even if she is long dead, I will make her suffer by letting her shade know that I took that which was most precious from her, her only child's love."

"You do know that this is quite petty?" her mate asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm now a goddess; I can be as petty and vindictive as I like, especially to those I consider enemies. Forgiveness isn't one of my domains." Youko answered with a sniff. "That said; I want to be Naruto's only mother in his heart, not share that with some mortal wench."

This time Daiki's sigh was even deeper. "As you will, I will aid you subtly in that endeavor instead of simply going along with it. There are no guarantees though, and I will never lie or omit truths."

"Good, but I want… additional compensation for giving in so easily." Youko said before she licked her lips seductively.

Daiki gave her a deep kiss. "That's my naughty little vixen. I shall see what I can do about your demands, my lady."

Things were about to escalate into a full-blown make-out session when Naruto returned. Upon seeing the people he considered his parents kissing passionately he reacted predictably.

"Ugh! Get a room you two, I don't need to see you two snog the living daylights out of each other when I'm here." he said while averting his eyes.

Both adults stopped kissing but didn't leave the embrace and laughed. "Aww, is my little Naruto-kun disturbed by a simple display of affection? You should take notes, you know. In a few years you will be thankful for every bit of knowledge in this particular field." Youko teased good-naturedly.

"Yeah, right. Now, what's the matter with Hinata? Did you find out why she is so strange?"

Daiki sat back on his chair and gestured for Naruto to take a seat before he launched into an abbreviated explanation.

"Basically, her family treats her very badly and has been doing that for years, traumatizing her. The girl has serious confidence issues and is very shy. She has chosen you as her shining hero she wishes to emulate because of your determination to succeed. Her clan doesn't want her to have any contact with you, but their surveillance stopped recently for the most part. She would make a very good friend if you manage to pierce her shell. We will be keeping her around and try to help her. I suggest you get to know her better." Daiki winked at him. "At least here she can't really run away from you."

"Isn't it incredibly risky to bring Hinata here? What if she talks?" Naruto asked, pointedly ignoring his father's insinuation.

"She won't be able to talk to anyone about anything that happened, I made sure of that. If our plan doesn't pan out I will wipe some of her memories so that it never happened from her perspective. For now, we let her sleep. I think it best if I handle her alone after she wakes up, though. Oh, that reminds me, we need more space now." With these words, the walls shifted, enlarging the room somewhat and forming a second alcove at the side of Naruto's.

* * *

><p>Hinata slowly awoke, but kept her eyes closed for the time being. She felt warm and content while she was on the edge of sleep, and soon enough she would have to face the cold world again. Then the memories hit; her following Naruto, the strange woods, the ebon eyes… the giant fox. She opened her eyes only to find herself staring at an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. Getting up, she saw that she had slept in a very soft and fluffy bed with her clothes neatly folded on a stool beside the bed. Empty shelves and a wardrobe were the only pieces of furniture besides a dressing table. A fur curtain separated her alcove from another room with light seeping in on the edges.<p>

Quickly she got up and dressed before entering the room behind the curtain. A wooden table with several chairs stood in the middle of the room, while a large stone fireplace took up most of the space of one wall. A stone workbench and several cupboards that held tableware and cooking supplies occupied another wall. Multiple furs covered the floor and empty spaces on the walls. Two windows let light into the room and four doors led to somewhere else.

To the side of the alcove she had woken up in another one was visible. Hinata decided to take a peek. It was virtually identical to her own, with the exception of there being a normal table instead of the dressing table. An obviously well-loved and slightly worn fox doll rested on the table, and the shelves were filled with a whole menagerie of wooden animal figurines. Before she could enter the alcove to take a closer look someone behind her cleared his throat. Whirling around, Hinata saw a leather-clad dark-haired man with yellow eyes sitting at the formerly empty table who eyed her with a friendly expression.

"Good morning, Hinata-san."

"G-g-good m-morning." Hinata immediately recognized the voice. It was the same one that had spoken to her in the field. "W-Where am I? W-Who are y-you?"

"You are currently in the world at the edge of dreams, our home and prison. You may call me Daiki. I'm Naruto's adoptive father, you are in our home and we brought you here because of your stalking of our son."

'_Naruto's… adoptive father? That cannot be, I know he lives alone.'_

Then the rest of the words registered. The man knew that she was stalk-… err, following Naruto, and that probably meant that Naruto knew too. She went completely pale before a blush spread over her features. "I…I…I'm…I'm" she stammered, trying to get some justification out.

Daiki raised his hand to stop her words and sighed. "We can't talk like this." Hinata blushed more strongly and watched the man retrieve a cup out of one of the cupboards and fill it with a mix of several liquids from different flasks. After mixing it thoroughly, he returned to the table and placed the cup containing a light blue liquid before her. "Drink this, it will calm you down and enable you to speak normally."

Having no realistic other options, Hinata carefully took a tiny sip. The mixture tasted like blueberries, and she could feel the edge of her nervousness melt away. Encouraged by this, she slowly emptied the cup. The effects became noticeable almost immediately. Her inner turmoil calmed, and for the first time since the death of her mother Hinata felt at peace. The inner tension she had felt so long wasn't there anymore; it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.

Her host had watched her carefully the entire time and obviously noticed her relaxing. "Very good, now we should be able to talk."

"Thank you. What was this?" Hinata asked. Suddenly her eyes widened. She hadn't stuttered!

"A very high-powered calming draught. Unfortunately it only lasts for a few hours and has bad side-effects if consumed too often. Now, about your situation…"

They talked for hours about everything that came to mind. Insignificant things at first, likes and dislikes of both of them. Slowly Hinata opened up and talked about her admiration of Naruto, and a bit about the problems with her family. Normally that would never have happened in a conversation with a stranger she had just met, but somehow she wanted to tell the man everything. Even after she felt the calming effect of the potion lessen she continued talking. It just felt so good to able to speak with someone who listened patiently and didn't obviously judge her every word.

"Why didn't you simply talk with him? Naruto told us that he tried several times to get you to open up?"

Hinata tried to find the right words. "I wanted to, but I… just couldn't. Every time he is near me I become light-headed and lose the ability to talk. Sometimes it's almost enough to make me faint. Observing him without him noticing makes me feel better."

Daiki laughed. "Well young lady, you should know that Naruto was aware of you following him around and watching him from the beginning. It was driving him quite crazy. Our son likes to hunt, but he doesn't like to be the prey."

Her mouth formed a silent O before she blushed a deep, deep crimson and lowered her head. "I'm sorry." It should have been obvious from the start, no one could escape her so often and being unaware of the fact that he was being followed. Now she would have to stop every contact with him.

"You don't have to be sorry. Just stop stalking him; he has nothing against you joining his circle of friends."

Hinata's head snapped upright so fast that she almost dislocated her neck. Hope blossomed inside her heart. "Really?"

"Really. I will help you with your problems, enabling you to talk with him normally. He has already said that he has nothing against you."

Hinata had tears in her eyes. "Thank you so much. I don't think I could live without his presence."

It was only then that she truly noticed how much she had said, far more than she should have to a man she just had met. Normally she would have panicked, but thanks to the potion she stayed calm. Did it really matter? The man had treated her friendly and wanted to help her to be able to talk to Naruto.

Daiki smiled at her. "Your secrets are safe with me. I won't tell Naruto without your consent, and it isn't like I talk with anybody else from the outside. Now, I think it best to teach you some meditative exercises to calm you down without resorting to other measures. Naruto and my wife will return in a few days, by then you should be ready."

"Days? How long have I been here? My clan will be looking for me."

"They won't. Time does flow much quicker here than in the normal world. It's still the same afternoon you chose to follow Naruto, you will have lost perhaps one or two hours when you return." Daiki assured her.

The following days were very strange for Hinata. After her host had shown her the cottage and surroundings she spent most of their time learning mental exercises. In contrast to her previous experiences with her clan and father Daiki never got upset with her if she didn't understand something at first or had problems doing some specific exercise. He let her help preparing their meals, and Hinata found that she enjoyed it much more than usual. At home most meals were cooked by servants, but as part of her ninja training she had learned the basics of cooking and often prepared something for lunch break. Time passed quickly, and the day neared when Naruto and his mother were about to return.

Hinata was nervous. Her formerly non-existent emotional control had improved noticeably. She still wasn't sure if she could manage to talk to Naruto, but she was better than she had been. It was a sunny afternoon, and she was still doing exercises under Daiki's supervision when he called her to stop. "That's enough for now, Hinata. Naruto and my mate will be here soon." he said while pointing into the distance.

When she got up from her sitting position Hinata indeed saw Naruto quite a distance away coming towards them. At his side walked a woman with red hair that she supposed was his mother. As they got closer Hinata could make out more of their features. The woman was simply the most beautiful female she had ever seen. From her face to her impressive bust size to her legs, every inch of her body seemed to scream perfection. Both Naruto and the woman wore some mix of leather and sturdy clothing.

They waved when they came closer, and Naruto ran ahead of the woman to tackle Daiki with a hug and a cry of "Dad!" The man didn't even rock slightly from the impact and whirled Naruto around before setting him back on his own feet. "Welcome back, son." Then Naruto turned to her. "Hello Hinata, it's good to see you back upon your feet."

She only managed a weak "H-Hello N-Naruto-kun." in reply before lapsing into a nervous silence, but apparently it was enough. Naruto favored her with a smile that made the blood rush to her head. Using all her newly developed techniques she let the emotions wash over her without losing control. Meanwhile Naruto was talking at high speed to his father about the things he had done in the last week. His stream of words was interrupted when the woman reached them. Instead of saying anything she simply gave Daiki a deep, passionate kiss. Hinata felt once again blood rushing to her cheeks simply from watching them kiss. She didn't remember her parents doing that in such a… passionate fashion, but that could have been due to the Hyuuga traditions of emotional restraint. When the kiss ended the woman turned towards Hinata.

"Good afternoon Hinata. I'm Youko, and it's nice to see you taking my presence better than last time."

"S-Sorry, do we h-have met?" Hinata asked, slightly confused. She was sure she would have remembered the woman.

Her answer prompted Youko to laugh. "Of course we have met. Don't tell me you have forgotten the giant fox who greeted you here?"

Things connected inside Hinata's mind. '_A fox with nine tails… this world is a prison…' _Her eyes widened. "A-Are you the K-Kyuubi?" she blurted out.

"I think it better for us to take this conversation inside." Daiki interrupted.

A short time later they all sat around the table in the cottage. Daiki launched into an explanation, occasionally aided by Youko or Naruto. Many things were revealed that she hadn't known about. Naruto's status as a jinchuuriki and what that entailed; the fact that he considered the Kyuubi as his adoptive mother and that Daiki had come to free her, but had been trapped as well behind the seal; the animosity of many of the villagers and some instructors; their doubts concerning Naruto's upbringing and the Sandaime's motivations; the existence and practice of magic. It ended with their claim on divinity.

"You a-are what?" Hinata asked disbelievingly.

"I think it's easier to show you." With these words Youko began to glow in a golden light, and Hinata felt an all-encompassing warmth penetrating her. Images drifted through her mind. A forest full of life… the sun at noon… endless green plains under a blue sky… When she was about to lose herself in the unfathomably great presence the images ended, and Youko was back to her normal human form. "Convinced?"

Hinata nodded weakly.

"Now to the reason we brought you here. We want to help you, Hinata. While your… following of our son has made him quite nervous, we would like you to become friends. He's lonely in the outside world, and I think he would appreciate your help." Daiki said.

"For now I just want to keep my true abilities a secret and become a good shinobi. Can I trust you, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"I w-will keep y-your secrets, Naruto-kun." she stammered. There was no way she would throw this opportunity to get close to him away.

This caused him to smile. "Thank you, Hinata-chan."

* * *

><p>The following days were quite enjoyable for Hinata, even if she still was largely unable to talk with Naruto in a normal fashion. Living with Naruto's family was simply fun. They taught her all sorts of new things while never uttering a sharp or disparaging remark. While she did her own exercises she watched Naruto doing some chakra control training that seemed completely unfamiliar. One day he did something different.<p>

Naruto made some hand seals and shouted "Bunshin!" With a large puff of smoke a clone appeared, but it looked sickly and had trouble moving. With a sigh Naruto dispelled it after he let it walk a short distance. "Dammit, it still doesn't work correctly. How much more have I to improve my control?" The frustration was evident in his voice.

"Just keep trying son, one day you will manage it. The clone just now was better than the one a month before, which in turn was a far cry from the dead things you produced at the beginning." Daiki comforted him.

Naruto seemed to appreciate it. "Thanks dad. You're right; someday I will have good enough control to pull it off."

It was so different from her own experiences Hinata could only gape at the scene. If she failed at some clan training exercise her instructors never bothered to encourage her further. They always acted as if they expected her to fail. She was glad for Naruto's sake that he had people he considered family. Still, at the same time she felt an ache in her heart. Why couldn't her family be the same?

Unfortunately her good time came to an end when Daiki informed her one day that she and Naruto would return to the normal world the coming night. Training that day was finished early, and they spent most of their time playing together. It was clear to her that Naruto didn't really want to leave but was resigned to it.

'_No wonder if he has to experience that every week'_ she thought.

When it became night Naruto said his parents goodbye. Hinata was nervous. How would they return? What if it wouldn't work? She voiced her concerns to Daiki, but he had an answer ready.

"You simply go to sleep normally, when you wake up you will be back outside. There's nothing that can go wrong." Daiki assured her.

Youko was still talking with Naruto before embracing him and planting a kiss on his brow. Naruto gave his mother a squeeze before retiring for the night into his alcove. After he had closed his curtain his mother approached her. "Goodbye Hinata, I look forward to seeing you again in a week." Youko said.

… and then she hugged her. Hinata had never been hugged since her own mother died all these years ago. At first she stiffened, but Youko radiated such a comfortable warmth that she soon relaxed. The embrace seemed to never end, it was almost a shock to her system when it happened.

"Sleep well, Hinata."

Still off balance, she managed to bow to Naruto's parents before staggering into her alcove and bed. It took her a long time that night to find sleep. The sensation and warmth of the embrace seemed to linger with her. She hadn't known how much she had missed it.

* * *

><p>Hinata's eyelids fluttered open when she was hit by the rays of the evening sun. Blinking, she sat up. Under her hands she could feel a bed of soft moss. To her side, Naruto was already up and stretching. When she got up, she could see that their resting place had been deliberately arranged at the edge of the field under the thick branches of a mighty oak which was the largest she had ever seen.<p>

The last weeks had been easily some of the best of her life. Not only had she finally been able to speak to Naruto without stammering too much, his adoptive parents were friendly towards her. In fact, they had treated her more nicely than her own family ever did. It was a disconcerting thought because both of them were not human, his mother freely admitted to being the Kyuubi.

"Come on, Hinata-chan. We have to get back or you will be missed by your clan. I can show you around the sanctuary some other time."

"Y-Yes, Naruto-kun."

She quickly got to her feet. With a last look at the beautiful field of flowers she followed Naruto and caught up to him. Soon, the barrier of mist came into view. A few steps before entering the mist, Naruto stopped and turned towards her. "I have to lead you through the mist, without dad to control it you won't be able to find the path. There are things you don't want to meet. Just take my hand, Hinata-chan."

Hinata could feel the blood rushing to her head, but she complied and managed not to faint, even if she didn't trust her voice in this moment. That was already a marked improvement over her past behavior, she noted in the back of her mind. Naruto led her purposefully through the mist; apparently he could orient himself without problems. A short walk later and without any transition they stood on the winding forest path. Soon enough they exited the small grove of trees inside of Konoha.

"It's time for us to part; I still have things to do. I guess I'll see you Monday at the academy. Take care, Hinata-chan." Naruto said with a smile.

"T-Thank y-you, Naruto-kun. G-Goodbye." Hinata answered before she made her way home. The guards at the entrance to the clan compound eyed her with a look somewhere between disinterest and vague contempt. Apparently no one had even noticed that she was running late.

The first day home was uncomfortable. The second day was more so. By midweek she was completely miserable. Hinata had thought that she was miserable before, but that had been when she hadn't experienced first-hand how full of love Naruto's family was. They were everything her own family wasn't. Caring. Encouraging. Compassionate. All she got from her clan was icy indifference at best and open contempt at worst. Or outright hate in case of her cousin. Hinata wondered why she had never really noticed the looks of disdain that were leveled at her by her clansmen.

'_No, that isn't right. I noticed them. I just didn't want to see.' _she thought.

When she finished one of the irregular exercises she was required to do on the fourth day with great difficulty she didn't get a single sign of approval, not by her instructor nor by any of the watching people. In fact, she heard quite clearly a 'failure' or 'disappointment' from several of them when they talked with each other. Hinata couldn't help but remembering how different Naruto's father had acted towards her while he taught her the basics of emotional control. Each successful step had earned her some praise, and problems had prompted encouragement and additional pointers. Here she had none of that.

At the academy things continued pretty much as normal, but she managed to exchange a few civil words with Naruto. They had to make changes gradually; they didn't want anyone looking into their situation too closely. Besides, she still got incredibly nervous when he was close to her. Her new exercises helped her in a way the Hyuuga ones never had, but it was still a far cry from enough.

On her last day she counted the minutes until she could visit Naruto's parents. Her home situation felt simply unbearable, she needed someone to talk to who accepted her. It was the easiest thing in the world to make her own way to the secret grove and meet up with Naruto after the academy ended. The walk on the winding path was noticeably shorter than she remembered.

When Hinata voiced this observation Naruto had an answer ready. "Oh, that's right. I needed some more time to reach the center of the sanctuary to let dad take over and simply closed the exit of the path, just as I left the entrance open until you entered. It's one of the security features I have some control over. Without someone opening it you could have been trapped on the path forever, but I think dad has plans to grant you access on your own."

The zone of mist once again required Naruto to lead her through, but they took some detours in the enchanted forest as Naruto gave her a tour. It was truly the most beautiful forest she had ever laid her eyes on, with some unique species of plants that she had never seen on her limited excursions into the woods around Konoha.

Finally they reached the large field at the center of the sanctuary, and after a few encouraging words Naruto went rigid for a moment when he ceded control of his body to his father. This time the abject horror when staring into the ebon eyes was absent, though she still felt somewhat uncomfortable. Once again the blackness spread over her field of vision and she lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Her second visit was even better than her first one. Naruto left sometimes with either his mother or father for up to a day to somewhere, but at every time there was someone there for her. She was at first hesitant to interrupt them in their own activities, but Youko dispelled her concerns.<p>

"If you have need of us we make time for you. If I'm doing something that can't wait I will tell you. There's no reason to fear that someone will rip your head off if you speak at an inopportune moment."

Youko reinforced her statement by embracing Hinata. She had come to crave these hugs and all the other little gestures of affection that slowly increased in number with time. Daiki never hugged her, but sometimes he put a hand on her shoulder. Occasionally Naruto took her hand, especially when he wanted to show her something and he practically dragged her with him. It only served to further emphasize the difference between Naruto's family and her clan. She couldn't remember the last time someone besides her deceased mother had shown her some physical affection.

One evening about two days before they would have to return to the waking world when Youko and Naruto were away on some unspecified business Daiki approached her with a serious expression. "Hinata, there is something we need to talk about."

"Y-Yes, Daiki-san?" Hinata wondered what this would be about. Surely not some more completely unexpected revelations? Maybe it was about her improving emotional control. She had managed to initiate and hold several conversations with Naruto without stammering incoherently, and she grew steadily better at living with her emotions. The trick was balancing them correctly instead of simply suppressing them like her clan had taught her. If she let them out in a controlled fashion they were much easier to weather and no longer constantly threatened to overwhelm her.

"It is a somewhat complicated matter concerning this world and the way you enter it. I have to explain a bit for you to understand the problem properly. You already know that the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto. Imagine a walled shaft in a lake leading into the depths as a representation for every human. In the specific case of my son the Kyuubi rests inside of the seal at the bottom of the shaft. The walls are part of Naruto's mind and soul, but his main consciousness sits like a plug in the shaft, blocking the way to the surface for the sealed Kyuubi and keeping the seal closed. What I did was creating a bubble in the water outside the shaft and anchoring it inside Naruto's soul with several entrance points that pierce the walls, both for Naruto's consciousness and the Kyuubi. Are you with me so far?"

Seeing Hinata nod hesitantly, he continued. "Now part of my wife still rests inside of the seal lest it collapses and kills Naruto, but her mind is here. Additionally I am able to pull Naruto here for a time. When I take possession of his body to act in the waking world I have to do that around and through Naruto's consciousness, which is quite stressful to him and can even become dangerous. I can bring him here without that, but it still causes some amount of stress."

"C-Couldn't you just send some power through the connection for Naruto to use?" Hinata interrupted him.

Daiki looked thoughtful. "That's actually an interesting idea; I will have to look into it. Anyway, the more power I have to channel the greater the danger becomes. The problem we have now is that bringing you here is extremely difficult and dangerous. It will only be possible one more time before I have to stop doing it."

Hinata felt like someone had emptied a bucket of ice water over her head. She had just found people who accepted her, and now she was about to lose them again. After a moment of shock she dejectedly said "I understand."

"No, I don't think you do. There is a way for you to continue visiting us." Daiki said before Hinata could slide into depression.

She immediately perked up. "Really?"

Daiki nodded. "I would have to create a second anchor of this world inside you and form a connection. You wouldn't need to visit the sanctuary every time; I could pull you in independent of your location." He raised a hand to forestall her giving her consent immediately. "There is a cost. The strain for each visit would be one your mind instead of Naruto's. He had years of training to alleviate these problems, and you don't. That means you would only be able to visit us perhaps two times per month instead of Naruto's four, and your visits would be shorter." He stopped for a moment, obviously considering his next words carefully. "But the most important part is something different. For me to be able to create the connection you would have to pledge yourself to us. 'Us' in the sense of our divine nature. You would have to accept us as the highest possible authority, superseding your clan, the Hokage and even the village as a whole as long as you live. Now, we don't plan on using that authority against your will, but once given you wouldn't be able to withdraw your consent. It is a leap of faith, giving yourself completely in our hand." Daiki stood from his seat. "Think carefully about it. You have still a lot of time, I only need to know your decision at the time the visit after next would take place."

* * *

><p>The time between visits to Naruto's parents was agony. All the little signs of affection and appreciation she had grown used to in the weeks spent in the world at the edge of dreams were painfully missing. She came to dread each minute she had to spend in her clan's presence. The looks they gave her were arguably the worst part.<p>

The cold, disinterested look of her father, occasionally showing signs of disappointment.

The hostile looks of the other main house members, making it painfully clear that they thought of her as a disgrace to the Hyuuga.

The disdainful or disgusted looks of the random clansman, sometimes sprinkled with envy of her main house membership.

The hateful gaze of her cousin Neji, a boy she loved like a brother.

And worst of all, her little sister Hanabi who seemed to lose slowly every little bit of respect and affection for her, a process instigated by the clan elders.

She was forced to face the truth; she could no longer close her eyes to it. Her family with the possible exception of her little sister didn't love her. They wouldn't shed a tear if she just happened to die. It hurt. It hurt so much she sometimes thought her heart would shatter. The difference between what a family should be and what her clan was in reality was so big that it seemed unbridgeable. Hinata had noticed it before, yes, but it had been never so painfully clear just how large the gulf was. The hours she had to spent with her clan went by like in slow motion. Increasingly often her thoughts returned to Naruto's father's offer. Could she trust someone she hardly knew completely? Was it worth it?

* * *

><p>Her next visit began with a surprise, namely that Youko and Daiki wore the form of foxes. It needed some getting used to, but in the end it made no matter. The two changed their form like other people changed their clothes. If one form was more suited to a task they wore it, only to change in the next moment.<p>

One evening when they sat before the fire on the furs Daiki allowed her to lean against him. She was already very tired because they had wandered through the forest all day long and wasn't really thinking clearly anymore. Daiki's fur was just so warm, soft and fluffy that she couldn't help to snuggle up to him as closely as she could. She absentmindedly noticed Youko's and Naruto's amused expressions, but didn't pay them any mind. A fluffy tail wrapped around her, and she promptly grabbed it and didn't let go.

The next morning Hinata woke in her usual bed.

'_Did I only dream that?'_

Her question was answered when she met Daiki at the breakfast table. "Good morning, Hinata. I hope you liked using me last evening as your personal cushion."

"Did… d-did I r-really use you as a p-pillow?" Hinata asked.

Daiki chuckled. "I don't mind, I have been used as an oversized cuddly toy by Naruto often enough. I admit I was a bit surprised by it, but it isn't anything for you to be ashamed of. The greater ability to cuddle is one of the perks of our fox forms."

Hinata really shouldn't have been surprised by this, but she was. The Hyuuga emphasized proper behavior to such a degree that simply showing physical affection towards her father when other people could see them was simply unthinkable at her age. Even when her mother was still alive he had rarely allowed that. She needed to think.

In the following days she observed Naruto's family closely. She made note of their behavior, of their support for another. The shows of affection, be they physical or merely spoken out loud. The gentle teasing, the encouragement. The interest they expressed for each other's wellbeing.

They were everything a happy family should be. Everything she wanted for herself. Everything her own family wasn't, and probably could never be.

And they were willing to include her on a permanent basis.

A day before she had to leave again she approached Daiki. "P-Please tell me what I would n-need to do if I should accept y-your offer."

She had a week to think things over for a last time.

* * *

><p>The starry sky was completely breathtaking. That was Hinata's first thought as they entered the center of the sanctuary after their trip through the woods. It was her first nightly visit, and she had never seen the sanctuary by night before. She had been able to cover for her nightly absence from the clan compound by pretending to have a sleepover with Yakumo Kurama. She had met the girl only for a few times, but she was a good friend of Naruto and would cover for them. Yakumo thought that she was interested in animals like Naruto, and that he was showing her some nocturnal animals in the woods. Not that Hiashi, her so-called father, seemed to care what she did.<p>

Hinata had accompanied Naruto to the sanctuary like the last two times, and they had watched some pretty nocturnal animals to make their excuse actual truth, but she wouldn't immediately follow him into the world of his parents. Today was the day of her decision. She watched as Naruto closed his blue eyes. Once again the strange cloak of mist and starlight appeared from nowhere, wrapping around his body. When he opened his eyes they had become the familiar ebony orbs of his father.

"Good evening, Hinata. I assume you have made your decision?"

"G-Good evening. I have." Hinata took a deep breath. "I…I accept your offer."

A gentle smile lit the face of Naruto's possessed form. "Then come with me." After walking a short distance they reached a small hill surrounded by an irregular circle of stones ranging from knee-high to two times as high as a man. "I prepared this place for this occasion. Enter the circle and stay on top of the hill. I will tell you when the time is right. It will take a while. You remember what to say?"

Hinata nodded and ascended the hill. After that she had to wait, but she was patient. Even at night the sanctuary was beautiful. It was a full moon, and there were countless white flowers in full bloom. While quite different from the multi-colored ones they served to exude a serene atmosphere. It was around midnight when the moon reached its zenith, and she felt something change.

The moon and stars grew brighter, illuminating the woods and field with their gentle light. She could see shadows without source sliding along the ground all over the place. Naruto's body stood at the edge of the circle with a look of utmost concentration on his face, his cloak billowing in a wind she couldn't feel. Banks of mist appeared and disappeared randomly, reflecting the moonlight. An alien presence pervaded everything, filling the air with power and magic.

"Now Hinata. This is the time and place for your decision."

A last moment of doubt clouded her mind, but she shook it off. She needed… no, wanted this. She still loved her family, but they didn't love her back. The last week had been proof enough for that once again. Hinata wanted to love and be loved. If her family was unable or unwilling to provide that, she would choose a new one who did. Naruto's company was an added bonus. A determined calmness settled in her mind.

"I, Hinata Hyuuga, hereby willingly grant the Lord of the Starry Night and the Lady of Light access to my soul." Something mysterious and powerful was resonating with her voice, and she knew that her words here and now had power. "To forge a bond that transcends this world I bare myself before them. To fashion a link of affection and love I open myself to them. To weave a tie that only death may break I submit to their power. So do I say and so may it be." A feeling of finality settled over her as the last words were spoken.

The glowing mist covered the grounds outside the circle like a churning ocean, some parts forming abstract shapes that where somehow very hard to look at. In the far distance she could see the mist forming a barrier around the sanctuary taller than the great wall of Konoha. The scent of the myriad flowers grew stronger as they released a steady stream of glowing pollen. Glittering dust floated down from the celestial bodies above, engulfing everything as far as she could see, dancing in the moonlight. She could feel her skin prickling slightly wherever some of the dust hit her.

'_Stardust'_ she thought.

Suddenly she lost the ground beneath her feet. Higher and higher she soared, until there seemed nothing to exist in the world but the dancing stardust and the eternal firmament with the bright moon above her. Star- and moonlight formed softly glowing tendrils that partook in the dance, drawing slowly closer to her. Hinata gasped as the first one made contact with her sternum. A brief vision of a land of eternal night flashed before her eyes as the ethereal construct entered her body.

More and more tendrils came closer and caressed her body before plunging into her, her clothing and flesh no obstacle to the incorporeal things. Whispers from beyond the stars entered her mind, and Hinata gave herself completely into the hands of the Lord of the Starry Night. Deep, deep inside her, at the very core of her very being she could feel his touch. Searching. Changing.

It was light as a feather and at the same time heavier than a mountain.

It was full of life like a forest and empty like the void between the stars.

She felt pain.

She felt ecstasy.

Then Hinata felt nothing at all aside from a warm golden light that encompassed her completely.

* * *

><p>In the world at the edge of dreams, Youko and another version of Daiki stood at the edge of a clearing. Both could feel the world around them shift and tremble to its very foundations when the changes occurred, but only Daiki really knew what they were about. Youko had a great deal of power over their prison, yes, but only because Daiki had granted it her. His current avatar had nothing human about it, it was taller than all the trees around them and completely made from darkness, churning silvery mist and strange moving and glowing symbols that constantly changed their form and color. Tendrils of shadow and mist formed and dissolved in a steady dance all over the hulking form, making seemingly arbitrary movements. Occasionally a beam of light would shoot out from somewhere inside the mass, only to disappear in thin air. This world was his creation, and only he was able to make the necessary modifications. Space and time twisted and turned while he worked, until at last the trembling stopped. Grey mist appeared from nowhere and formed a great cloud in the center of the clearing. Quickly the cloud grew smaller and denser at the same time, finally forming an archway.<p>

With a pulse of power, the mist coalesced into stone. The space inside the archway shimmered like hot air until a sound like thousands of tiny glass objects breaking resonated through the clearing. Instead of the shimmering air the whole space under the archway was now occupied by a single smooth mirror-like surface. A silvery-grey tentacle wriggled through and gave a wave before disappearing back into the mirror.

Hundreds of voices spoke in a chorus. "It is done. You may enter the pathway."

Youko seemed nervous for a moment before a look of determination settled on her face. Her human form dissolved into strands of light that flew straight at the mirror, only to disappear as they reached it.

* * *

><p>The dance of the stardust ended when sunlight exploded outwards from the hovering form of the girl, bathing the field and woods in daylight. Soon the storm of light subsided and the young female was lowered gently to the ground. For a few moments, she simply stood silently with closed eyes and inhaled deeply the fresh night air. Then she opened her eyes, and examined her surroundings and borrowed body from golden glowing orbs. After she had completed her inspection she made her way down the hill to the figure that had waited patiently at its foot. Her first steps were a bit unsteady, but soon she walked as if she had been born in this body. Both of them made their way to the central spire in silence while Youko was still acclimating to her new body.<p>

"Ah, it feels good to be able to walk the earth again, even if this body is much younger than I would prefer. It has been much too long since I could do that, at least without being controlled by a sharingan." Her expression grew predatory and became full of malice, a quite unusual sight on the face of one Hinata Hyuuga. "I will burn this pathetic village and all that oppose us to the ground… slowly. All shall bow before the power of the Lady of Light." she said before beginning to laugh maniacally, gesturing with her hands. A few bright sparks danced across her fingers but died almost immediately, causing her to stop laughing and make a face. "I can't do anything useful in this form, can I?"

"Not for a long time, no. I think you are currently experiencing somewhat of a rush, but it should subside soon. It was a great work of divine power, but hopefully the mist barrier was enough to keep anyone from noticing. If we begin training the girl now I estimate around three years until her mind is stable and the pathway established enough to route any meaningful amount of power through her. It will be only magic though, not chakra. Besides, I don't think Naruto would appreciate if you destroy the village now." Naruto's body settled down on the moss, his back to the stone spire. Youko sidled up to his side.

"Spoilsport. Well, nothing we can do about that now." They watched the stars together in silence for a time until Youko spoke up again. "Hinata is practically hugging the protection I cast to protect her mind while I use her body. What did you do to convince her to swear allegiance to us?"

Daiki snorted. "All things considered, it was pathetically easy to get Hinata's consent. In the first few days simply talking with her while exuding an aura of trustworthiness got her to open up. From then on things practically took on a life of their own with only a few prods of emotional manipulation here and there. I didn't even have to resort to more intrusive methods, just showing her our family and offering her a place in it combined with magically making her look at her own clan truthfully was enough. We had just to be ourselves." He cocked his head thoughtfully. "Though I do confess I used a lesser version of something I saw a dark god use long ago. It was a quite nasty curse, makes the victim question his beliefs, morals, faith, just about everything. With a bit of persuasion one could convert practically anyone to anything. I believe it was used mainly against authority figures and priests of other gods."

"And you used something like this on timid little Hinata?"

Daiki shook Naruto's head. "No, of course not, that would be too extreme. Just a lesser version that caused her to question the traditions of her clan and the love of her family. The funny thing is that it wouldn't have worked if they had shown her even the tiniest bit of affection. Four weeks without anything like that; it would bring anyone to the conclusion that her family doesn't love her." He began stroking the cheek of Hinata's body. "And now she is ours."

Hinata's features morphed into a fearsome grin. "Ours to love. Ours to teach. Ours to form. She will be great and beautiful. Great, beautiful and terrible."

* * *

><p>Far, far away, in a place no mortal mind could fully comprehend, something awoke from its fitful slumber amidst a world of bones and darkness. Its sleep had grown ever lighter for the past six years, and now the threshold was reached. The being had slept for a long time, with only an occasional foul dream touching the mortal world. As it spread its awareness towards the world of humans it felt gleeful anticipation. Apparently the world had recovered since its last visit, and life teemed again everywhere. As it began to exert its influence on the more susceptible minds it could hardly suppress the eternal hunger. Soon it would feast again on the souls and life of mortals.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>My thanks to my reviewers. And another chapter finished, I hope you'll enjoy it. It is even the longest one to date. Originally I didn't intend to make it solely about Hinata, but the words just kept flowing.

So long.


	10. Chapter 9: An opportunity taken

Disclaimer: I am lord over worlds unseen and lands undiscovered… but unfortunately not over Naruto.

**Chapter 9: An opportunity taken**

One Anko Mitarashi had one of the shittier days of her life. Not as bad as the day when her traitorous teacher left her behind, or when she had to face the whispers, mistrust and outright hostility after her return to the village, but still easily one in her personal top twenty of bad days. There were several reasons for that, in no particular order:

First off, her application for jonin rank had been denied … again. No reasons were given, but she knew it was because of her teacher and the legacy he left her. The cursed seal on her neck would remind her forever of his treachery, even if she lost the memories of what had truly happened during the time she was with him on the run. It didn't seem to do anything, but it served to sow further doubts concerning her reliability. In any case, the leadership of the village didn't trust her. No matter what she did, some mistrust remained. She had the necessary level of skill and was respected in general by her peers, but promotion to jonin would give her political influence and entitle her to take students. Unknown to about almost anyone, Anko liked children in general and would love to teach her skills. She suspected the fear that she would build a secret cadre for Orochimaru or some such rubbish played the main role in the decision of the promotion board.

Secondly, while she was away on her last mission, her apartment building had been condemned and demolished. Apparently some mentally challenged chunin wannabe jutsu-creator had decided the living room of his house in one of the more densely populated residential areas of Konoha was the perfect place to conduct his experiments with fire and lightning jutsu. Predictably he had set himself as well as his house on fire when one of his experiments went wrong. Unfortunately it didn't end there. The idiot had kept an entire stack of exploding tags on his person and several more in various locations in his home. Unsecured. In charged up condition. According to the clerk who told her the story the resulting explosion had been quite spectacular and not only completely obliterated the idiot's house but damaged the surrounding buildings to a greater or lesser degree. It was a miracle nobody got seriously hurt, not counting the idiot himself of course. At first ANBU had suspected a terrorist act, but fortunately they found a witness. A neighbor had observed the entire thing. Unfortunately, him being an invalid octogenarian who couldn't walk unassisted or speak above a whisper had prevented him from alerting the authorities in time to stop the idiot before it was too late. It would have been almost funny if the building in which Anko had owned an apartment hadn't been one of those too badly damaged to repair. Now she had to not only find new living accommodations but retrieve her stuff from the storage facility in which it had been placed by the clean-up crew. Hopefully nothing important had been damaged or lost.

Thirdly, all three of her favorite dango stands were closed, due to either an extended vacation, illness of the owner or because of damage caused by the big explosion. The absence of her favorite food did nothing to improve her depressed mood. Sure, she could get some at other places, but it just wasn't the same blend of aromas she liked so much.

Fourthly, she had just returned from what could only be described as one of the most unpleasant assignments in her career. It had begun inconspicuous enough when she received orders to travel to the provincial capital of one of the northeastern provinces and make herself available to the local governor to fulfill missions at his discretion. A few years before, such orders would have been unthinkable, but now they were fairly standard. Ever since the old daimyo had died things had begun to change. The line of succession had been unclear and together with the economic crisis caused by the lack of new supply appearances the ensuing struggles had been almost enough for the Land of Fire to disintegrate. That lasted until one of the pretenders to the throne managed to assert his authority. The new daimyo was a hard man, and proceeded to clear up the mess his relatively weak predecessors and the succession struggles had caused. The very first thing he had done was enforcing the old treaties with Konoha.

Since the founding relations and customs had drifted far from what was originally envisioned and put into writing. The situation had been more or less that Konoha treated the Land of Fire as normal client and the daimyo had a lot of influence in exchange for funding. That had changed drastically. The new daimyo found himself with a drastic lack of taxes and need for a lot of ninja, and did the only reasonable thing. He gave up all influence on the Hokage selection process and proceedings of the village in exchange for enforcement of the old treaties. That meant Konoha now owed the Land of Fire a certain number of missions per year that they had to do free of charge and had to refuse missions against targets the daimyo declared as protected. For this service the daimyo paid a yearly flat rate, independent of the actual fulfillment of the mission contingent. If the mission number exceeded the quota they were paid normally for the additional missions. The quota was determined by a complex process Anko wasn't privy to.

The leadership wasn't especially happy about the new deal because it meant less money for the village, but they hadn't been given a lot of choice. Some funds were better than none. Apart from the quota and the protection list, Konoha was now effectively an autonomous entity again and stood above the normal laws of the Land of Fire.

Another change had been the resurrection of the imperial army. Its name hailed from the time the Land of Fire was still called the Empire of Fire long before the period of clan wars. There had been a core of troops maintained over the decades that was now massively expanding. In contrast to the shinobi or even the samurai of old the army didn't rely primarily on individual skill. No, their strengths were numbers, discipline and just enough training to prevent them from being pushovers. Shinobi and samurai largely drew from the same limited pool of recruits, namely the miniscule part of the population that was capable of molding chakra in useful quantities and had the necessary physical resilience to survive the intensive training regime. Even then only a fraction of the students developed anything more than basic skills.

The army didn't have those two problems and was recruiting en masse. After a few months of training the soldiers were generally good enough to pose a challenge to most academy students immediately before their graduation. Shinobi were better for most tasks, but the daimyo needed boots on the ground to suppress the uprisings that were popping up left and right. There were simply far too few shinobi of the necessary skill level to be everywhere they were needed, and they sucked at holding territory and controlling the populace in a permanent fashion anyway. Garrisons and legions were created as soon as enough recruits were ready, but it was still barely enough to hold the nation together. The only reason the Land of Fire hadn't been invaded was that everyone else had largely the same problems.

After entering the nearest drinking establishment, Anko waved the bartender over and ordered as much sake as she could drink. Perhaps the world would look better if seen through some alcohol.

"Keep the sake coming, I plan to get very, very drunk today."

The bartender only nodded. He obviously wasn't about to refuse her anything while she was in a foul mood and could pay. Perhaps she could even forget most of the events of her last assignment with enough drinks.

The weather had been nice during her journey, and she arrived without trouble. Her good mood lasted until she met the governor personally. Had she been free to do as she wanted, she would have left him with a kunai stuck in his brains and never looked back. Unfortunately, in his role as provincial governor the man was one of the highest ranking officials in the Land of Fire and possessed the special favor of the daimyo to boot. In her opinion the man was the lowest kind of scum without a single redeeming feature. He was greedy, a drunkard, corrupt, cruel, completely without morals and he had a thing for young boys which reminded her uncomfortably of her sensei. By all accounts he should have been executed, not elevated to rule over a province … but somehow he made it all work. Before his promotion to governor, the province was in a state of civil war and threatened to completely collapse into feuding city states and warlords.

A primary cause was the lack of any real industry. At the time of the first shinobi war the province had been only thinly populated. That changed when multiple emergence points of alien technology were discovered there. In the decades that followed the population had skyrocketed and several large trade cities had been founded around the emergence points, making the province one of the richest in the Land of Fire. When the replenishment of the wares suddenly stopped a little more than three years after the Kyuubi attack it had hit the province extremely hard. It was made worse by the fact that several of the emergence points had dealt with foodstuff. For a time the large amount of stockpiled wares kept the province afloat, but the wealth flowed away like water especially for the costly import of food. In a typical human display of shortsightedness most people had stayed until they didn't have enough money left to move away. The entire province had fallen into the deepest poverty and shaken by food riots. Men desperate for anything to eat turned bandit, the cities tried to steal from each other and civilization was generally tearing itself apart.

Four different governors had already tried and failed to stabilize the situation. The province wasn't important enough anymore to justify dispatching a sufficiently large number of scarce troops, and shinobi couldn't really do anything about the situation. If one warlord was assassinated the next one came out of the woodwork.

That was the situation the new governor found when he assumed his position. He had been a high official of the daimyo's court before, but his appointment was apparently the result of some intrigue on his part that had backfired. To everyone's surprise the man managed to turn the situation around. He hired a large brigade of mercenaries from the eastern continent beyond the Land of Water out of his not inconsiderable personal wealth to great effect. With an absolutely ruthless mix of bribery, assassination and brute military strength the province was pacified within three months and had remained stable since then.

He forcefully dismantled the cities in unsupportable locations and promised the residents food in exchange for their freedom. In effect he reinstated serfdom, a custom that had been slowly falling out of practice before. Whoever resisted was enslaved. The soil of the province was too poor for the most part to yield much crops, but through back-breaking labor new irrigation systems were build to help with that somewhat. In the hilly parts of the province some prospectors had found copper which prompted the establishment of some large mining complexes and gave the province something of an economy back.

All that had been bought with the tears, sweat, blood and lives of thousands of slaves and serfs. Naturally, some folks resisted rather forcefully only to be suppressed in unbelievable bloodbaths by the mercenaries who by now had a contract of indefinite duration. Apart from the hills the terrain was mostly flat and lacking any dense vegetation, creating ideal conditions for the mercenaries. In contrast to the usual infantry and light cavalry they used a fighting method previously unknown in the elemental nations, namely heavily armored cavalry.

The missions she had done with the mercenaries hadn't been too bad; mainly reconnaissance to find camps of bandits and rebels. They were professionals, and she could respect that. Totally merciless and somewhat bloodthirsty, but they upheld their contracts to the letter and generally didn't cause trouble with the populace unless they were explicitly ordered to. Some of their elite warriors might even give her trouble in an open fight, even if they didn't use chakra. Their heavy armor made it unexpectedly hard to damage them directly, but individually they stood no chance against a capable ninja who would use ambushes and traps against them. Still, they were impressive for a band of mercenaries. In contrast, the normal mercenary in the elemental nations was hardly better than a random bandit.

Unfortunately, only a part of her missions were done with the mercenaries. The other part of her duty was being the protection detail for the governor, and he needed it. The man was at this point perhaps the most hated official in the entire country, and there had been over two dozen assassination attempts on her watch alone. Most of the assailants were destitute people who had lost everything and posed hardly a challenge, but some had been more competent.

Still, the worst part had been watching the fat pig amuse himself with his stable of young boys. Most of them had a completely empty and lifeless look in their eyes that had pierced her heart. Anko would have loved nothing more than slaughter the swine on the spot, but she couldn't. It was her duty to protect him, and she did her duty no matter what. Even when the governor send her to kill a complete family whose father had proved a troublemaker to make an example she had obeyed. Father, mother, grandmother and three children, aged seven, five and three. She had made it as painless as possible, but the images still haunted her nightmares.

When it was finally over, Anko had felt incredibly dirty after her time in the man's vicinity. She had bathed at least a dozen times on the way back and scrubbed her skin raw but nothing seemed to help.

To top it all off, all of her few friends were currently away on missions and couldn't help her deal with her problems. She really would have appreciated some moral support. Especially since she feared that she would soon be sent on similar missions again. For all the Hokage's talk of the Will of Fire and that she wasn't responsible for the deeds of her master she sure was sent on the shittiest and most difficult missions a lot more than everyone else. Well, nothing that enough alcohol couldn't solve for a short amount of time.

Several hours later Anko staggered out of the fifth bar. If she had been sober she would have never even considered drinking in that rat hole, but she was far from sober. The weather had changed to a steady drizzle and it was slowly getting dark. She tried to find the way to a hotel where she could crash for the night, but somehow the streets were twisting and looping before her eyes. Suddenly her stomach turned, and she had to resist the urge to retch. Unfortunately that little task required the complete attention Anko's alcohol-addled brain could muster, meaning she didn't pay attention to where she was going. With a dull thud she walked headfirst into a wall, knocking herself out.

* * *

><p>Naruto was in a bad mood. Not only had the academy been especially boring, but he had been drafted for cleaning duty after the lessons were finished for the day. When he finally got around to checking his snares in the forest some idiots had dismantled them. Additionally, Yakumo-chan wouldn't leave her uncle's death bed anymore. She wanted to stay with him in his last moments and give the old man all the comfort she could. He could certainly understand that, the man was her last living relative. After he died, she would be the last living Kurama in Konoha. Not that she received much sympathy for that, in contrast to the last Uchiha.<p>

The destruction of the Uchiha clan had been a shock to everyone, but hardly anyone seemed to even remember that the Kurama existed. It had probably something to do with the little fact that the Kurama were practically penniless after the fire had destroyed their clan holdings, while Sasuke stood to inherit the unbelievable wealth of the Uchiha. They had been a very large clan, and had hoarded riches and stolen jutsu alike. Not to mention all the privileges they still formally held, like the now destroyed police force.

Its lack had made itself quite clearly felt in the time since the massacre. The council bickered if and how a new police organization should be founded, and for now ANBU was forced to cover their more important duties. Naruto believed the situation would continue indefinitely. Practically every family with daughters of the right age hoped to bag Sasuke as new son-in-law, meaning that they would resist every attempt to infringe on one of the Uchiha privileges. The other clans would do the same out of the fear that their privileges might face similar circumstances sometime in the future.

Choji and Shino had entered a phase were they needed to be with their clans for specialized training and other things they wouldn't tell him about most of the time. Hinata had similar problems with her family, leaving him practically alone after the academy closed for the day. The manner of Hinata's addition to his circle of friends had been a surprise, and he had been skeptical of his parents' plan. It had been quite strange for him to share the secret of his parents' existence and their time with anyone. Fortunately all went down as planned, and one month ago she had decided to join them permanently. She could now even hold a normal conversation with him, and she had been accepted by his other three friends without any problems. Naruto liked her already, even if he found Yakumo's more confident attitude more appealing. She wasn't quite ready to join him in his more clandestine activities yet, but the time would come.

Their absence made his after-academy training much less fun than usual, and he hadn't that many alternatives. Naruto had explored some of Konoha's underground and abandoned sections in the past, but he had exhausted all easily accessible parts. There was a lot of activity in the tunnels by various groups, and he didn't dare to enter areas where he was likely to be discovered. If he was cornered down there escape would be nearly impossible. Naruto had found a lot of vaguely interesting books and scrolls in his forays, but nothing that was really useful. All things which referred to jutsu or other shinobi knowledge were carefully guarded by their owners and unlikely to be found simply lying around. Further exploration in that direction would have to wait until his stealth skills had further improved. Or until Hinata was ready to accompany him, her bloodline would make it much easier.

He couldn't even venture far into the woods anymore because there were enemy spies from Taki running around. One had been killed, but three were still at large. His father had foreseen it and warned him in time, even if it was maddeningly vague. Still, the warning was justified when he heard the rumors about a corpse in the hills spring up.

'_Just another sign for the piss-poor security situation of this village.'_ Naruto thought. _'And that idiot a few days ago who blew himself up doesn't say good things about the chunin selection process either.'_

Really, they were the ostensibly strongest of the five great shinobi villages and they couldn't keep their own immediate vicinity free of enemy ninja? Something was deeply wrong with this image, but he hadn't been able to gather enough real information to know what it was.

Naruto didn't dare to visit the sanctuary too often because his absence from the village might be noticed by somebody, and his quarterly prank wasn't due for another two months. Now, he still had enough stuff to do to fill his time, but nothing he especially liked. Tanning leather for example wasn't a thing that was really enjoyable. He thanked his lucky stars that he could control his sense of smell. Still, it was necessary work. Soon his new hunting outfit would be finished. He was rapidly outgrowing his old one, and he liked his sturdy leather outfits. Not to mention the shoes he made for himself. I was quite difficult to get the measures and composition of the different parts exactly right, but it always paid off in the end. The leather sole had to be thick enough to offer adequate protection, but at the same time thin and soft enough for him to properly feel the ground. It made sneaking and stalking certainly much easier, not mentioning the toe protection. Most of the time he wore the normal ubiquitous sandals to avoid suspicion, but at least he had other clothing available.

Combined with the bad weather that left him drenched and cold all these little things had him in a rather foul mood while he made his way home from his workshop and mulled over his father's latest hint.

'Helping a snake by the wayside will create opportunities later. Up the stakes to win the game. A little trust can go a long way. _What the hell does that mean? Sometimes dad is worse than a fortune cookie.'_

The cold, steady drizzle that was quite unusual for the season made being in the open rather unpleasant, and he hurried through the back alleys to his home. In his estimation the rain would soon get stronger and continue for several days. It was already dark, the village only illuminated by the occasional oil lamp and torch. With his night-vision what it was it could have been broad daylight for him. Still, the loss of cheap and easily available electricity and lighting had forced a change of behavior in many citizens, and the streets aside from the main avenues were mostly deserted after sunset. Konoha was rich, richer than most villages and cities due to the lucrative shinobi business, but even they couldn't afford all the oil and candles to light every street or house all night long.

He was about to enter the backdoor to his apartment building when a wave of air brought the smell of vomit to his nose. Swiveling his head, Naruto tried to find the origin. Somewhere a few dozen meters down the street was his best guess. Naruto chose to investigate. If some passed-out drunk was lying on the street he could easily freeze to death or drown in a puddle, and Naruto didn't want to deal with an investigation directly behind his backdoor. His hearing now picked up labored breathing, enabling him to pinpoint the location. When he passed a stack of some old wooden crates he got his first look of the presumed drunkard.

Lying on her side in a pool of water mixed with vomit was an unconscious or sleeping purple-haired kunoichi. Naruto gave a closer sniff and scrunched his nose in disgust. Whatever the woman had been drinking and eating, it surely produced an almost unbearable smell. From the looks of it the woman had been rolling in her own vomit, and the rain had only served to distribute it evenly across her clothes and hair.

Carefully he approached her. One could never be too careful when dealing with experienced ninja of either gender, some of them had reflexes that were working even when not fully conscious and Naruto didn't fancy getting a sharp object forcibly implanted in his belly. After nothing happened he poked her. "Hey, wake up." Nothing. He poked stronger. "You can't lie here for the night; you'll either freeze or drown." No effect. With a sigh he forcibly upended her by grabbing her under her shoulders. His efforts seemed to finally have an effect, as the kunoichi seemed to becoming conscious and opened her mouth.

"BLEEERGH"

A new rush of vomit erupted from the woman, luckily without any splatters hitting Naruto. The main part covered the woman's front, further staining her clothing. She seemed now awake but completely incoherent, talking about some pig and young boys in a heavily slurred voice.

'_Great, just great. What should I do?'_

He couldn't simply leave her outside. Carrying her somewhere else was out of the question, who knew what would happen of some idiots saw him with an unconscious woman. That left only one option, he had to take her into his apartment. When he tried to get a good hold on her he could see her face clearly for the first time. Naruto had made a conscious effort to learn as much as he could about the different shinobi divisions and their members as well as individual ninja, and his memory immediately supplied the needed information.

'_Anko Mitarashi, special jonin and former apprentice of the traitor Orochimaru, recovered under unclear circumstances. Snake summoner. Respected for her skills as kunoichi, but whispers of mistrust remain. Commonly known as the Snake Mistress of Konoha, or as the Serpent Whore by her detractors.'_ Naruto paused a moment to open the door before dragging her into the building. _'Huh. I guess dad was right again with his seeing the future stuff.'_

* * *

><p>Anko was floating in that warm fuzzy place that wasn't sleep but not full awareness either. Slowly, the sensations that her body felt were assembled into a complete picture by her sluggish mind. She was lying in a bed. She smelled some soap of an unfamiliar type. Then she realized something: She was completely nude under the bed sheets. Fumbling around, she didn't find any knives or kunai. She never slept without at least two of them in easy reach. She was naked and without weapons in an unfamiliar bed. Immediately following that realization she shot upright.<p>

Unfortunately, incited by the abrupt movement her pending hangover headache chose that moment to make itself known. Now, Anko had some experience concerning drinking binges and their aftereffects. A normal headache would have inconvenienced her somewhat, but she would have managed. Regrettably her current headache featured the same relative resemblance to a normal headache that the Kyuubi displayed to a mundane fox kit. In other words, the ex-apprentice of the snake sannin suffered from the demon queen of headaches.

With a heartfelt groan, Anko fell back onto the bed clutching her head. She closed her eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to somewhat alleviate the blinding pain.

A childish voice cut through the haze of pain. "So, you're finally awake. Wait a moment, I'll be right back."

Anko wasn't sure how much time went by until the voice returned, this time much closer. "Here, drink this; it should help with the headache. Careful, it's hot and somewhat bitter."

Normally, Anko would never accept something from someone she didn't know, but at that moment she was in too much pain to care. She was helpless either way, why would someone go to the lengths of poisoning her? Accompanied by these half-formed thoughts she carefully sat up while leaning against the headboard for support and grabbed hold of the mug pressed into her hands. She cautiously took a sip. The brew was indeed hot and bitter, but not overwhelmingly so. Anko tasted some honey that had been added to the mix to counteract the bitterness to a degree.

"I'll wait in the next room, you can join me as soon as you're up for it." said the unknown voice.

This time she heard the footsteps leaving. She took a few sips more and waited. After a few minutes the headache subsided enough for her to open her eyes and survey her surroundings. She was in a bedroom with a small bed, a nightstand and a wardrobe. The room was almost completely dark because the windows were blocked by close-drawn curtains, a fact she was thoroughly thankful for. The dim light that was seeping into the room along the edges of the curtains was enough to irritate her eyes. She could clearly hear the splattering of heavy rain outside. An ajar door led out of the room.

Anko continued sipping her drink and tried to recall what had happened. She clearly remembered being very depressed and entering a bar. After a while she had switched bars, several times as a matter of fact. After the third bar things became fuzzy. She dimly remembered trying to find the way back to a hotel before everything went black. Apparently she had passed out somewhere on the streets and someone had found her and brought her here. An unpleasant thought occurred to her and she quickly checked under the sheets only to relax immediately. Yes, she was completely naked under the sheets, but it seemed nothing of a sexual nature had happened.

Sooner than she expected her cup was empty, and she felt surprisingly good considering her drinking binge of epic proportions. Slowly she rose from the bed and stood unsteadily on her feet. Anko still felt somewhat wobbly, but she had left her host waiting long enough. Two of her knives lay on the nightstand on a spare bed sheet, so apparently whoever her savior was had no problems with leaving her armed. A quick inspection of the wardrobe only yielded various articles of child-sized clothing, but at least she now knew who her host was. To her knowledge only one person in Konoha was wearing these eye-searing orange jumpsuits. What surprised her was the number of completely normal outfits. If one listened to the talk of the village the Kyuubi container was only wearing the jumpsuits, but that was apparently untrue.

Still, that left her with nothing to wear until she spied a fluffy white bathrobe that might serve. For a child of about nine or ten years the thing was probably a generous size, but for her it was a tight fit. Very tight. In fact, it barely covered the areas that needed covering and was in steady danger to burst open due to the strain her ample bosom caused. After securing it as well as she could and hiding her knife in her hand she opened the door and entered the next room.

It was pretty much the standard combined cooking/living area that was common in many of Konoha's apartment buildings. A table with four chairs stood in the middle of the room, with a blond boy wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and blue shorts occupying one of the chairs reading in a book with a cup of steaming tea nearby. When he heard her entering the room he looked up.

When her host saw her, his blue eyes widened and his jaw dropped somewhat before he caught himself. "You know, I was expecting for you to use the spare bed sheet I laid out for you, not raid my wardrobe."

Anko blinked. She hadn't even considered that. She began a turn to return to the bedroom, but she never finished. The lateral movement caused some parts of her anatomy to increase the strain on her garment, exceeding the maximum safety parameters. In other words, the bathrobe chose that particular moment to burst open, fluttering to the ground and leaving her completely naked. Anko's reflexes were still shot to hell, and she failed to grab it in time. She had to give the kid props, his eyes never left hers even if a blush spread across his face. Still, one of her personal rules was never to act embarrassed, no matter the situation.

'_Well, let's see how he deals with the situation.'_

She smirked. "Like what you see?" Naruto blinked once, and then slowly checked her out from head to toe, apparently taking her words as permission. _'Cheeky brat, but he has guts. Might as well give him the full view while I'm at it.'_ A slow, sensual full rotation later Naruto's face was beet-red, and his eyes had a somewhat glazed look, but he kept himself from drooling and still seemed capable of acting. _'Interesting, it's very rare for a boy that age to have that much self-control.'_

Lightning quick, she stood immediately before him with her knife at his throat. "Any last words or wishes?" Anko purred.

"I wish I were a few years older. And you should look down."

Without lowering her knife, she carefully looked down. The boy held a very sharp looking knife of his own in his hand, almost but not quite piercing the skin of her belly. _'It must be the alcohol still affecting me, no way I would have overlooked that normally. Let's test how far he is ready to go.'_

She shifted her knife to the boy's cheek and began to make a precise, shallow cut. Almost at the same time as she broke his skin she felt his knife doing the same to her. Immediately she stopped cutting, and the boy did the same. The entire time his eyes had never left hers, and she couldn't get a read on him. Removing her knife, she sensually licked the wound. "I love spraying that red blood. Your blood tastes especially good."

The boy bent down to her belly and licked the drops of blood he had spilled from her abdomen. The sensation made her shudder. Sitting up again he grinned at her. "I must return the compliment. Your blood tastes delicious."

After staring at him for a few moments speechlessly, Anko threw back her head and laughed uproariously. "I like you, kid, I really like you. Name's Anko Mitarashi, you can call me Anko."

A few minutes later she was sitting at the table with the spare bed sheet draped like a toga around her body and a new cup of tea in her hands.

"So Naruto, you found me lying unconscious in the back alley and took me into the house. Thanks for that." She narrowed her eyes. "Did you cop a feel while I was helpless?"

Naruto seemed a bit uncomfortable. "Well, as much as I had to, sorry. You had rolled in your own vomit, your entire clothing and body was covered with the stuff, really nasty smelling. I even washed your hair and clothes." He gestured to the clothesline high on the ceiling. "Unfortunately it takes a long time for clothes to dry in this weather. I found you Friday evening, and it's now past midday on Saturday, but the clothes are still wet."

Anko suppressed her reaction to yell at the boy, that wouldn't have been fair. As much as she liked to flaunt her body she really didn't like people who groped her without permission. Although chastising Naruto would be ungrateful on her part, it wasn't as if he had done that deliberately. He could always just have her left outside and, well, you couldn't really avoid feeling somebody up if you had to undress and wash them. Instead she decided to drop the point.

"Was I unconscious the entire time?"

"You sort of woke up when I brought you into the house and kept going on and on about different things and simply wouldn't shut up until I put you to bed." He blushed. "Well, and you did try to grope me several times."

Anko blanched. "What did I talk about?" It would be very bad if she had divulged some village secrets. Or told Naruto what he held, for that matter. Her groping him was awkward but forgivable under the circumstances, and Naruto obviously didn't hold it against her.

"Pretty much your entire life story. From your childhood and sensei to the last mission and dissatisfaction with your current situation." Seeing Anko's expression Naruto quickly continued. "I promise I will keep it to myself. No village secrets as far as I can tell. Well, there was one, but I already knew about my tenant."

"You knew." Anko stated. "How?"

"Yeah, and I have known for quite a while without anyone telling me. It's kind of obvious when you get dreams of a sleeping giant demon fox inside of a cage that a tag with the kanji 'seal' holds closed. Not to mention the complex seal that appears on my belly when I channel chakra. I found it when I tried to use a Henge to fake a tattoo and experimented before a mirror without a shirt. Please, keep it secret. I want to know what the Hokage thinks should be the right time for telling me. If things had gone as the Old Man wanted I would still be wondering why almost everyone dislikes me. Oh, and I can feel its chakra in my system, but I don't think it a good idea to experiment with that, I don't want to wake the fox."

Anko was thinking hard. Normally she should report that, but then she would be required to explain how she got that information. She didn't really want her drinking escapade to become public knowledge, and Naruto had obviously been perfectly fine for however long he knew. After a few seconds of thought she mentally shrugged. It simply wasn't her business, and she owed Naruto for helping her. "Okay kid, I keep that a secret as long as you don't tell anyone about how you found me."

"It's a deal." He appeared pensive for a moment. "Do you want to talk about your problems?"

Anko gave him a disbelieving stare. A boy half her age wanted to discuss her personal life with her?

"Hey, your situation might be different from my own, but I know a lot. People tend to ignore me when I stay a bit out of sight. You'd be surprised what I'm able to overhear. It might make you feel better if you talk about it. Get a new point of view, you know."

Anko hesitated a moment before coming to a decision. _'What the hell, he already knows everything. Talking might actually help, and it will be at least a week until either Kurenai-chan or Ibiki are back.' _In the following discussion she noticed that Naruto was surprisingly understanding and insightful. She would have never expected to have such a discussion with a nine year old kid. Anko was amazed by his knowledge of rumors and how things in the village worked. From the talk in the village she would have expected a slightly dumb kid, but Naruto was very sharp. She called him on that.

Her host scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah, it's deliberate. Many people wonder if I'm a danger to the village, and I prefer to present a harmless image. I'm probably one of the best students in my year, but I see no reason to show it. When I make genin my grades won't really matter anymore, I only have to appear good enough to make it that far. My closest friends know that I hold back, but no teacher has ever noticed. Not even with all the extremely complex pranks I pull."

"Well, that doesn't say good things about the quality of your instructors if you can trick them so easily. If you get on a team your sensei will get the shock of his life if he trusts these reports." Anko said with a chuckle.

A wide grin split Naruto's face. "Oh, I'm already looking forward to that."

After that interruption the discussion veered back to her frustration with being held back in rank and other stumbling blocks placed in the path of her career.

"There isn't a Mitarashi clan, right?" After seeing Anko shake her head he continued. "So you count as an unaligned kunoichi. Isn't there someone who should be your political representation? Someone who could help you if you feel you're treated unfairly. I remember reading something about that in a schoolbook."

Now it was Anko's turn to dig into her memories. Half-forgotten lectures and briefings were forcibly dragged to the forefront of her mind. "You're right, there should be someone." Suddenly she snapped her fingers. "That's it. Homura Mitokado, the old teammate of the Hokage, is the one who represents the unaligned shinobi. But I don't really want to play the political game. Sarutobi-sama has been nothing but supportive to me."

"Well yeah, sticking to the Old Man obviously doesn't really work for you, does it? Why don't you try it? If he wants something you aren't willing to do you can back out before closing the deal."

Anko nodded at first hesitantly, than ever more forcefully. "You're right; I will go to him at the next opportunity. Hey, how about I visit you occasionally?"

Naruto sighed. "As much as I would like having you as a friend, I don't think it would be good for your career. With what I'm holding it would be taken amiss for you to develop an interest in me and fan the rumors." He favored her with a broad smile. "But thanks for the offer."

She was a bit disappointed, but she could certainly follow the kid's reasoning. The serious part of the conversation finished, they talked about some inconsequential things. They even got around to talking about their skills and had a little impromptu knife-handling contest. The boy was _good_ with his knives. Not as good as she of course, but far better than he had any right to be.

After drinking three more cups of the wonderful anti-headache tea she felt it was time for her to leave. Donning her still wet clothing (hey, she would get drenched by the rain outside anyway), she gave Naruto a last wave and exited his apartment. Her first priority was finding new living accommodations and setting her other affairs in order. Then she would see if that old fogey Homura could do anything for her. It wouldn't do to miss an opportunity.

* * *

><p>After Naruto was sure Anko had left, he relaxed back in his chair. <em>'That was more nerve-wracking than expected. Nerve-wracking, but extremely hot.' <em>Naruto shuddered slightly while remembering the sensation of Anko's skin under his fingers._ 'The damn hormones are really beginning to kick in.' _He hadn't the slightest idea if he had done the right thing, and what the long-term consequences of his actions would be. He had given the best advice he could, but he didn't really know much about Homura, or what the man's opinions of him in particular were. In the worst case he might have given a future political opponent a valuable ally. Still, he got something very precious out of his efforts, namely the spell-etched memory of a prime view of Anko, both wearing a much too small bathrobe and completely nude. Naruto was sure what his dreams in the next days would be about.

* * *

><p>Homura Mitokado was a conflicted man. The reason for that was his concern about the direction the village was headed, and the offer he had received a short time ago. The gist of all his worries was that in his opinion Konoha experienced a steady decline and everybody closed their eyes to it. There wasn't a single event or policy that he could point a finger at as the cause, but for everyone who had access to the necessary knowledge and looked with open eyes the signs should have been undeniable. It wasn't that the village was in any immediate danger of collapsing, but what would be the situation in five years? What in ten?<p>

He had no doubts that his old teammate Hiruzen Sarutobi and his fellow elders Koharu Utatane and Danzo Shimura each had the best interests of Konoha in mind. No, the problem was that their methods and individual goals were harmful or even dangerous to the village's future.

Danzo was an extremist, no doubt. He placed the village above all else, resorted to drastic measures even if a softer approach might be equally successful and embraced methods bereft of any sort of morality. That didn't sound so bad for a society of paid assassins, until one considered that even the wholesale slaughter of children and complete families was still widely accepted as being compatible with shinobi morality under most circumstances. What acts were so despicable to be considered outside of that? His conviction that emotions should be suppressed and ninja were nothing more than tools served to further unsettle Homura.

Koharu was more moderate, but she placed the group as a whole above the interests of its members. She wasn't as unscrupulous as Danzo, but due to the power loss the minor clans which were her political powerbase had suffered she had aligned herself closely with him some time ago.

He considered himself a moderate. A generally more martial policy combined with respect for the individual shinobi and some parts out of Danzo's and Koharu's playbook when it was absolutely necessary was his favored approach.

Hiruzen was as much an extremist as Danzo, if in a different way. During his entire reign, he had supported the civilian side of things to an unreasonable degree. It had been a slow process, but by now they controlled too much of the village, and the performance of their shinobi suffered for it. Homura hadn't anything against civilians per se, his parents, wife, children and grandchildren were or had been all civilians, but that didn't mean that they should get such influence on the daily running of a shinobi village, or the curriculum of the academy for that matter. It wasn't a single event or decision that was outright harmful nor someone with malicious intent, no, the problem was the cumulative effect of several decades of compromises, unintended side-effects and long-term consequences of superficially sound policies. Add to that Hiruzen's excessive desire for peace and penchant for compromise, diplomacy and negotiation, and you had the recipe for a slow, almost unnoticeable decline.

For the longest time Homura hadn't noticed himself. That changed with the third shinobi war. They were far weaker than everyone had assumed beforehand. If it hadn't been for Minato Namikaze's genius and over-powering skills the village would have fallen. Seeing the absolutely appalling performance of their forces had been a wakeup-call for Homura, but sadly nobody else seemed to have gotten the message. They had been forced to throw barely trained five-year olds into the war and the fools still refused to see. Even if they had formally won the damage to the shinobi forces had been immense, both in terms of immediate manpower lost as well as the young generation being killed off early or heavily traumatized. Not to speak of the loss of knowledge and potential teachers. It didn't help that many experienced clan heads had perished or retired, their young successors were simply no match for Hiruzen's political skills.

Because almost nobody saw things his way he had been forced to try and remedy the situation in a non-obvious way. With a lot of effort he had been able to convince enough people that it was time for Hiruzen to retire, for he had hoped his successor would do a better job. After his performance in the war there was no doubt that the Yellow Flash would be chosen. Unfortunately the Kyuubi incident happened before Minato could formulate much of his own agenda, and Hiruzen was back in power and showed no inclination to find a new successor.

That meant he was back on square one, and he simply wasn't able to convince anyone of the severity of the situation. Everyone seemed to believe their own propaganda that Konoha was the strongest village of them all and saw no need for change. Complacency and willful blindness to the true facts were running rampant in the leadership, civilian population and shinobi forces alike. Homura couldn't publically go against the Hokage, the villagers would simply think he had gone senile. Hiruzen had been Hokage for such a long time and commanded such an amount of respect that nobody could gainsay him on most matters.

That didn't even touch upon his mishandling of the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack. They desperately needed the power a fully trained jinchuuriki could provide to compensate for the damage the Kyuubi had wrought in addition to the aforementioned problems. It had turned Homura's stomach, but he was ready to give the boy to Danzo to form him into a capable weapon in the shortest amount of time possible. Only it hadn't worked. Between all the different reasonable proposals somehow the one which was useful to no one was approved. Meaning letting the boy grow up ignorant in an orphanage to 'protect his identity and childhood'. He largely had let the matter drop after that, it was plain to see that the boy was Hiruzen's pet project and nothing would come out of arguing the matter any further.

Homura could only watch the decline of his beloved village in despair. If one discounted the Hokage himself, they didn't have a single S-ranked shinobi who permanently resided in the village. And he couldn't do anything about it. The harsh truth was that he simply lacked a coherent power base. Sure, he was the representative of the unaligned shinobi of the village as well as one of the Hokage's advisors, but that didn't get him much more than a vote in the great council and the right to talk to Hiruzen. He had his people in many positions, but no one that was truly capable of field work. Hiruzen had ANBU and the shinobi who practically worshipped him, Danzo had his unofficial private army, Koharu could still mobilize some members of minor clans and the great clans were powerful because of their large numbers. Most unaligned shinobi seemed to have forgotten that they could actually come to him with their problems and either went to the normal bureaucracy or directly to the Sandaime.

Then suddenly all the foreign technology began to break down, the mysterious supplies failed to appear and finally the Fire daimyo died of a quail bonelet that stuck in his throat of all things. Luckily the new daimyo seemed to bring things slowly back under control, even if Homura didn't much like the new agreement between him and the village, especially because it had cut one of the few avenues of influence that had been left to him.

In this situation he had received Danzo's offer. In exchange for his political support Homura would receive access to Danzo's forces to push his own agenda. It was certainly a tempting offer, but Homura had doubts. Danzo was definitely overestimating Konoha's current capabilities, and with his confrontational course he would trigger before long another war that would destroy the village. Once upon a time he would have made a better Hokage than Hiruzen, but that was hindsight. He had grown ever more radical over the years and around the time of the Uchiha massacre he had completely gone around the bend.

The Uchiha fiasco was a sore point for Homura. After letting the situation escalate uncontrolled for too long, Hiruzen had insisted on negotiating well past the point of reason when he finally deigned to take action. They had acquired Itachi Uchiha's services to spy on the clan, an incredible useful advantage. When he brought them notice of the imminent rebellion it would have been reasonable to deploy ANBU and as many loyal forces they could muster to lay a trap and crush the rebellion before it really got off the ground. Sure, there would have been losses, but not all Uchiha supported the rebellion or even knew of it.

Instead they committed an act of insanity of the highest order and sent Itachi to wipe out his own clan. Madness. Sheer madness. To this day Homura didn't know how Danzo had managed to convince him of this course of action. When he later thought about it he couldn't explain why he did it. At the time the decision had appeared completely reasonable to him, but he had the habit of going over his past decisions after a while when he had nothing better to do. That didn't even count the mystery how Itachi had managed to kill so many skilled shinobi at one go. Itachi was good, but not that good. Someone had helped him, but if that someone was either Danzo or an unknown party Homura didn't know.

The consequences were the loss of a third great clan after the Senju and Kurama, a powerful and possibly insane shinobi who held his knowledge like a sword above their heads and a single surviving mentally damaged Uchiha remaining in the village.

Ever since that day he had avoided Danzo as much as he could. Whenever they were discussing something important, he found himself agreeing with the man in the end, and that frightened him. Hiruzen definitely knew a lot of what Danzo was doing, and was content to let him be. Danzo managed to compensate for many of Hiruzen's failings with his secret ops, but he did just as much harm with his heavy-handed approach. Between the two of them they would cause Konoha's ruin before long. Hiruzen was soft when he should have been hard like when he had let his pupil Orochimaru do as he liked for far too long even after rumors about his experiments sprang up. Even after he finally deigned to take action he let the monster escape. Now the snake sannin was one of the bitterest enemies of the Leaf. Danzo had exactly the opposite problem. Homura didn't really want to know how much new enemies and resentment against Konoha Danzo's ROOT had created in the course of its existence.

'_After all, if your left side is frozen and the right side is burning, your mean temperature is perfectly fine, but you're dead nonetheless.'_

He could follow Koharu's example and accept Danzo's offer, but he didn't believe for a minute that he would be more than a pawn. If his suspicions about the man's brainwashing abilities were correct he would soon forget what he originally intended and simply go along with him. Still, was the risk worth it to perhaps get a shot at saving his beloved village?

A knock on the door interrupted Homura's musings.

"Enter."

His secretary stuck her head into the room, looking slightly confused. "Mitokado-sama, one Anko Mitarashi asks for a meeting or an appointment at your convenience in your capacity as representative of the unaligned shinobi. What shall I tell her?"

Homura paused for a moment while he tried to make sense of the information. He had a nearly infallible memory, and Anko Mitarashi was one of the more publicly known special jonin of Konoha. She wasn't really politically active, but had ties into the Torture & Interrogation as well as the Infiltration department. Normally Homura would have counted her among Hiruzen's supporters, but her visiting him in his representative capacity suggested otherwise. _'Intriguing. I wonder what she wants?'_

"Please show her in and make sure we aren't interrupted."

After the secretary had shown the snake mistress in and she and Homura had exchanged the necessary pleasantries as well as taken some tea they got down to business.

"Thank you for receiving me at such short notice, Mitokado-sama. I'm well aware how precious your time is, but I have need of your counsel."

"You're welcome, Mitarashi-san. In what manner can I assist you?"

"I assume everything we discuss here doesn't leave this room?" Seeing his nod, she continued. "My recent application for promotion to full jonin has been unfairly denied without reasons, as have all the earlier applications. Additionally, I have some doubts about the missions assigned to me."

That wasn't something Homura had been expecting. He was generally aware that there still existed some doubts about Mitarashi's reliability, but he hadn't exercised any influence one way or another.

"I see your problem. Why come to me though?"

The woman looked somewhat embarrassed. "I only realized a short time ago that I could go to you with my problems. After my return I was content to let my immediate superiors look after my interests, but recently I have become… dissatisfied with the progression of things. Sarutobi-sama assures me that it is only a matter of time until I earn the full trust of the promotion board, but I thought it might be prudent to consult a second opinion."

Now, that was truly interesting. A skilled kunoichi dissatisfied with Hiruzen's handling of things? That opened several interesting ways in which this discussion could go. He would need to get a better insight into the woman as well as make sure she wasn't a plant, but this might just be the opportunity he had been waiting for.

"Say, Mitarashi-san, what would your opinion be on the following matter…"

Two hours later Homura was deep in thought after Anko had left him.

'_Mitarashi-san is a very powerful kunoichi, and without the taint of her association with Orochimaru she would have made full jonin years ago. Granted, she could still be a sleeper agent, but it isn't likely. The woman has been subjected to such an extent of scrutiny that anything amiss would have been spotted. For the same effort of making her an undetectable agent Orochimaru would have been able to plant a dozen spies none of us would even suspect.'_

Yes, it would be somewhat risky to become her patron, but the possible benefits were huge. From their talk he gathered that she had an utterly practical outlook on shinobi life and saw many issues the same way he did. She only didn't have enough information to realize the true extent of the problems, but that could be corrected in time. He could use her to establish contacts across the lands and perhaps discretely remove some problems he became aware of.

If he managed to smooth her way to jonin and get her some pupils it would even be possible for her to build a cadre of actually competent shinobi who could think for themselves and were aware of the long-term problems of the village. That might be enough to change course and stop the steady decline. It might not be enough to keep the top position as soon as the other villages wised up, but it would be a start.

At the moment this was only idle speculation, it would take years to get to that point. Still, this was far better than relying on Danzo. Homura nodded to himself, he would support Anko Mitarashi. This was an opportunity he couldn't afford not to take.

'_I only hope it will be enough and in time to prevent the village's destruction.'_

* * *

><p>"Is she finally asleep?" Hinata asked quietly.<p>

Naruto gave a nod, careful not to disturb the sleeping girl in his lap. It had taken hours for Yakumo to calm down after the funeral.

She had taken the death of her uncle Unkai very hard, despite it being long in coming. Yakumo had managed to keep her composure during the funeral, but after arriving back at her home she had broken down. The funeral had been a small, quiet affair. Aside from Yakumo's circle of friends consisting of Choji, himself and Hinata as well as Shino only some Akimichi had shown up who had known Unkai due to his niece's friendship with the Akimichi clan heir. Unkai had been a relatively old man in his mid-fifties, and none of his erstwhile friends and close acquaintances had survived the decades. The second and third shinobi wars along with the Kyuubi attack had put heavy dents into the shinobi forces, and along with the normal attrition rate and the Kurama fire there was simply nobody left.

After the funeral was over Naruto had recognized the signs of a beginning breakdown in Yakumo and with Hinata's help got her home as quickly as possible. The two girls had only met a few times but had hit it off splendidly. Choji had accompanied them but left when it grew dark. Hinata would soon have to leave, too. Naruto carefully extracted himself from the sleeping girl and left the room with Hinata.

"Do y-you think she can join us next year in the academy?" the pale girl asked.

"It should work. Choji's dad is pulling the necessary strings behind the scenes, and I tried to keep Yakumo up to date on the academy work. Despite being with her uncle for a year she has only missed a bit more than one semester of lectures, and I think Choji and I compensated for that. As soon as she is better we'll have to revisit everything, but she should be able to pass the necessary tests."

Their second year of the academy was drawing to an end and the summer break was coming up, meaning he would have a lot of time for various projects. The top priority aside from helping Yakumo was finally getting the Bunshin right; the damn thing was required to pass the academy, after all. He probably would never have gotten the hang of it if not for the chakra exercises his mother had come up with.

With increasing chakra reserves and control ever more elaborate exercises became necessary to increase it further, and the normal shinobi ones he could get his hands on ended with tree climbing and water walking. Which were ridiculously insufficient for his needs. By now they had a whole host of different training exercises developed, and they were far more efficient than the mortal ones and covered aspects of the chakra molding process shinobi had no training techniques for in the first place. They had begun to teach Hinata, and while she didn't have the extra boost of bijuu chakra mixing with her own her reserves and control were skyrocketing. Naruto planned to teach some of them to Yakumo, Choji and Shino next year, but unfortunately they would have to eschew the best ones because they had to be individually adjusted by a very good chakra sensor who had to know the exercises himself. Hinata could maybe fill that role in the future with the help of her byakugan, but it would take years for her to get to that level. Daiki and especially Youko were possibly the best chakra sensors in existence, no wonder considering they could appear as beings of pure chakra, but they couldn't help with anyone besides Hinata.

"D-Do you plan on spending the night here?" said girl asked.

Naruto frowned. "I think I will, Yakumo might need help and I don't want to leave her alone."

Hinata sighed after taking a look outside. "I'll have to l-leave now, I'm already r-running late."

"Okay, see you tomorrow. Take care, Hinata-chan." Naruto gave Hinata's hand a squeeze, causing her to blush and rush out of the house. He enjoyed doing that, it was funny and helped her improve her emotional control when faced with such things unexpectedly. In the last two months (five if you counted the three spent in the world at the edge of dreams) she had come a long way and hardly stuttered anymore when talking with him. She still kept up an act in public but was slowly reducing the amount of stuttering. It was paramount that nobody became suspicious; they had to stay under the radar of everyone for as long as possible.

Hearing Yakumo growing restless, Naruto returned to the couch besides her and was promptly grabbed by the sleeping girl and used as a cuddly toy. _'That must be how dad often feels.'_ Not that he had anything against that if it was done by a cute girl. As Yakumo was obviously loath to let him go he tried to find a more comfortable position without waking her. Soon he joined her in the land of sleep.

* * *

><p>Far to the south in Tea Country a scribe was growing annoyed. He had lists to copy, but every so often he caught himself doodling. With a sigh he dropped the sheet to the ground and grabbed a new one. Sometimes he thought he heard someone whispering, but there was no one besides himself in the office at this hour, he had already checked several times. When he found himself again drawing the same strange symbol he gave up for the night, extinguished the oil lamp and went home. As he opened the door one of the discarded papers was seized by a gust of wind and swept out of the building. A short flight later it landed in the water of a small pond. Before the ink dissolved completely the symbol seemed to glow in the moonlight, revealing it to be a triangle enclosed by a circle.<p>

Two weeks later the ritual murders began.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Not much to say this time besides thanking my reviewers.


	11. Chapter 10: Taking a peek

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 10: Taking a peek**

"Did you have to use paint that is extremely hard to remove?" Choji asked plaintively while scrubbing on a particularly persistent spot.

"Yes. Yes I had." Naruto answered, setting his own brush down. "Look, if we want to observe this summer's graduation exams and team assignments we need a reason to be in the building. There's no way we can sneak around while all the examiners are watching for attempts to cheat, and the jonin are even worse when they show up to pick up their teams. Hence the paint bomb that will take several days for us to clean up and give us an excuse to be here."

"But we aren't supposed to spy on the exams, and our own are three years in the future."

"We are learning to be shinobi. Shinobi are supposed to be sneaky and to cheat. Think of it as training in gathering intelligence that will become useful one day."

Choji reacted only with a grunt, he knew the plan but sometimes his childish side caused him to complain. They had decided to spy on the exams and especially on the team assignments only a few days ago, almost as an afterthought before the beginning of the summer break. While Naruto knew from his stolen materials how the exams were supposed to proceed and from overhearing conversations that the team assignments were a matter of bribes and political influence more than of skill he wanted confirmation firsthand. The plan was surprisingly simple and foolproof.

It relied to a large part on Naruto's enhanced hearing and the time of year. Due to the summer heat the class room windows would be opened, making it theoretically possible to overhear conversations from the outside. Only the outside would be watched to prevent cheating, so it was impossible to simply hide under the windows. The same was true of the neighboring rooms, but not the ones farther away. So Naruto had pranked the strategically placed classroom of one of the more biased teachers with a paint bomb one day before the graduation exam on his last day of school. He had deliberately left a trace leading back to him and Choji, and they received promptly the expected detention and the task of cleaning it up. Shino had originally wanted to participate, but somehow his share of the guilt was never discovered. Hinata had already enough problems with her family without adding a juvenile prank to the list and had regretfully bowed out.

Suddenly Naruo cocked his head. "I think it has started. Quiet now."

"I only hope it is worth all the effort." Choji grumbled under his breath. He had made a bet with Yakumo on which potential teams would pass, but scrubbing paint for more than a week was pushing it.

* * *

><p>A week and a half later they were finally finished with cleaning the room, with their plan being a full success. The five friends sat together in Yakumo's house that had become their official meeting place and listened to Naruto's report.<p>

"… and it went pretty much as expected. The practical tests for taijutsu, use of ninja tools and the three academy jutsu are required to pass, but strangely the theoretical test counts the most for the ranking of the students. From the ten teams that were formed only three passed the mysterious second test by the individual jonin-sensei, and as expected…" A giggle from Hinata interrupted him. An abashed Choji was handing a smug-looking Yakumo a stack of restaurant vouchers while Shino's expression remained unreadable. It was good to see Yakumo smile again after her uncle's death. "As I was saying, as expected by some of us these teams have a mix of the most capable graduates and the ones with the most political clout or money. The rest were sent back to the academy into the basic training program."

The first five years of the basic and elite training programs were identical, but only the elite graduates had a chance of being accepted by a jonin as his personal students, usually in groups of three. For the graduates that weren't accepted by a jonin and the students who were enrolled in the basic program in the first place one to two years of additional training followed until they were deemed good enough to survive on their own. After that they were usually employed in the different shinobi divisions under the command of a chunin, but were responsible for their own training.

Needless to say, everyone wanted to get a jonin as sensei. Not only was having a personal teacher considered a far better education than the academy provided, it usually meant a fast track to promotion. A jonin-sensei provided instruction, in-depth knowledge of the secrets of the trade, guidance and protection on missions as well as social and political connections, all things the normal graduates had to find on their own. Additionally, the number of jonin willing and able to take students was strictly limited. Many jonin were needed for the more dangerous and difficult missions; in fact there could never be enough of the necessary skill level. A jonin with a team of fresh genin was practically unavailable for higher-ranking mission for around a year followed by a time of limited availability.

Competition for spots in the elite class was hard, but despite widespread bribery and favoritism it still bore a tenuous relationship with the student's skill. In the first five years there was a lot of student fluctuation between the classes when the duds were relegated to the normal program and the kids with the best skills (or more often those with the richest/most influential parents) joined the elite class. It was possible to repeat the elite graduation test several times, but that almost never happened. Most people gave up after they failed one time, and by the time of the fifth year most people in the elite class had actually the skills to pass the test. The elite graduates that didn't manage to snag a jonin didn't waste their time, even if their genin rank was suspended until they finished the basic program. No, it was seen as an opportunity to forge some ties to the future elite, and the successful exam was taken as a recommendation for greater things in their resume. There was another possibility, namely being taken on as the personal apprentice of a ninja of chunin rank or higher, which was what most kids from the great and minor clans did. Without a blood relation it was almost impossible to get approval for that, though.

Naturally some people had automatic fixed places in the elite class practically independent from their actual skills, like being the heir to a great clan (Shino, Sasuke, Hinata, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino and Yakumo), brother to a clan heiress like Kiba or daughter of one of the civilian council members in case of Sakura Haruno whose mother held the seat for the long-distance traders. Or like himself he supposed, either because he was a jinchuuriki or the Hokage's protégé. Most kids their age were aware of those aspects, but they were never really mentioned by the teachers or anyone else. It was one of those things that weren't exactly secret, but neither was it really spoken about. If he didn't have the teachings of his parents and his overhearing of different conversations he might even have continued blissfully unaware of these things until after his graduation.

Normally it wasn't that obvious, but due to a coincidence of birth the leading families of all great clans had children of the same age. In Naruto's two previous academic cycles it was far harder to determine the elite class, it really only became noticeable by the third or fourth year. The actual team composition was handled by the Hokage, though the jonin could make requests and the Hokage's advisors and the main instructor from the academy had some input. The bet Yakumo and Choji had made concerned which teams would be formed and which would be passed by the jonin.

"By now I should know better than bet against you when it comes to political stuff." Choji said ruefully. His bet had been purely oriented on skill after Naruto had 'organized' copies of the prospective genin' files from the academy, while Yakumo took the status and connections of their parents into account.

Yakumo smiled at him victoriously. "And don't forget it."

"I agree. It appears unwise to go against Yakumo-chan's judgement in political matters." Shino added.

"D-Don't be so m-mean to Choji-kun. He a-always wants to s-see the best in other people." Hinata chided gently.

Choji shook his head. "It's alright. I know the world isn't what I'd like it to be. Better to learn that now then later."

* * *

><p>"I did it! I finally did it!" Naruto shouted before he hugged a startled Hinata as well as his parents and began jumping around and pumping his fist into the air. The reasons were two illusionary copies of Naruto standing a short distance away. It weren't very good bunshin, one could clearly see that they were blurry at the edges and wavered sometimes as if behind a curtain of hot air, but they were fully functional.<p>

"Good work, son. We knew you could do it." Daiki said.

"We're proud of you." Youko added.

Hinata had meanwhile recovered from the unexpected hug. "C-Congratulations, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks. Finally I no longer have to worry about that graduation requirement." With a puff of smoke the clones dispelled. "I wonder why that thing is required in the first place; it isn't as if it is especially useful. Attentive enemies can easily recognize it as an illusion, considering that bunshin don't produce sound or interact with their surroundings in any way. And they don't move on their own, I have to consciously control them. What with one's attention capacity limited I wonder if they aren't a net loss in battle and if I should use them." Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment. "They could be a nice diversionary measure if I manage to learn projecting my voice."

Youko shrugged. "Who knows under what circumstances the bunshin landed on the curriculum, let alone became a graduation requirement. Still, your improved control will be useful for other things as well."

Under Youko's tutelage Hinata herself had already mastered all three academy jutsu; it had been very easy thanks to her good and developing chakra control. She didn't have the reserves to use them often, but due to the new exercises her chakra pool was expanding massively. Normally Kawarimi was considered the most difficult of the three academy jutsu, with Henge being of middling difficulty and Bunshin the easiest, but Naruto had ironically had the most problems with the bunshin. Thanks to Youko's chakra running through his system he required massively less chakra for clone techniques… which meant that in the case of the already low-cost Bunshin he couldn't mould a small enough amount of chakra to not overload the technique. His enormous reserves had made it even more difficult to develop the necessary control, but now Naruto had finally managed it.

"Now to the next experiment. Henge!" With a cloud of smoke Naruto changed into a copy of his father. His hand went to his head. "I think it is working. Dad, could you please test it?"

"Sure. Hold still for a moment." The real Daiki walked up to Naruto and carefully put his hand on his head. It went right through it. "It seems double congratulations are in order."

"Yeah, I'm awesome! Let's test it a bit further." Several applications and subsequent dispellings of a henge later Naruto finally found the problem. "It's like a tipping point, if I use far less chakra than the jutsu should require the Henge behaves normal; any more and it becomes a true transformation and the chakra consumption immediately jumps up to around what I think other people have to use for the illusionary henge. And it dispels if someone hits me hard enough, regardless of whether my concentration is broken or not."

Youko looked thoughtful. "Well, the non-illusion henge shares many similarities with a shadow clone, and the illusionary one with the normal bunshin. If you could sense the chakra structure like I can it would be obvious to you, too. It might be that the henge is the basis for a few advanced true transformation jutsu.

"The I-Inuzaka have some jutsu that physically transform them and their partners, e-even combining their bodies into one temporarily. I h-heard similar stories from some summons." Hinata interjected.

"Well, with the amount of concentration it requires to stay stable it is only really usable outside of combat for me. Wait a minute, I have an idea." With a puff of smoke Naruto changed into a log, than a rock and several other different items and animals, including his fox form. Finally he changed back to his human form. "Interesting. It becomes more difficult if the mass differs from my own. I can still somehow feel my own body during the transformation, and I vaguely perceive my immediate surroundings even if the form has no sensory organs. I don't understand why it doesn't change the quality of my senses and my strength, though. Normally I can detect far more scents if you change me into a fox."

"That is because it doesn't really transform your body, son. The technique creates a clone-like chakra construct and uses a normally inactive space-time manipulation component to move your real body a bit out of phase with reality. Quite fascinating, who knew that such a basic technique could become so complicated?" Daiki mused.

* * *

><p>A few days into the visit they made a trip to a beautiful lake in the woods quite a distance from the cottage. They made camp inside of a small natural cave overlooking the lake. Hinata was alone inside the cave setting up their sleeping arrangements when a shout from outside caught her attention. "Come out Hinata-chan, the water is great!"<p>

Leaving the cave, she could see Naruto and Daiki swimming in the lake. Their clothing was piled up on a tree stump near the beach, and Youko was currently disrobing. The men were too far out into the lake to make out details, but she had a prime view of Youko's body, causing her to blush.

"H-How c-can you s-swim without swimwear?"

"Why, naked of course. Don't you want to join us?"

Hinata blushed even stronger. "I… I can't. N-Not when N-Naruto-kun could s-see me."

Youko sighed. "As you wish. I will do something to preserve our privacy." She turned towards the rest of the family and shouted her intentions and received an accepting reply. With a wave of her hand a wall of reeds sprouted and grew rapidly, neatly bisecting the beach and creating a visual cover far into the lake. "Good enough for you?"

Nodding hesitantly, Hinata left her clothes beside Youko's and entered the warm water. After swimming a bit she began thinking. How did Naruto look without clothes? Sure, she had looked right through his clothes with her byakugan before, but it just wasn't the same as an unrestricted view. Just a little peek that no one would notice. That was harmless, right?

"Byakugan" she whispered when she activated her bloodline and saw… nothing. The reeds were absolutely impenetrable to her gaze. When she switched to 360 degree mode the phenomenon persisted. Her zone of vision simply ended as soon as the reeds began. The voice of Youko broke her concentration and her bloodline deactivated.

"My, my, what a naughty little girl you are. Trying to peep on my husband and son, but wanting to preserve your own modesty? That's hardly fair."

Whirling around, Hinata saw the woman swimming behind her with an amused smirk on her face. Immediately Hinata became beet red and started stammering apologies, growing dangerously close to fainting.

"Calm down!" The command was issued with quite some power, and Hinata felt her emotions shutting down to a completely calm state. It was the first time Youko did something like this; Hinata hadn't known it was even possible. "You will listen carefully. I'm not mad, and being curious is perfectly normal at your age." She sighed. "It seems you need my special version of 'The Talk', but we will handle that at a later point." An invisible pressure seemed to lift from Hinata, and she could feel her emotions coming back. She turned away from Youko in the hope of avoiding further embarrassment, but suddenly she felt a warm body pressing against her own. "Just relax; I take care of things, my little Hinata-chan." Hinata felt Youko's hands hitting some minor pressure points to force her to relax her muscles somewhat before the older woman gave her a heavenly massage. Combined with floating in the warm water Hinata's pent-up tension melted away. The rest of the trip was much more enjoyable.

It did take until her next visit until Youko approached her about the 'Talk'. It was quite different from the talk she had received from aunt Chihiro and the academy lesson. Instead of 'Tab A goes into Slot B' or 'It is your duty to continue the clan' it focused on questions of affection, love, pleasure and formal propriety, or rather why the latter was largely superfluous when you were among people you could trust.

"Aren't you e-embarrassed?"

"Why should I? There no one I would need to hide my body from and you need to learn these things and get over your shyness. At the moment your body is still too young, but that will change in time. It is better to be prepared beforehand. In your chosen profession such modesty can be very dangerous to your well-being. Besides, your hormones will drive you crazy before long. You don't age and your body doesn't change here in this world, but the mental effects build up. We could suppress that, but it would have other undesirable effects. When the time comes, ask me for advice."

"There are s-some things I have seen, but my clan frowns upon…"

Youko held up her hand. "Don't listen to anything these idiots say. Considering your state when we met it is safe to say that anything they teach that is remotely related to emotions is completely wrong. It is natural to be curious, and your bloodline enables you to invade other people's privacy with ease. It will be even worse when Naruto needs your help in discovering stuff in the village. You will see many things you'd rather not see, and you will have to learn to deal with it." Youko eyed her with a calculating look. "Or maybe you see things that you would like to see more of?"

Hinata's increasing blush was answer enough.

Youko's eyes sparkled with mischief. "If you have some specific questions about something I will be happy to provide answers. I'm quite familiar with all forms of corporeal pleasure. Why do you think we spend so much time in human form, and what do you think do we do during our frequent alone time? There is only one thing a human body is really good for." She breathed into her ear. "Shall I show you?"

The girl's lips formed a silent O before her blush intensified and she fainted, causing Youko to laugh uproariously. A short time later Daiki found them. "Naruto should be busy for the next time with some magical exercises." After he looked curiously at the fainted Hinata he continued. "I see you are finished with the talk. Did you deliberately cause her to faint?"

Youko only smirked. "It's simply fun to embarrass Hinata, she's so cute when she blushes. Naruto's reactions aren't that spectacular anymore. It will help her get over her shyness more quickly." She assumed a thoughtful expression. "If I think about it, it would be quite interesting to find out how many times per day I can make her faint. She doesn't want to admit it even to herself, but her thoughts are remarkably mature and naughty. Though the real fun only begins when she is ready to talk about the particulars of sex. All those interesting methods and positions…"

* * *

><p>It had been fruitful weeks, what with him getting the Bunshin working and making his Henge an illusion as it should have been. As a side-project he had acquired some skills in voice projection; he thought it could come in handy in combination with a bunshin. He even managed a breakthrough with his minor illusion spell, enabling him to create arbitrary images in a small, movable spherical zone; but finally the start of the third academy year loomed before them. Naruto was alone with his parents; Hinata already had to leave a few days earlier because she couldn't cope as well with the accompanying mental strain as Naruto could, yet. Currently he was slowly getting out of his bed while yawning.<p>

"Hurry up, son. We have something great to show you." sounded the voice of his father.

Naruto perked up and hastened his efforts of getting ready for the day. "Really? What is it?" he shouted while climbing into his clothes after taking a quick bath.

"Do you remember your father telling you about his mapping out the Kyuubi's unaltered future and indirectly your own?" Youko asked while preparing the breakfast table.

"Naturally I remember. What about it?"

"Well, I finally finished converting it to a format you can understand. After you have eaten we will show you." Daiki answered.

Never before had a breakfast disappeared so quickly in Naruto's mouth. He really wanted to know what could have been his fate.

"I have prepared a special location for this event some distance away. Come along, son."

The three left the cottage and turned towards the woods before they engaged their special travel mode. As usual for his parents mode of travel they seemed to cover an extraordinary large distance in a short amount of time. Naruto tried to figure out how they did it, but as usual was unsuccessful. It always frustrated him to no end when he couldn't understand how his parents did something. The surrounding landscape just seemed to slip away and change despite them walking at a leisurely pace. One moment they were at the edge of the woods in front of the house, the next moment they were already passing a particular spot deep in the forest that normally took hours to reach. After a while the trees and plants became unfamiliar, but they hadn't left the forest once. Abruptly they arrived on a grassy plain with a few sparse trees here and there with a large body of water visible in the distance, possible an ocean. As he looked back he couldn't see the forest they had just traversed anywhere.

Letting out a soft growl, Naruto suppressed his annoyance at his repeated failure to unravel the secret of the so-called 'direct way' of travel. The day was entirely too good to be marred by anything. He quickly ran after his parents who had continued walking. When he reached them, his mother let out a chuckle.

"Still trying to figure it out, kit? Don't fret, some day the understanding will just come to you."

After a few more minutes of walking, Naruto spotted their destination. On top of a small hill surrounded by trees and blossoming bushes stood a structure made out of white stone. It consisted mainly of a solid foundation that rose half a meter from the ground and several columns that ranged in height from two to ten meters. As they ascended a stairway Naruto was able to make out more details.

In the middle of the structure was a round pool of water of indeterminable depth. Several stone benches with colorful cushions were arranged around it, as well as some tables with refreshments, mainly different sort of fruits. An entry to a building hidden behind the trees was now clearly visible. After they sat down on the cushions his father began to speak.

"Now, you have to remember I had to painstakingly extrapolate most of this from memory fragments that the Kyuubi retained in my exploring of its possible futures. There are probably a whole lot of events that never got its attention, so don't be surprised if many things are blurry or some holes appear. The starting point lies some time before the great storm almost seven years ago, as that was when I entered this world. Additionally, there is one group named Akatsuki that shows up often. They are after the different tailed beasts because of their power. Now let the show begin."

Daiki made some gestures, and the water from the pool rose into the air, forming a sphere that was still connected to the water below via a narrow stalk-like structure. Balls of light appeared on top of the columns and sent rays of colored light into the watery sphere. A white light shot out of the sphere and hit Naruto in the head. Something changed, and pictures began to play inside the orb. Naruto didn't know exactly how he did it, but he was able to browse between the events of different timelines. It was much like a bundle of threads. Most stayed in the main flow, but smaller bundles left it if events caused a too drastic divergence. Even so, they often found their way back later when other events brought the errant strands back. Sadly, there were enormous holes all over the place, and most things were blurred. He could discern the generalities, but details often remained beyond his grasp.

All threads started with his childhood at about three years of age. The majority was virtually identical with some inconsequential variations. A few early deaths of his alternate selves mostly by accidents occurred, but he seemed to almost always make it through his first twelve years of life intact. A few times some guys from Akatsuki snagged him early, leading to a painful death. He almost always was enrolled early in the academy and failed the exams almost every time. The rest of his childhood… well, it was nothing to be especially proud of. He lost track of time in his search, but finally he extracted himself from the mental interface of the sphere.

"That… that… that dumb, childish orange idiot would have been me?" Naruto asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Most likely, yes. There are some events with outlandish odds that could have brought some changes like some shinobi befriending and teaching you, but that would be how you turned out in general. Take a moment to think about it. We wouldn't be in the picture, so you would be without persons to acknowledge and teach you, making you desperately crave attention from anyone, even negative one. Hence your frequent pranks. The teachers at the ninja academy would botch your education as they have in your real past, but it would lead to you goofing off and not trying your hardest. Not to mention your probable atrocious study habits; you probably wouldn't even be able to read properly. No one would take an interest enough to even recognize your issues. Without our prodding you wouldn't have befriended the people you did, and poor Hinata-chan would still secretly follow you around. No one would have taught you social skills or about intimate things. You would be totally oblivious to the girl's feelings. The Hokage would take a somewhat more prominent role, but it would lead to nothing productive."

When Naruto thought hard and self-critical he had to agree. That really could have been him. In fact, the likelihood was frighteningly large. Partly that was due to his utter lack of anyone that took an active interest in his life, but with the seal messing with his higher cognitive functions he would be hard-pressed in becoming anything other than an overeager moron anyway. The pranks that his alternate versions did showed quite a bit of ingenuity as did the wild chases in the aftermath, but it didn't seem that he used that ingenuity for anything further or that any of the adults recognized his talents. Hell, nobody seemed to notice that the often displayed inability to create a bunshin was due to his alternate selves' abysmal chakra control combined with the Kyuubi's chakra running through his system and not some inherent laziness. Or that his henge was solid for that matter.

Still, years with no one to encourage him; to hold him when he was sad; to explain things when he didn't understand something; to share his successes; to show him the wonders of the world. It was already hard enough to be without his parents for a week at a time, these lonely years must have been pure torture. Naruto really wondered what had prevented him from snapping and going on a killing spree. Then it hit him. Naturally the damn seal was the answer. Unchecked it would have suppressed the darker parts of his personality and even eliminated a large part of those emotions in preparation for his fate as the prophesized savior. The friendly, laughing mask that he had thought about adopting at the orphanage before that incident so long ago had for his alternate selves become more than a mask of their true personality. It had in large parts become their true one.

A constant in most of the different timelines seemed to be his so-called crush on Sakura Haruno. The real Naruto avoided the pink-haired Uchiha fan girl, but almost all his counterparts were constantly badgering the girl for a date despite the physical abuse she put them through. Not that his counterparts would have known what to do on a date. He had the sneaking suspicion that these beatings were the closest thing to physical contact with other humans that his counterparts ever experienced. The girl seemed to use him as an outlet for her stress and mental crutch that assured her of her self-worth and Naruto's pursuing of her could only be described as obsessive. Boy, was that messed up.

After eating some grapes Naruto felt refreshed enough to continue his survey of what might have been.

If it was one of the few timelines where he had made some close friend that helped to solve him his bunshin problem in any of several possible ways or when he somehow got around the requirement he graduated and ended up on varying teams. He learned the shadow clone technique suspiciously often, but maybe that was due to Konoha shinobi rarely using other clone techniques. With his knowledge of what the technique really did he pitied the poor alternate versions that learned it, even if they didn't have the same vulnerability he did. Uninformed of the dangers the technique posed, he readily abused it in combat, and it showed after a short time. His already low mental faculties didn't take it well, and he became even more of an idiot. Another suspicious thing was that almost nobody seemed to tell him about the technique's value as a training tool. In the timelines where someone did, he inadvertently fried his brain in short order by overusing the technique. His seal-addled self was apparently completely incapable of self-restraint. Sometimes the Kyuubi emerged; at other times he spent a while as a vegetable in the hospital before he died when Akatsuki stole his body to extract the beast.

Otherwise he would fail his last chance at the exam, spend some time in the basic training program and slowly acquire the necessary shinobi skills he lacked. Unfortunately some enemy ninja village with a music note as its symbol frequently staged an invasion of Konoha at varying times and with different allies. Most often it was during the chunin exams some months after the class with the Uchiha graduated from the academy, the same class he was now assigned to. In other cases it took place up to two years earlier or later. Many of his counterparts died in those invasions, more often than not due to suicide-by-stupid-and-reckless-bravery. Generally the same thing happened if he was on a team. Depending on his jonin-sensei his lack of skill and other problems were being corrected with varying degrees of success and speed. Very often he even participated in the exams. Naruto soon lost count of how often he was crushed by the animated sand of what was obviously Suna's jinchuuriki; a psychopathic redheaded boy. Somehow they ended up fighting another almost every time. If he didn't stumble upon the mad boy during the second stage of the exam that was always some survival exercise in the forest of death, they fought another in the preliminaries, the final tournament or he was send after the boy when he tried to unleash the Ichibi. Naruto supposed it made some sense to let him fight against him; after all he had the Kyuubi inside of him. Unfortunately, no one seemed to have bothered to teach him how to correctly use the fox's chakra. More often than not it ended in humiliating and very final defeats for him.

Another thing that caught his attention was that the self-styled super-pervert Jiraiya of the Sannin showed up regularly to get him to sign the Toad contract and train him before the final round of exams, at least when he was on a team that participated. The perverts training methods were rather lackluster in his opinion. The training consisted mainly of accessing the Kyuubi's chakra to summon something, but Jirayia went about it in an ass-backwards way. Really, what kind of idiot thought it a good idea to throw a kid into a chasm to unlock the fox's chakra and use it to save himself by summoning something large enough to break his fall when a genjutsu that made him believe he was in deathly danger would have been perfectly sufficient and much safer? It wasn't like the man couldn't request the help of a genjutsu specialist. More often than not that example of idiocy ended with his death. At least he learned the utmost basics of summoning, even if Jiraiya never took the time to properly explain to him what he could do with them. Naturally, his brain-damaged counterparts never thought to ask.

There were quite a lot of deaths during the extremely variable time between the graduation and the chunin exams. Most occurred when he was behaving like the uneducated moron his alternate selves really were. His skills were often laughable, but that little fact didn't discourage him from rushing headlong into battles that were far out of his league. Akatsuki showed up more often, but was still not a major factor in his deaths. Generally his survival chances were better if he graduated early, as his skills were better due to the timely help he had received. If he graduated in the class with the clan heirs most times he ended up on a team with the Uchiha and Haruno; with the famous Kakashi Hatake as his sensei. In fact, even if he wasn't the dead last he was often assigned to that team, even if he shouldn't have been. That was definitely suspicious. Perhaps Kakashi had requested him?

If he did, Naruto really couldn't see a reason for that, as the man generally taught them hardly anything. His death rate with that team was far higher than with any other. While a very capable shinobi himself, Kakashi was a catastrophic failure as a teacher. Part of the problem was that Kakashi seemed unable to recognize that kids of that age needed someone to kick their ass into gear and to recognize beforehand when a situation was too dangerous for fresh genin, especially badly trained ones. The chunin exam on that team was especially death prone because Orochimaru showed up practically every time to mark Sasuke with some strange seal. If Naruto survived, which was generally due to using the Kyuubi's chakra, the traitorous Sannin shot his chakra control to hell by applying a different seal overlaying his original one. The team generally didn't make it to the tower alive after that with two of them incapacitated. Otherwise Naruto lost in the preliminaries depressingly often, even if he managed to get the chakra disruptor removed. The invasion played out mostly the same, but naturally his death rate was higher for want of decent training.

The invasion managed to kill the Sandaime every time but failed to destroy Konoha although it did major damage, and he was often drafted in the aftermath to find Tsunade of the Sannin together with the pervert. Of course, Akatsuki became really active from that time on, so his survival rate dropped drastically. During their search Jiraiya would teach him a technique of the Yondaime, if one could call the dropping of a few hints teaching. He couldn't even guess how often he managed to kill or permanently cripple himself when the thing blew up in his hands. Unfortunately the vision was too blurred to copy the jutsu, exactly like it had been with all the other techniques.

Somehow they managed to persuade Tsunade every time, but he suspected the pervert had something to do with it. After all, the man claimed to be an expert at seals, and there were countless ways of creating loyalty or controlling one's mind via seals. If Orochimaru had been heavily wounded during the invasion he showed up to recruit Tsunade, and the ensuing fight usually ended with Naruto dead.

After Tsunade assumed the office of Hokage there was some time when the possibilities for different travels and missions were nearly endless, naturally combined with endless ways to get his stupid self killed. One remarkably regular event was the defection of the Uchiha. Depending on who was in the village at the time the search party varied in its composition, but usually quite a lot of deaths happened. If they managed to cause enough trouble to fight Sasuke, he was quite happy to use the power of the curse seal to its fullest and shove some lethal lightning jutsu into someone's body. If that someone was a friend of Sasuke his eyes changed into the mangekyo sharingan. Naruto recognized those from the tales of his mother. In the few cases where they were able to apprehend him, Orochimaru himself or one of his more powerful flunkies showed up on their way back and slaughtered them all. The following time was again relatively vague, but it ended the same way: Jiraiya would take him on a multi-year training journey.

Naruto stopped again, his head swirling with information. Without his parents, his life would have been incredibly bad. He had known that before, but had had no notion of how bad it could have been. He looked at his parents beside him.

"Thanks, for everything." he said earnestly.

Daiki and Youko picked up on his mood and enclosed him in an embrace.

"Don't mention it. We love you, and will do everything to give you a better life."

As he continued watching the training trip, he had to shake his head. Sure, he learned something, but it was a pittance in comparison to what even a seal-impaired version of himself should have been able to learn. More than once he was killed or captured by Akatsuki because Jiraiya couldn't be bothered to pay real attention to his training. Instead the pervert wasted his time with his 'research' a.k.a. spying on woman while they bathed. The checking of his spy network took a miniscule amount of time in comparison. Naruto would have learned far more if he had stayed inside of the village, at least in the cases without Kakashi as his sensei. Additionally Jiraiya did something to his seal that made it far easier for him to accidentally draw more of the Kyuubi's power than he could control. Not a good thing.

After his return to Konoha things really hit the fan. Akatsuki became fully active and captured almost all the bijuu. If his counterparts managed to evade capture long enough, the leader of Akatsuki took it upon himself to hunt Naruto down. He was really dying in droves. It culminated in a direct attack on Konoha by Pain. Usually Jiraiya was dead by that point and Naruto was training with the toads in something called sage mode, but naturally he returned heroically when he heard of the attack. The vast majority of surviving timelines ended there. That Pain fellow with his multiple bodies was really far too powerful, even if Naruto couldn't get a clear look at his techniques besides excessive summoning and some sort of gravity control. Apparently that was one of the downsides of the visions. Combat always caused the images to blur because there were so many close alternatives that could shift the entire flow. Sometimes he went into eight-tail mode when Hinata or sometimes somebody else with emotional significance died for him, causing the specter Minato had left behind to show up.

A few threads still continued, but most were too incomplete to learn anything. Naruto gathered that the villages tried to unite against the threat of Akatsuki. If Pain was still alive he crushed personally the villages and troop concentrations until he succeeded with capturing all bijuu. In the case of Pain's death Madara Uchiha entered the scene and used an army of shape-changing plant men to fight. Apparently someone had learned the Edo Tensei technique because an awful lot of resurrected were running around. In a chain of particular unlikely events he saw that he somehow tried to gain control of the Kyuubi with the help of the Hachibi jinchuuriki from Kumo. In that case Kushina showed up, gave him an account of the events during the Kyuubi attack and helped him bind the Kyuubi. After hearing that his parents had basically needlessly ruined his life his alternate self did… nothing. The poor sap was already well on his way to his savior-role and would probably have forgiven his parents even if he learned of the mind-influencing functions of the seal. It only caused the real Naruto to despise them even more; his contempt for them went beyond simple hate. The very few remaining threads blurred into unrecognizability from that point on.

'_Damn, my future looked really bleak._' Naruto thought.

To lighten up his mood he followed a few of the longest surviving strands backwards.

'_Wow, apparently I managed to talk Pain into effectively committing suicide on several occasions. That guy is definitely a few shuriken short of a full deck. Talk about crazy, first he personally kills Jiraiya and then he gives up when I read him an excerpt from an old book the man wrote. Pity it has only a one in two thousand chance of working._'

He snorted in laughter when he saw how he had defeated Kiba during the chunin exams in one of the timelines where he was on Kakashi's team. His skills had been abysmal, but a well-timed fart knocked Kiba out. On another occasion he had shoved an exploding tag into the Ichibi's ass, as well as countless other hilarious moments. Although they were far less funny if one considered that many of them were the result of a deliberately inflicted mental handicap thanks to the seal. Aside from the funny occurrences there was a whole wealth of information on what-could-have-been. Naruto was still browsing several hours later when his father's hand landed on his shoulder.

"I think that is quite enough, son."

"But dad, I still need more details to effectively plan." Naruto complained.

"I'm afraid that would be unwise. The visions are far from complete, and you would only paint yourself in a corner. Your mother and I had a pretty much foolproof plan, but the incident in the orphanage derailed it completely. It was completely unforeseen, either the vision was incomplete to begin with, or I caused inadvertently a change that spiraled out of control. Perhaps the storm I created caused some shinobi to take a different path, or a mission was registered late. The possibilities are endless." Daiki answered.

"But then what was the point of showing me all that stuff?"

"You had a right to know what you're up against and what your life might have been. Some generalities may still be useful, even if the introduction of magic and the loss of technology steered reality on a completely different path. For example, you know that Pain is the official head of Akatsuki and is nearly unbeatable, and that Madara is the true force behind him. The other members are impossible to determine with any accuracy, though. Additionally, it gives you a motivation to do your best. We didn't want to burden you with that before, but you are now old enough to deal with the pressure without it dominating your entire thought processes. What have you noticed that seemed always the same in the different threads?" his father asked.

Naruto thought for a moment. "The events leading to my alternate self trying to control the Kyuubi are ridiculously unlikely, which gives credence to your theory that sealing me was a last-ditch effort to create a savior and not planned beforehand. Or at least not at that specific point in time; who knows how long the Yondaime would have needed to perfect his seal. Yakumo isn't present in most timelines, I only meet her much later if at all and she is too weak physically by that point to become a kunoichi, even if I somehow manage to cure her mental problems. Practically never I'm given a good education. It's partly my own fault because of the influence of the seal and lack of basic social skills and study habits. I understand the instructors won't teach the students their best skills, but some of that is ridiculous. Kakashi and Jiraiya are especially bad in that regard. Combined what I've seen from my own real education genin are almost completely unprepared for real shinobi life when they graduate. Heck, most of the rookie genin in the chunin exams had never killed before in their life. It almost constitutes criminal negligence to send such people out on missions. What if they're in combat and discover they can't kill or break down?"

Daiki nodded. "You're right about the training. We have only scraps of evidence and a whole lot of suspicion, but there is definitely something wrong, with your personal education as well as with the village as a whole. It might be happenstance, incompetence or deliberate. There is no way for us to know for certain. That is one of the reasons why we don't trust the Hokage, both the current one and his possible successors. You're important for them in any eventuality. They should have either noticed your lack of training and done something about it, or they are party to a conspiracy to keep you down. Or they could be incompetent, which would be perhaps even worse. By the way, this is another reason why we didn't want for you to do exceptionally well at the academy or act suspicious. If it is a conspiracy, you could be in for a Yamanaka-style mind-rape or memory seal treatment. It's rather farfetched, but we don't want to take unnecessary risks."

Naruto nodded. He was probably one of the most intelligent people in his age group, but he didn't dare to let it show to anybody he didn't trust completely. Sometimes it was quite hard to play dumb.

'_Funny thing. Shikamaru's scores are worse than mine and a lot of others, but only he is hailed as a genius._'

A female voice disturbed the silence. "Are you two finished? There is quite a nice beach here I'd like to test."

Apparently his mother had left while he was occupied and gone exploring. She snaked her hands around his father's chest and whispered into his ear. Naruto couldn't make out the words, but from his father's reaction he guessed it was something naughty.

"We're done her. Come along son, time for you to swim in a real ocean." Daiki said.

* * *

><p>Much later back in the familiar cottage, Naruto pondered what he would do with his newfound knowledge. In general not much came to mind, his parents had already set him on the most promising path that left him in an optimal position to deal with most events. Theoretically he could hole up inside of the sanctuary permanently, but that would prevent him from becoming a capable shinobi and make him a sitting target. While the sanctuary was relatively secure it was neither completely undiscoverable if someone searched long and hard enough, nor were the defenses impenetrable. Not to mention the problem of learning the higher secrets of the sealing arts to get his parents out.<p>

One thing was certain, he needed additional help. He couldn't really plan for specific events or enemies, even in the original vision there was far too much variation. Even if he met the same person they could have radically different skills or personalities, making it impossible to develop specific techniques to counter them. In the same vein warning anybody would be pointless because there was no telling if specific events would happen at all. Who knew what had changed from the original parameters? There was simply no way for him to develop overpowering skills himself in time that would work reliably against most of the possible dangers, let alone all. If he had reliable allies with sufficient power things became much easier. He couldn't really manipulate the future to his liking; there were too many parameters to consider and random chance to boot. His human mind wouldn't be able to handle all necessary details anyway. Perhaps he could do something about his more promising classmates he had seen?

Sasuke was probably a lost cause. Given time Naruto might be able to break through his shell as he had done in some of the visions, but inevitably Itachi, Orochimaru or Madara would do something to pull him back into the darkness, even if they had to repeatedly mind-rape him. Naruto wasn't about to become even more of a target by befriending the Uchiha who he didn't even like, his life was dangerous enough. There were simply too many powerful people that wanted Sasuke for their own plans. There was also the matter of the mangekyo sharingan that made befriending him far too risky. Additionally, he would have to focus his entire attention solely on Sasuke to achieve anything, and he didn't have the time for that.

Sakura he couldn't do much about. The girl was obsessive about Sasuke, and he knew her parents reinforced that obsession in hope of attaining the wealth of the Uchiha via a marriage. Naruto didn't want to become her punching bag, and pretending to have a crush on her was out of the question. In most timelines it had required several near death experiences, the Uchiha leaving the village and a Sannin as teacher to kick her ass into gear. He simply had no starting point to work on her, and while she had often become an expert medic-nin under Tsunade's tutelage he felt that other people would have made more out of the same opportunity. No, he would spare his time for targets that offered a better return.

Hinata was already in the works. He genuinely liked her as a friend he was growing rapidly closer to. Her family was a problem though. He still couldn't believe that his stupid selves had almost never recognized that the girl was attracted to him, or reacted in some romantic way even if she gave him a full-blown confession. Although it was probably better to keep her ignorant of that fact; it might reinforce her obsessive tendencies otherwise. His parents wouldn't appreciate getting their efforts at psychological therapy set back. There was no telling if the real him and Hinata would ever develop a romantic relationship, and he wouldn't force the issue. If it happened, fine, if not, there were countless other fish in the sea. He was still too young for such things anyway, despite what his mother constantly implied.

Choji was his closest male friend, even if he couldn't reveal all his secrets to him. Shino and Yakumo were close friends as well, and he had already made them improve their skills considerably through his normal behavior alone. They should become far more powerful far earlier than what he had seen in the visions. Kiba was a friendly acquaintance, but he couldn't risk revealing anything suspicious to him, the boy tended to blurt things out without thinking. Maybe he could do something when he was older and more mature. That left Shikamaru and Ino as people from his class that he got a good idea on what they could become. Some other members of his current class he thought could become capable shinobi, but the visions had been silent about them.

He was honestly at a loss about Shikamaru's behavior. The boy was so lazy he literally didn't want to do anything besides sleeping and cloud watching. Only constant pressure kept him doing the absolute minimum amount of work he needed to pass. More perplexing was that he wasn't that lazy even in the worst of the visions. Something had obviously caused a drastic change like with Yakumo, but while in her case it was positive, the Nara boy clearly got the raw deal. Naruto would try, but wasn't optimistic.

That left Ino Yamanaka as the last one with future political power in the village. Currently she ran with the Uchiha fan girl crowd and neglected her training. He would have to do something about that, she could be a great help. Luckily it seemed that her parents didn't do more than tolerate her crush, which meant there were fewer obstacles to bringing her over to his side. Unfortunately she wouldn't take kindly to any attempts on his part to separate her from the Uchiha.

'_Perhaps Hinata could do something? No, she still is way too shy.'_ Then he remembered another fact. '_Yakumo is joining our class next week after she paused her education to be with her uncle during his last months before his death._ _She already doesn't like Uchiha in general, and with Sasuke's personality there is no question that he will ever win her over. If I set both Yakumo and Hinata on Ino they should be able to make some progress. It will probably take all of next year, though."_

If successful, they would be a circle of six friends. Six was a good number, not too large and not too small. More would be too difficult to manage with all the other things on his schedule. Naruto doubted they would be as lucky as to end up on only two teams, but chances were good that some of them would be together. It was obvious that the team composition was a matter of politics, considering that no matter what the clan heirs were grouped together instead of spread out and their teams always passed the second test. Although he would have to somehow make sure neither he nor any of his friends ended up with Kakashi, that man's team was a disaster waiting to happen. Still, he had almost three years left for that. Naruto was sure a solution would present itself in time.

* * *

><p>"This is the r-right wall, Naruto-kun." Hinata said while pointing at a completely normal looking section.<p>

"Thanks, Hinata-chan. Here goes nothing." Naruto channeled some chakra into his hand and traced a complex geometric figure on the stone wall. At first nothing happened, but then a seal glowed briefly before the wall slid back, creating an opening. Quickly they entered before the opening closed itself again. A short corridor was leading into the darkness, dimly lit by the lamp in Naruto's hand.

They had been exploring Konoha's underground for quite some time now. Naruto had somehow gained possession of the blueprints of Konoha's original construction, but over the decades they had lost a lot of their accuracy due to several reconstructions. It made finding secret passages much more difficult for him, but now she was here to help him. While even her byakugan couldn't see in the dark it was relatively easy for her to find the seals regulating some of the secret passages and look out for the chakra signatures of potential enemies. Naruto's main interest was finding a backdoor into the shinobi library, but every entrance they could find was either barred, secured by unknown and very dangerous looking traps and seals or the area was in use by someone else. After several months of trying they had given up on this project and tried to find smaller secret rooms that might contain caches of interesting materials.

Currently they were investigating one of those. "There aren't any chakra sources I can see." she said before deactivating her byakugan. While she had much more chakra than only a few months ago it was still not enough by far to keep her bloodline active permanently, and they had to search the room conventionally. The secret room had been a hideout of some sort, but there was nothing of interest left. That was until she stumbled upon a hidden cache of books that was hidden behind a false wall tile.

"'Theory of elemental training', 'Systems of jutsu crafting', 'Influence of hand seals on shape transformation'" Naruto read aloud after she had called him over. "Wow, this is great find. Good work, Hinata-chan."

She blushed at the praise, but hopefully Naruto couldn't see that in the dim light. On further thought, he probably could with that night vision of his. They spent another hour going over the room with a fine-toothed comb, but discovered nothing else. Naruto secured the books in his backpack and they made to leave the room. When the slab of stone that covered the exit rumbled to the side she suddenly came face-to-face with two men wearing cloaks and featureless porcelain masks. Each had a tanto drawn in an attack position, with one of them already descending towards her head.

'_I forgot to check the corridor before opening the door.'_

Before she could completely assess the situation, Naruto shoved her out into the main corridor and to the left side while he darted to the right. Changing her stumbling into a roll, she sprang back onto her feet and faced the enemies while dodging an attack that bit deep into the floor, leaving a gouge behind. Running away in the long, straight main corridor would only get her a weapon stuck into her back. The larger of the two enemies had turned towards her, his sword already ready for the next strike, while the other one went after Naruto. The sword displayed a curious glitter. _'He channels chakra through his weapon.'_ She had only a moment to process it before the man attacked again and things descended into the chaotic frenzy of battle.

Hinata was small for her age; she simply didn't have the reach to counter a bigger, adult enemy with a sword. Using her natural flexibility to the fullest she desperately evaded and bent around the strikes coming at her, but she wasn't able to mount a counterattack. She still needed a second of concentration and a hand seal to activate her byakugan, and she couldn't spare time for that. Neither could she retreat or draw a weapon from her kunai pouch. It would be only a matter of moments until one of the sword strikes connected, and that would be the end of it.

"Bringer of Darkness"

Suddenly the enemy before her fumbled and brought his arms to his face in a surprised gesture, thereby creating an opening. Hinata didn't think; she simply reacted. Darting forward, she sent a Juuken strike as powerful as she could make directly into the enemies chest. Her instructors would have chided her for the badly executed form, but here it made no matter. His heart ruptured, the man went still for a moment before falling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. A short distance away she could see Naruto standing over his own defeated enemy who had several deep slash wounds from Naruto's knives. Absentmindedly she noted that he seemed to have died from his throat getting slashed open. Naruto's clothing was damaged in several places, but he had worn his sturdy leather outfit. It seemed to have prevented any strikes reaching his flesh.

Hinata's eyes returned to the enemy at her feet while the adrenaline high faded._ 'I killed him.'_ Suddenly her stomach lurched and the world before her eyes seemed to spin around. She could feel a fainting spell approaching. Faintly she heard Naruto calling her name before he said "Shit, she's going into shock." A sudden slap to her face brought her back to reality. She found herself staring into Naruto's eyes. "Pull yourself together, we can't stay here and must hurry. Wait a few meters down the corridor."

Hinata nodded silently and staggered a short distance before she leaned against the corridor wall, careful to keep her eyes from the scene of the battle. She could hear Naruto searching the bodies. Suddenly he stood before her. "Come on, we have to get away. I found some exploding tags that I set to take care of all evidence." When she didn't react, Naruto cursed and pulled her forcefully into a fireman's carry before running away as fast as he could. The entire time only a single thought was running through her mind: _'I killed someone.' _The remorse she felt for it was simply crushing, paralyzing her completely. After a while she heard a muted thud as the exploding tags Naruto had placed ignited. She didn't really pay attention where he carried her; even the sudden exposure to daylight didn't really get through. Neither did the damp mist she felt on her face.

It was only when she felt something pull her consciousness away that she realized that Naruto had carried her into the sanctuary despite it being two days too early for their visit. Still, she didn't resist the pull. When she could see again Youko was standing before her before the woman pulled her into an embrace. Warmth spread through her body, causing the dam that had held her emotions in check to burst. Hinata began to shake and sob uncontrollably into Youko's chest.

* * *

><p>"What happened?" Daiki asked after he had taken Naruto some distance away from the sobbing Hinata.<p>

Naruto tiredly smoothed his hair with his hand. "We were exploring a secret room in Konoha's underground. When we left we encountered two enemies without warning who immediately attacked us. I hadn't realized the entrance was sound-proof, making my sense of hearing useless for getting advance warning. Additionally, I forgot to remind Hinata to check with her eyes. She isn't as used to this as I am and didn't think of it herself at that moment." He sighed deeply before continuing. "I don't know who these guys with the blank masks are, but one time in the past I overheard them talking about a report to a Danzo-sama. They are probably some sort of secret group or private army that answers to the councilor Danzo Shimura. We just stumbled upon them; they didn't seem to know who we were. Hinata was wearing the black ninja outfit I got for her tenth birthday a few weeks ago that leaves only the eyes visible and my bright hair was covered. It was too dark for them to see my whisker marks. I think they have standing orders to kill anyone who discovers them." Naruto went silent for a moment. "I recognized the younger one. He was with me in the orphanage, but one day he disappeared. From what I heard I thought he had been adopted."

He looked his father into the eyes. "It happened so fast I didn't have time to pull on mom's chakra to alert you. They went after us individually. My enemy was about genin level, Hinata's was better. We were very, very lucky. I was forced to pull out the Bringer of Darkness technique and used it on both of them at the same time, and that decided the battle because it surprised them. I slashed the throat of my enemy before he really realized what was happening. Hinata killed hers with a Juuken strike. To the heart, I think." He shook his head. "I don't think we would have made it if our enemies had been reversed. Hinata's flexibility is simply amazing, I could never dodge and bend like that. My leather clothes were sturdy enough to prevent the genin injuring me, but Hinata's enemy gouged deep incisions into the stone walls with his sword. After the battle Hinata went into shock, so I hid the corpses behind the secret door and used the exploding tags I found on them to destroy all evidence. I brought her to the sanctuary and called you prematurely; I couldn't let Hinata return to her clan in that state."

Daiki placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did the right thing, son. Unexpected things happen all the time." He paused for a moment. "How do you feel about your first kill of a human?"

"I don't know; it happened very fast. It doesn't really feel any different from killing an animal though, it was simply necessary. Is that wrong?"

"Everyone deals very differently with killing, Naruto. Some people wouldn't be able to harm a fly if their life depended on it while others like killing or even find it arousing. I think you are fine if you see it as a thing that simply has to be done. From my perspective the difference between animals and humans isn't that great anyway. Just don't get into the habit of killing frivolously or needlessly. If you feel the need to talk about it I'm always there for you."

* * *

><p>It had taken hours for Hinata to calm down, but finally she was able to talk again. Then the words literally spilled from her lips. She told Youko everything; the exploration of the secret passage; the fight; her break down after she realized she had killed a human being. Worst of all was the shame she felt for her behavior; it went against every lesson her clan had taught her. To make matters worse, it had been her carelessness that led them into the situation in the first place because she forgot to check the corridor with her byakugan before opening the secret door.<p>

Youko tried to alleviate her distress. "Don't beat yourself up about that, Hinata. Everyone makes mistakes. Your first kill is always difficult. With time it will become easier. It could have been worse; for example you could have hesitated to make the strike, or one or both of you could have been wounded."

"I-I was o-only able to do it o-out of reflex. After I r-realized what I d-did… it was h-horrible. I d-don't think I c-can k-kill again." Then Hinata noticed something. "Where is N-Naruto? He isn't h-hurt, is he?"

"No, he is completely healthy. My mate is dealing with Naruto's problems. It was the first killing of a human for him, too."

That caused her further shame. Like her, Naruto had never killed a human before, but instead of becoming non-functional he had kept his cool and brought them back to safety. What would have happened if they had encountered additional enemies? The answer was only too obvious: With Naruto forced to protect her and not free to act in battle they would have died. And it would have been her fault. She thought of the future. There was no choice but becoming a kunoichi for her; her clan wouldn't tolerate anything less. No one could protect her from that. That meant she would have to kill again. If she wasn't able to or hesitated her friends and future team mates would get hurt. When she imagined their dead, cold eyes staring reproachfully at her something changed inside Hinata, and she came to a decision.

"I want your help in b-becoming better at k-killing."

Youko seemed surprised by this. "Hinata, my mate and I are probably not the best persons to talk about that. I have laid waste to continents, destroyed entire nations, crushed cities and killed more people than you can imagine. For me exist absolutely no moral inhibitions against killing people aside from those I have a personal connection with. My mate has even more blood on his hands. Now, that doesn't mean I simply indiscriminately slaughter humans, at least not anymore, but there is literally nothing holding me back when I decide someone has to die. I even enjoy killing to a degree. Do you really want for me to become your role model? Not someone else with a more humane mindset?"

Hinata shook her resolutely. "No, I w-want your help. Y-You have taught me more than anyone else, and I t-trust you. If I h-have to k-kill I want to b-be able to d-do it without r-remorse or h-hesitation."

She couldn't read the expression Youko assumed after this statement. "As you wish, Daiki and I will help you deal better with killing. It isn't an isolated thing, though, it will change you as a whole. The first thing we will have to work at is your kindness. It can be a serious weakness. There is nothing wrong with being kind to your friends and people that are neutral towards you to a lesser degree, but you include even people who don't like you and enemies in your heart. The only thing you achieve with that is causing yourself pain. Additionally, you may hesitate when you shouldn't. We will approach this and other issues slowly, and if you are uncomfortable with something don't keep it to yourself." Youko stopped her speech when Hinata yawned. "But that can wait until tomorrow. Off to bed with you."

In the end, Youko had to carry Hinata to her bed. Emotionally drained as she was, Hinata fell asleep almost immediately. She never saw the triumphant gleam in Youko's eyes when she left the alcove.

* * *

><p>Shino watched the others from behind his usual mask of impassiveness. It was quite the group Naruto had assembled, four clan heirs and a jinchuuriki. Apparently he and Hinata had found something interesting that they wanted to share. Currently there were no academy classes; the winter break of their third year had begun yesterday. His association with them had proven quite beneficial to his training already; it was so much easier to train yourself when you had people around you that likewise took their training seriously. That was the main reason Shino had approached them over one year ago, most of his other classmates seemed to view shinobi life more as a great adventure.<p>

He had observed Choji and Naruto for a while beforehand. Despite their rather low ranking in class they trained diligently, and that was more important than trivial school grades. Furthermore, Choji was a good political connection, and they were already friends with the Kurama heiress. One day they would assume leadership of their respective clans and would have to work together, making it only logical to create a friendship or at least a working relationship early on. His kikaichu had told him about Naruto's absolutely massive chakra reserves despite his attempts to mask them. Combined with his training regime and determination he was likely to rise quickly in the ranks, making pursuing a friendship worthwhile even without taking his friendship with two clan heirs into account. Their first encounter had begun pretty much with the standard opening when one wanted to befriend an Aburame. Really, how gullible people thought he was? Talking about insects to gain the friendship of an Aburame was just… cliché. Naruto hadn't been the first one who tried it, but he was the first one he had let succeed. There were several reasons for that.

One, Shino had deliberately sought them out on that day. Even if the blond boy had been an idiot he would have pursued a friendship, at least for a time to get a more accurate impression.

Two, when Naruto examined his kikaichu he had dropped his chakra masking technique deliberately for a moment. It had been a shock for Shino when he discovered that his original estimate about Naruto's chakra reserves had been wrong by about a factor of at least ten. Furthermore, it showed that he had noticed his kikaichu inspecting him earlier and that he was good enough to fool them if he chose to.

Three, while their talk about insects seemed normal to people not in the know, the particular species Naruto had chosen to talk about had been quite peculiar. It was obvious for every entomologist, which every Aburame was, that they were deliberately chosen to serve as analogies. Apparently Naruto had been aware of Shino observing them, guessed his intentions correctly and showed his intelligence in a way with plausible deniability and without anyone else being able to listen in. It had impressed him. Well, that and it was interesting to talk with someone about insects who knew his stuff, of course.

Over the months his calculated move had grown into a genuine friendship. They always spent an hour or two after the academy closed training or simply hung out together. It was a bit difficult to find enough time for everything because he, Hinata and Choji were often busy with clan training and family duties while Naruto and Yakumo had to invest a lot of time taking care of themselves. If you lived alone there was no one who did the cleaning, shopping or cooking for you. When Naruto revealed his status as a jinchuuriki Shino had felt honored by the trust placed in him. At the same time he had felt irritation about the way the village treated Naruto; it was completely illogical. Shino liked the people in this group, and they accepted his quirks without problems. Using his kikaichu to gather additional information was almost a reflex, though he tried to bring it under conscious control. It was almost easier to walk around with closed eyes than to forego sending his allies to gather information. Most people reacted rather poorly when they found some bugs crawling on their skin; not that it happened often that they were detected. His friends accepted the occasional bug without problems; and that was something he greatly appreciated. He hadn't been lying that day on the academy yard when he told that some girls had reacted poorly to his presence. Luckily, neither Yakumo nor Hinata showed any adverse reaction.

Hinata's addition to their circle by Naruto was once again a sign of Naruto's political acumen and foresight. She was almost as silent as he was at first, but slowly she seemed to get out of her shell. Somehow Naruto had solved the problem of Hinata stalking him, and the girl's formerly non-existent self-confidence was steadily rising. She had acted a bit strangely a few days ago, but was now back to normal. Shino had noticed some additional changes in the last months, namely that Hinata's chakra reserves were expanding rapidly and that she employed the same masking technique as Naruto. While his kikaichu could detect the masking technique, they couldn't actually gauge how much chakra she was hiding. Shino doubted anyone other than an Aburame would notice, from what he gathered most sensor abilities would be fooled completely.

Naruto clearing his throat interrupted his musings. "What I have to say today is a secret, but it's important for our future careers. A bit of explanation is necessary beforehand. I have been able to feel my own chakra very precisely for a long time. Don't know if it is because of the fox, but I can feel its chakra too. I'm not a sensor though; if it isn't directly interacting with my chakra I can sense absolutely nothing outside of my body. Over time I have developed a series of exercises to help control and increase it. What Hinata-chan here discovered is that my exercises are vastly more powerful than the usual ones. She helped me analyzing them and brought them in a form that we can teach others. In other words: you. You should see results very soon, but it's more about testing the methods."

"How big an increase in chakra reserves are we talking about here?" Shino asked curiously.

Hinata answered instead of Naruto. "I'm not entirely s-sure; it's possible that every p-person reacts a bit differently. Naruto-kun told me he could feel h-his own chakra and that he made up these exercises since w-way before the academy. I think h-his chakra reserves are currently about Kage level, and they are still rising. Part of that is p-probably because of his tenant, though. I have b-been doing the low end exercises for a few months after I f-figured out how to do them, and I am now low g-genin level. My r-reserves more than tripled."

Shino's eyebrows shot upwards. For a student halfway through the academy that was enormous. "What do you want in exchange? Such techniques are extremely valuable; probably on the same level as clan secrets." Yakumo said.

"Nothing specific, but I would like that if someone of us comes across something that would help the others he or she shares it too. I'd like that you to keep the chakra training to yourself, though. I plan to use it as a political bargaining chip in some years for establishing my own clan. Are you all alright with that?"

No one was objecting. Shino wasn't surprised. If that was true, and Naruto and Hinata wouldn't lie about something like this, it would be a truly priceless advantage for anyone. Chakra was one of the most important resources a ninja could have, and there could never be enough. That was especially true for the Aburame. Their allies required a non-negligible amount to simply function, and while they entered a form of hibernation in the case of low reservers or outright chakra exhaustion it was extremely unpleasant. Like suddenly missing eyes or ears; they were interwoven to such a strong degree that he considered them more as a part of his body than an external entity. If these training techniques were what Naruto promised he had just secured the future backing of the Aburame clan. Shino would make sure of that.

* * *

><p>Frustrated, Naruto snapped the book closed and threw his hand into the air. "I give up, that stuff just makes no sense."<p>

Daiki, Youko and Hinata looked at him disapprovingly. "Okay, okay, it makes some sense, but our progress is far too slow. There are just too many bits of more intermediary knowledge missing. We need help from someone knowledgeable in chakra and jutsu theory, preferably at chunin level or higher if we want to make our own techniques before Hinata and I make genin."

"Well, that means you somehow have to find one, doesn't it?" Youko asked with a raised eyebrow.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>My thanks to my reviewers and to my two betas who don't have an account here.

Regarding the visions of the future: Think of it like viewing the series in fast forward with jumps and scenes missing or in extremely low quality. Or rather an extremely large number of different but equally valid versions of the series, with no indication which is the true one. It will serve less as direct knowledge of what will happen and more of an motivator for Naruto to prepare the best as he can.

Naruto and Hinata get to kill their first human enemies, and the opportunity for a little bit of further psychological manipulation is promptly seized.

Next chapter Naruto will enlist the help of an adult. It will be a canon character, but it won't be Anko, her time will come later. Guesses are welcome, I think it will be quite the suprise.

So long.


	12. Chapter 11: The art of persuasion

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 11: The art of persuasion**

In the early morning hours just a short time after dawn, Mizuki was pacing in a clearing in one of the countless wooded areas in Konoha. He was filled with doubts and indecision about his future course of action. It had been a long process, but he felt barely any loyalty to Konoha anymore. It had all started years ago when people began treating Iruka better than him for some inexplicable reason. That had been a heavy if secret strain on their relationship until he wasn't sure anymore if he considered Iruka a friend at all. Recently he even caught himself thinking of ways to make the man miserable.

Another source of his dissatisfaction was his rank. He was more or less stuck at chunin for the rest of his life; the head of the promotion board had told him point blank that he could forget about ever receiving a promotion. All because one of his teammates had died on a mission and suddenly rumors about Mizuki killing him deliberately had sprung up all over the place. In reality it had been that idiot Takeshi's own fault. The man had been completely incompetent as a shinobi, but everyone seemed to think of him as a genius. He was even writing books about his adventures! Now to be fair, the man had possessed two talents, and that was taking the credit for the achievements of others and caring for his appearance.

Mizuki had disliked the fop right from the start after they were assigned to a team, but had grit his teeth and soldiered on. That lasted until mister my-ego-is-bigger-than-my-head picked a fight with a group of missing nin from Kiri they encountered accidentally. Takeshi's skill had been barely genin-level, but he fancied himself already a jonin. How he had managed to obtain the promotion to chunin Mizuki would never know. Their other teammates had been out of sight when Takeshi and him stumbled upon the three missing nin. They weren't especially hostile as one of them was wounded and obviously only wanted to pass through without making trouble. Mizuki had memorized the bingo book, and as none of them were wanted for any serious crimes in the Land of Fire or allied countries he had been inclined to let them go, not the least because they all appeared more skilled than him and he didn't fancy the odds. Unfortunately Takeshi had other ideas and attacked them. While Mizuki was busy fighting his own opponent and the wounded one stayed out of the fight, Takeshi managed to get himself killed.

His opponent had been befuddled by Takeshi's utter lack of skill at first, but when the idiot turned his back to his enemy while doing some bullshit combat move the veteran simply plucked a kunai that Mizuki had thrown earlier from a tree and stuck it in Takeshi's skull from behind. Mizuki was already preparing himself to die because he now faced three-to-one odds when the noise of his approaching other teammates startled the enemy. In the blink of an eye they were gone, and Mizuki was left standing with the body of his teammate killed by Mizuki's own kunai and some inconclusive signs of struggle. That had gone over really well with his teammates, one of which had been besotted with Takeshi. Mizuki had never kept his dislike of Takeshi a secret, and it came back to bite him in the ass. Upon their return to Konoha rumors about him killing his comrade had immediately spread, not the last because Takeshi had apparently managed to gain the favor of several important people. The following investigation had cleared him, but doubts and rumors remained.

His career had been basically shot to hell at that point, and it had taken years of supreme effort to gain even the position of assistant instructor at the academy. None of the divisions of the shinobi forces wanted to really employ him anymore for other than the shittiest jobs. He had lacked the connections to counteract the discrimination, but at least Iruka and his lover Tsubaki had been helpful. As the years went by the rumors faded, but still kept him from advancing and stuck in his teaching job. How he hated teaching these snot-nosed brats basic stuff. The higher regions of ninjutsu and chakra theory were his passion, not the beginner skills he was required to teach. To top it off he was forced to teach the damned Kyuubi brat of all things. He had tried to take some of his own frustrations out on the boy by teaching him faulty maneuvers while trying to befriend him, but he had been unsuccessful so far.

The only really bright spots were his relationship with his dear Tsubaki and the modicum of respect he garnered as academy instructor. He desperately wanted respect and recognition for his skills as shinobi, he could still feel the disappointed looks his father gave him for his slow advancement in the ranks. Time was slowly running out for him; he was already approaching his mid-twenties. If he didn't made jonin or at least special jonin until he reached thirty, it was unlikely that he ever would be promoted. After all, at some point in his thirties he would begin to slowly physically decline if he didn't get access to the advanced treatments. These treatments were exclusive and costly, and he needed the rank as well as the money to access them.

It had been a string of bad luck that had left him stuck as genin for a long time even if he was a member of the elite program. His first sensei had been competent, but died because of an illness not even half a year after they graduated. They had been in limbo for several months as no one had wanted to take the spot. Their next sensei had been barely competent as a teacher. The man was mainly biding his time before he reached retirement age, and after that they had been deemed to have enough of an education and had been split up to be assigned to various teams led by chunin. He had to learn almost all his skills in self-study. Four times Mizuki had participated in chunin exams, but the two times he and his various teammates had made it past the first two stages he had been pitted against far superior opponents and didn't get to show his skill.

After years of struggle he had received a regular promotion to chunin and things had finally looked up. On one of the few opportunities that presented themselves he had shown a knack for more complicated techniques, and people began to take notice. Then the disaster with Takeshi happened, and his career was in the crapper again. Doors for learning and employment opportunities had closed, and he was struggling to get enough missions to pay the debts his father racked up with his gambling habits until he finally acquired the position of assistant instructor at the academy. Unfortunately the task of teaching untalented dunderheads who fancied themselves the next super-shinobi without investing the necessary effort left him hardly any time to train himself, further hampering his efforts to eventually rise in the ranks. The injustice was galling and poisoned him against Konoha's leadership who let it happen. Two months ago his father had died, and with him one of the few ties that kept him bound to Konoha. His lover and his position were simply not enough. He wanted more. More respect. More power. More glory.

In his left hand was the cause for his current struggle. It was an anonymous note he had found yesterday in his house, inviting him to a meeting in the woods. It contained promises of power and wealth in exchange for certain unspecified services, and he was sure the invitation originated from someone working for Orochimaru himself. Mizuki should have immediately reported the recruitment attempt to the authorities, but he had hesitated. The Sannin could certainly back up his promises, but Mizuki was still undecided. If he went to the meeting at the other end of the forest and made a deposit with his answer, he would irrevocably take the step from disaffection to outright treason. He would also have to give up on Tsubaki, but receive all the power he wanted in return. Was it really worth it in the end? Mizuki was about to give in to the temptation when a voice disturbed his thoughts.

"You know, talking to yourself is a bad habit for a shinobi, sensei."

Whirling around, Mizuki spotted a familiar blond boy leaning lazily against a tree, eyeing him with a cold stare that was a stark contrast to his usual expression.

"YOU!"

"Yes, me. I was here the entire time and heard your ramblings." Naruto answered.

That was bad; he had to silence the boy at all costs. With a fluid motion he pulled a kunai from his side and threw it at the blond boy. It hit him squarely in the chest… only to pass through him without doing any damage.

"Now, now, Mizuki-sensei, I came here to talk and you start immediately trying to kill me. What does that say about all the times you tried to make nice with me at the academy?"

"You're a bunshin." Mizuki said in realization.

"Bunshin combined with voice projection actually, and I suggest you refrain from attacking me again. I would hate to have to report you."

Mizuki was thinking furiously, he had to do something to get out of this situation. Perhaps if he managed to unsettle the boy he would have a chance to find the hiding place of the original.

"Naruto, didn't you find it odd that all the villagers hate you? I'll tell you the truth. Ten years ago… you know about the demon fox being defeated, right? Since that incident a new law was created for this village. This law was never meant to be told to you. The law is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that you are the demon fox. You were sealed up by the Hokage you admire and you have been lied to by everybody. Nobody will ever accept you! Come with me and we can leave this trash heap of a village together."

For a moment Naruto stared blankly at him and Mizuki hoped his trick was successful. That hope evaporated when the bunshin began to shake with laughter.

"Seriously? You thought that telling me about the old fuzzball would get me to follow you or give away my position? For your information, I've known about the Kyuubi for years, and so do my closest friends. Do you seriously believe that I'm the Kyuubi or was that only a lie? Never heard about jinchuuriki? You're old enough that during your time at the academy the information was still easily available."

"You know about the Kyuubi?" Mizuki blurted.

"Yep. No thanks to the Old Man, but I've seen the cage of the oversized furball for years in my dreams. Didn't take much figuring out when I saw the thing had nine tails. Oh, by the way, I can easily draw on the fox's chakra, so I suggest you behave unless you want me to kill you or have a horde of ANBU descend on this little clearing."

Now sweat was beginning to drip from Mizuki's face. Killing a third year academy student was easy, but if said student could use the Kyuubi's power his survival chances were dropping to effectively zero. He had heard what some of the enemy jinchuuriki had done in the last war.

"If you kill me you will be punished."

Naruto scoffed. "Oh please, do you take me for an idiot? My friend Hinata is watching us even now, and I circulated a story that you wanted to meet me for special training. If she and I report you attacked me and the investigation finds the invitation to treason you hold in your hand, whom do you think will the Hokage believe? Oh, and we have forged a duplicate, so destroying the note won't help you."

Mizuki cursed silently. The boy had him trapped. With the Hyuuga heiress watching from afar and the other evidence Naruto could indeed get away with killing him. His rational mind reengaged and he considered the situation, apparently the boy wasn't out to immediately kill him. It couldn't hurt to hear him out. He relaxed his battle stance somewhat.

Naruto smiled his familiar smile. "I knew an intelligent man would see reason. Now, the reason I'm being here is to prevent you from making a mistake with dire consequences."

"Mistake?"

The boy pointed at the note in Mizuki's hand. "You are considering turning traitor and becoming Orochimaru's spy. Don't. The snake will milk you for all you're worth and then discard you when you're no longer useful. If you're especially unlucky he uses you as test subject for some of his crazy ideas. Should you survive that intact, he always has the option to place a control seal on you, but even that is no guarantee that he keeps you around. Look at what happened with his apprentice Anko Mitarashi. The man is an expert in betrayal, not that this village is much better."

"What would you know about that?" Mizuki asked.

"Quite a lot, actually. For example, did you know that Yondaime didn't just use any random infant to seal the Kyuubi into? No, the beloved hero of the village stuck the most dangerous demon in all the Elemental Nations in the gut of his own newborn son despite knowing how jinchuuriki are treated."

Mizuki was reeling from this revelation. The boy the majority of the village hated as a demon was the son of the _Yondaime_? He still remembered and admired the man. It was impossible; there was simply no way that a war hero like Minato Namikaze would sacrifice his own son to such a horrible fate. After all, jinchuuriki were universally despised and went quite often insane. He had assumed the Hokage had simply grabbed one random orphan.

"You're lying!" he finally managed to get out.

At that Naruto let out a bitter laugh. "I wish I was. Dear old daddy spouted some bullshit about me being seen as a hero by the village and how he did all that for my benefit before he bought it. Now, that might even have worked if the Sandaime hadn't had the bright idea to announce my status to the world but to keep my heritage a secret. Sure, I might have to face some assassination attempts from my old man's enemies, but at least I wouldn't have to worry as much about internal threats. Like for instance people deliberately sabotaging my education." During the last bit he sent a glare in Mizuki's direction.

The chunin winced at that accusation. He had been sure Naruto hadn't realized what he had been doing. Then a particular fact grabbed his attention. "How do you know what the Yondaime said before he died? You were far too young to understand anything from what was happening."

"Simple, I have access to the Kyuubi's memories. There were all sorts of interesting tidbits."

Mizuki gulped at that. "What do you want from me?"

"You want power and respect. I want my independence and later my own clan. Work for me, and in time I'll give you what you want. In the foreseeable future you don't have to do anything special, just stop with the biased teaching. Later I want to be informed of matters of interest that you discover and I will probably need your help in influencing the team assignments. I recommend that you report the recruitment attempt to the authorities, but that is up to you."

"What happens if I decline?"

Naruto's face distorted in a truly disturbing grin. "I that case I play with you for a while until I kill you or ANBU arrives, whichever comes first."

The situation didn't look good for him. Mizuki didn't believe he could kill Naruto if the brat used the Kyuubi's chakra. Even if he did, he would be forced to flee. He doubted that Orochimaru would take him in if he didn't deliver something useful and the life of an unaffiliated nuke-nin was not appealing. That led him to consider Naruto's offer. After all, he could always renege on his word if the situation was more favorable to him.

"Very well, I agree to your terms Naruto-kun. I will act as your agent." Mizuki said with a smile.

"I'm glad on your behalf Mizuki-sensei. That leaves only one thing." The figure before him began to make unfamiliar hand signs. A complex seal made of fire appeared in the air before him from somewhere out of the woods and hovered for a moment. "Demon Art: Seal of the Oathkeeper" he heard Naruto say.

Before he could even blink the fiery seal shot towards him and hit him in the head. Other than a light stinging sensation nothing seemed to happen.

"What did you just do?" Mizuki asked in a panic-filled voice.

"Just a little precaution on my part. Should you go back on our deal that seal will melt your brain. Oh, and it's completely invisible to normal humans. Have a nice day, Mizuki-sensei."

With these words the figure disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Mizuki only thought '_Well, shit_'.

* * *

><p>"… and then I made my bunshin do some made-up hand signs, used my magic to create a small illusion of a seal which I shot at his head and told him that it was a demonic technique that would melt his brain if he betrayed me." Naruto related the tale of him tricking the academy instructor before breaking down and joining his parents and Hinata in their laughter.<p>

"The expression on his face was truly priceless. Mizuki-sensei stood there for almost a minute with his mouth opening and closing while not making a sound." Hinata added while trying and failing to suppress her own giggles. That comment served to start the general laughter once again.

Finally the amusement subsided somewhat.

"Congratulations on obtaining your first retainer, you two. This is exactly what I meant by grasping opportunities when they present themselves and showing initiative. You had no time to confer with us, but acted independently. A great step on your way to adulthood." Daiki said while Youko nodded.

Hinata and Naruto blushed at the praise, deeply satisfied that Youko and Daiki approved their course of action.

"A teacher of the academy you can control is certainly useful. But I have a question, why did you recruit this particular man?" Youko asked.

"You mean why him, and not Iruka?" Seeing his mother nod, Naruto continued. "Several reasons, actually. Iruka is completely loyal to the village as well as the Hokage and generally happy with his position in life. That gives me no real starting point to work on him. While he is sort of friendly to me, he would never betray the village should it become necessary for my goals. Mizuki is different. He is discontent with his position, dissatisfied with the village and willing to do what it takes to improve his situation. Take my bluff with the seal for example. Iruka would risk everything to warn the Hokage if he believed me to be dangerous while Mizuki values his own hide far too much to do anything like this."

"Be cautious, kit. This lack of loyalty works in your favor at the moment, but the man might just try and get back at you some day." Youko counseled.

"I know, mom. Currently only my threats and promises of power keep Mizuki in check, but I plan to change that gradually. We were really lucky that Hinata spied the note in his pocket; it was the perfect opportunity to recruit him. The man was at a turning point in his life with his loyalty to the village practically already severed, but before he could form a new allegiance. He wants recognition of his skills above all, with a healthy longing for power thrown in. If he sees that I can deliver on my promises he will stick with me. Over time that may even transform into genuine loyalty."

Hinata added her thoughts. "Mizuki thinks he has been treated unfairly in life, which is probably true to an extent, and that has been steadily eating away at him for years. I think deep down he is not really a bad man, at least not yet. If we hadn't intercepted him and he had come to an agreement with the likes of Orochimaru that would have changed in a short time. That man really has the gift to bring out the worst in his subordinates and allies. I've seen some of the files after he left the village. By recruiting him ourselves we gain a potentially valuable ally, and deny his skills to our enemies. "

"His long-term potential was another reason for us to choose him over Iruka. Iruka is pretty much at the peak of his ability and unlikely to ever grow significantly more powerful even if he had the drive to try. He has found his calling in teaching children. Mizuki on the other hand wants more than spending his life as a teacher, and I think he can pull it off if given the opportunity. A few years from now he might even become a jonin, if not in rank than in skill." Naruto commented.

"You certainly seem to have thought this through. Any idea what you will give him first?"

Naruto tilted his head contemplatively. "Not really. It has to be something that is both valuable and hard to acquire for Mizuki, but it should neither be too powerful nor should it throw suspicion on us if it is discovered."

Daiki hummed thoughtfully. "How about an early version of our special chakra meditation exercise? I'm thinking about the one where you learn to feel and control the flow during the molding. He should see improvement in his internal control in one or two weeks, showing him you have valuable knowledge you are willing to share."

After considering the implications for a minute Naruto agreed. "That's right. If he uses it regularly his efficiency in molding chakra will increase by a respectable amount. The following, more powerful stages can't be deduced from it, and it won't do us a lot of harm in case of discovery or treachery."

"I will write a scroll for the technique." Hinata suggested. "I'm better than you at faking a foreign handwriting. That way nobody should be able to trace the scroll back to us."

"Thanks Hinata-chan, you're the best."

* * *

><p>After the events of that fateful morning Mizuki had returned to his home in a daze. Whatever he had thought to accomplish, ending up as a secret slave to the demon brat was certainly not among the outcomes he had envisioned beforehand. Swearing allegiance to Orochimaru, yes, or perhaps another enemy of the Leaf wanting to recruit him. He had even considered the possibility that the note and the meeting was a set-up by Konoha's internal security.<p>

At the time he had arrived home he had cleared his head enough to think. Collaboration with enemies of the Leaf was now out, and reporting the demon brat's behavior would get him killed thanks to the seal. Which indeed seemed to be invisible when he looked into the mirror. He would have to play along for now.

His attention was drawn to the note he still had clenched in his fist. The best bet would probably be to report the recruitment attempt. He was otherwise clear, and it might even dispel some of the rumors that were still in circulation about his conduct. Furthermore, it would deter anyone else from approaching him in that manner. He really didn't want to be presented with an offer that might cause him enough temptation to set the damn seal off. It was depressingly unspectacular to deliver the scrap of paper to the responsible office. Apparently he wasn't the first one, and after being asked a few questions he was sent away.

For the first few days after the incident there were no changes at the academy. The brat behaved as usual, meaning slightly dim and overenthusiastic. Mizuki even began to entertain the possibility that it had all been bad dream. Until one day the brat cornered him alone in a corridor connecting the training yard with the main building after all the other students had already left. He had just finished picking up all the kunai and shuriken that the idiot children had scattered across the yard and failed to pick up when the lesson was finished. As a mere assistant instructor he was saddled with many such denigrating tasks and his mood was not the best. He was just about to enter one of the storerooms when an unexpected voice spoke up.

"Hello Mizuki-sensei, it's time for a little chat."

Mizuki whirled around to see Naruto standing behind him. In contrast to his usual behavior the brat had dropped his mask and looked at Mizuki with a serious expression. He forced a smile onto his lips. "Hello Naruto-kun. What may I do for you? Do you want me to give you better grades?"

"Don't be ridiculous, if I wanted better grades I would stop holding back. I'm just here to give you this." With these words he pulled a small scroll from a pocket and handed it to Mizuki. "Just a small token of good faith. See you soon, Mizuki-sensei."

Opening the scroll, he saw a lot of complicated instructions in an unfamiliar handwriting. It was too much to read now, so he stuffed it into his vest. He would read it after he got home.

On the evening he was lying in his bed and thinking hard. According to the scroll's description, it was an exercise to increase the efficiency and control of the internal chakra molding, before the chakra was used for whatever jutsu the user wanted. At first Mizuki didn't believe it, after all, where would the brat get hold of something like this?

The instructions on the scroll were easy enough to understand for him, one had to meditate while molding chakra in some specific ways. As far as he was able to determine there was no danger of him harming himself by following the directions, and so he would use the exercise for twenty minutes each day before going to sleep. To determine his progress, if there was any, he would use the chakra needed for ten bunshin as a measuring stick.

Twelve days later Mizuki created the clones to measure his progress. Even upon seeing the results Mizuki could hardly believe it, the training technique the brat had supplied him with worked beautifully. He had used it for the last one and a half weeks and was currently staring at the results. Eleven basic clones were standing before him, but he had molded only the chakra amount necessary for ten. A ten percent increase in chakra molding efficiency in only twelve days was nothing short of phenomenal, especially as his control was already quite good. He dispelled the clones and sat down to think.

The brat… no, Naruto had indeed kept his side of the bargain. Ten percent didn't sound like much, but on the battlefield it was priceless. Chakra was one of the most precious resources a shinobi had. A single additional technique you could use because you had more chakra left might tip a battle in your favor or allow you to escape. Add the fact that he had made that much progress in only a little less than two weeks with a miniscule time investment, and the training technique became truly valuable. The normal exercises like tree climbing or water walking were rather time-intensive if one wanted the full effects and didn't do much good if one was already at chunin level control and reserves. There existed more advanced methods, but their time requirements were even more prohibitive for someone with a full-time job like him.

In the last days he had observed Naruto; truly observed, and not just what he wanted to see. It had given him a lot to think about. With the Kyuubi's power at his disposal and apparently far more intelligence than he normally chose to show Naruto would develop into a powerful shinobi. He was close friends with the heirs of four great clans and on amiable terms with the brother of the Inuzaka heiress, which said good things about his future political connections. In fact, the boy had seemingly managed what almost every family with children of the appropriate age tried to do, namely befriend the important people of tomorrow.

All in all, Mizuki felt a lot better about his situation than before. Naruto had access to esoteric knowledge and was willing to share. In a few years he would be able to pull the necessary strings to get Mizuki promoted, all he had to do was keep his trust. Working for him would be far less dangerous than joining Orochimaru, and he could continue his relationship with Tsubaki. The seal still chafed him somewhat, but he understood the necessity. Should knowledge about Naruto's abilities become known to the Sandaime or the general populace there would be no telling what could happen. If what Naruto had said about his own father sealing the Kyuubi in him was true, he too got shafted colossally in life. Heck, the children of the different Kages were generally treated as royalty. To deny him that by keeping his parentage secret and simply dropping him into an orphanage reeked of a hidden agenda. Sure, the Yondaime had made his share of enemies in life, and some of them would try to take out their revenge on Naruto, but that would be no different to numerous other children of influential people. Hell, the last Uchiha was in far more danger, for he possessed a valuable bloodline that other villages would pay handsomely to get their hands on.

To his considerable surprise, Mizuki found himself sympathizing with the boy. Like him he had been shafted by the people who should have been looking out for him, ensuring fairness and correct treatment. While in Mizuki's case it had been his senseis and the mid-level hierarchy, Naruto's quarrel was with the Sandaime himself.

Now that he truly thought about it, it was the height of insanity to simply let a jinchuuriki grow up without special guidance. Even if they kept the parentage a secret, the status as demon container alone should have been enough to provide tutors and a foster home for the boy. Mizuki knew the Sandaime favored the boy and visited him regularly. Shouldn't he have been able to do something, even if he had to face political resistance? If he discarded the possibility that the Sandaime was simply incompetent, that only left the option that the treatment was deliberate. Social isolation combined with a friendly grandfather figure would normally foster quite a bit of psychological dependency. A few hints dropped here and there, and the boy would do literally anything for the Hokage and the village to earn attention and respect.

Mizuki could understand that line of thought. If he had been in power, he would perhaps have done something like it, even if he didn't like the risks of that particular approach. What could have happened if the boy had decided to hate the village? A jinchuuriki that wasn't schooled in the use of his power was _dangerous_, even more so than usual. It was only too easy to imagine what could happen if he tapped unconsciously into the Kyuubi's power in a fit of rage and hate. What he didn't understand was why nobody seemed to pay attention to the boy's performance in the earlier years of the academy. Naruto had been denied advancement two times already. An incompetent jinchuuriki wasn't in anyone's interest, so why wasn't anything done about it? For instance, private coaching was always a possibility, and there were enough shinobi who would be willing to do it for free if the revered Sandaime asked.

Then it hit him. It all made sense. The general treatment of the boy, the Sandaime's nonexistent attempts to do something about it, the concealment of the boy's parentage, they all served a higher purpose: To forge a tool that had virtually no noteworthy skills besides the power of the Kyuubi and would do anything Sarutobi asked. A good education would only cause the boy to develop enough critical thinking ability to question his life, and they couldn't have that, could they? Mizuki wondered if the plan had been developed with the consent of the Yondaime. It had to be; after all, what man would use his own son as sacrifice without a compelling reason. A child from another family brought relatives with him that might interfere, and you couldn't be certain that a random orphan would have the capabilities necessary to become a shinobi. On the other hand, perhaps he hadn't expected to die in the sealing and planned to teach Naruto himself. If successful it would have certainly been a big power boost for his family. Maybe the Sandaime only took over with his own plan after the Yondaime's death. In that case Mizuki had to admire the audacity of the plan and the sheer cold-bloodedness of the Sandaime.

Only that wonderful plan had come off the tracks at some point, and nobody had noticed. Naruto knew who his father was, and obviously was only playing to the expectations of his watchers. The refusal of his offer to give him top grades was very telling. It wasn't that the boy was incapable of achieving good grades, he deliberately kept them down. Low enough to avoid suspicion, but high enough to keep the options open. There was no telling what skills and knowledge Naruto might possess in reality.

The good thing was that apparently revenge wasn't at the top of his list. That would only have ended messily. No, the boy was smart enough to make the best of his situation and aimed for a gradual rise in prominence. And he was now along for the ride, willing or not.

Mizuki decided then and there that he would keep faith with Naruto for now, especially as direct treason wasn't an option. The advantage from the training technique was already priceless for a man in his position, and he had already been promised more. If he was forced to help the kid he might as well profit from it. He had originally hoped for money from Orochimaru, but knowledge was perhaps even more precious, although he wouldn't be able to spread it and take credit for it. If he managed to become valuable enough to Naruto he wouldn't even have to fear to ever be discarded. It was clear that Naruto would gather more allies and retainers later, but Mizuki was in a prime position to occupy the top spot if he acted the right way.

He had been out of options before, but now the future looked considerably brighter.

* * *

><p>"Get out of my way, Ino-pig!"<p>

"You're the one who blocks the door, Forehead!"

After some wrangling both girls managed to leave the door behind, thereby heralding the next part of their daily routine: racing towards Sasuke to determine who would get the honor of sitting at his side for the day. The first indication that this day would be very different came when Ino felt herself tripping on something, followed by a very painful collision with the hard floor which made her see stars for a moment. When she regained her senses Sakura was already sitting besides Sasuke, smirking victoriously. The rest of the class paid her no attention; they were used to the daily race and minded their own business.

Getting to her feet, she quickly inspected herself. Everything seemed to be in order. The object that had caused her to trip was a now completely crushed piece of chalk that had probably fallen to the floor when one of the janitors delivered a new package this morning. After sending a last venomous glare towards Sakura, Ino searched for a free seat. At first she didn't see any, at least if she didn't want to sit besides Kiba. He wasn't a bad guy, just annoying, and she wasn't in the mood for his clumsy attempts at flirting. Ino was already resigning herself to her fate, but suddenly she saw Yakumo waving her over to the last row of seats. Seeing no alternative she approached her and plopped down on the free seat to Yakumo's right she had overlooked in her initial survey.

"Are you okay? That fall looked painful."

Ino waved her concerns away. "I'm fine."

Before they could exchange anymore words Iruka entered the classroom and the lecture began. On every other day she would have followed the lessons attentively, but today it seemed simply impossible. Iruka droned on and on about the way of the ninja, and her thoughts drifted towards the one thing that loomed larger in her mind than any other issue.

'_Is something wrong with me? '_

Normally she was quite self-confident, but the last week had put that conviction to the test. Not only had she lost the race with her erstwhile friend and now rival Sakura for several days in a row but the object of her affections paid her no mind at all. Even after she bought a new, quite flattering outfit Sasuke ignored her. Ino wasn't accustomed to being ignored. She had lived through similar slightly depressive phases before, but then she had some other members of the fan club giving her moral support. Unfortunately the two girls closest to her (she hesitated to call them friends) were down with a severe case of flu and weren't expected to return to the academy before next week. Meaning she was on her own for a while.

'_What can I do to make him notice me?'_ she wondered.

Sasuke was everything she wanted. He was cool, cunning, talented, good looking, popular and had a tragic past to boot. His heart was just waiting to be conquered by a girl who would help him to get over the pain. In other words, he was every girl's dream.

'_Not every girl's dream.'_ she corrected herself with a sidelong glance at Yakumo and the girl sitting on the other side of her, Hinata Hyuuga. Yakumo had joined their class more than half a year ago and had shown not the slightest interest in Sasuke. Hinata's lack of interest she had been able to discount as shyness, but coming from Yakumo she absolutely didn't understand it. The girl was outgoing, self-confident, good looking and friendly, albeit a bit on the cynical side. Apparently she was a friend of Naruto from their earlier academy time and had known Choji, Shino and Hinata by extension. Immediately after joining their class she had begun a tight-knit friendship with Hinata, and the girl had become far less nervous and shy because of it. Ino envied that friendship quite a bit; it reminded her of her relationship with Sakura before their bitter rivalry over Sasuke destroyed it. Sure, she was very popular with the other girls, but none of them was what she honestly could call a true friend. Yakumo and Hinata to a lesser degree had sometimes talked with her since the beginning of third year, but somehow they never really connected. Sooner or later Sasuke would become the topic of the conversation, and that would cause them to withdraw. Ino simply couldn't understand it; every other girl she knew was happy to discuss him. In contrast, they seemed to dislike Sasuke for some unfathomable reason.

Suddenly Ino became aware that Iruka was looking expectantly at her. Apparently he had posed a question to her, and she didn't have the slightest clue what it was about.

"Rule 4." Yakumo whispered.

"A shinobi must always put the mission first, sensei." Ino said out loud.

"Very good, Ino. Now, we must consider the implications of that rule in the following situations…"

After Iruka's attention had left her she whispered back "Thanks for the save." and received a nod in return. The rest of the morning slowly went by without any further incidents, but from time to time Yakumo sent worried glances in her direction. Was her depression that obvious?

About ten minutes before lunch break a knock on the door interrupted Iruka's lecture. Some chunin instructor entered and whispered a message to Iruka before leaving again. "Attention class, the kunoichi lesson for today is cancelled; Suzume-san is otherwise occupied. The girls are free to leave the academy after my lesson." Some girls began cheering, but Ino was too depressed to join in. Normally she would have been quite happy to have more free time, but not in her current mental state.

"Hey Ino, you look depressed. Is really everything alright?" Yakumo asked. This time she simply sighed instead of answering. "Okay, obviously something is wrong. Would you like to accompany Hinata and me? We want to go shopping later, after we get some training in and have something to eat."

Ino hesitated a moment. Yakumo had invited her a few times before, but she had always something else planned on those occasions. _'What the heck, why not? It isn't as if I have something better to do.'_ "Sure, I'll come along."

Twenty minutes later, Ino sat on the grass on the edge of one of the more secluded training fields and tried desperately to recover her breath while she watched Yakumo and Hinata happily continue with their training routine. They didn't even seem winded. Was she really that far behind? She knew she got better grades in their taijutsu class last semester than the two of them, but this was simply murderous. Under her disbelieving gaze the two other girls finished their exercises and sat down beside her before unpacking their lunch boxes.

'_I'm having a bad day, that's all. Perhaps my depression is affecting my fitness. Yeah, that's it; no reason to worry.'_

When she opened her lunch package and began to eat she noticed Yakumo and Hinata looking at her askance. "Is that all you plan to eat?"

"Well, I'm on a diet." Ino replied.

"You diet? Really?" Yakumo asked in a disbelieving voice.

Ino looked at her strangely. "Yes, really. Why is that so hard to believe? How else am I supposed to keep my weight down?"

Hinata entered the conversation. "Um, s-sorry, but dieting is v-very bad for k-kunoichi-in-training, especially at our a-age."

Yakumo nodded. "Hinata is right. Now is the time for our bodies to grow and be conditioned. Lack of nutrition and training at this point in your life will come back and bite you in the ass later." The girl sighed at her disbelieving stare. "You don't believe us. Just compare how much food we have with us. We eat that every day, and I don't think any of us can be considered overweight."

She looked at the lunch boxes of both girls in surprise. There was more food than she ate on a single day, and this was only one meal. Hinata was a bit difficult to judge because of her baggy clothing, but Yakumo was as slim as a reed. "How do you manage to keep your weight while eating that?"

"We t-train." Hinata simply said.

Yakumo chose to elaborate her point further. "We train for around two hours each day after the academy closes, more when we can find the time. You know we often hang out with Choji, Naruto and Shino; they do the same. You would be amazed how much energy that burns; we can pretty much eat what and how much we want."

Ino didn't know what to make of this. All the girls talked about keeping their figure and dieting all the time. Even her mother did it. Then something occurred to her. "If you train so much, why are your grades are worse than mine?"

Yakumo and Hinata shrugged simultaneously. "Because we hold back. We hold back in class because we don't want to deal with all the bitching if the others see how much better we are."

Ino was skeptical. "I don't believe you."

"How about a wager? We fight now, and if you manage to defeat me a single time I admit that you are better than me."

"Ha, you're on. If you lose you have to say that before the entire class."

The brunette held her hand up. "No, no bragging. This is strictly between us. You can't tell anyone about this, am I clear? If you blab about this I will be very, very angry with you. You don't want me to be angry."

Ino gulped. That was the same expression her mother wore when she had forbidden her from entering one of the special greenhouses when she was five. She didn't understand at the time, but now she knew that some quite poisonous plants were kept there. Yakumo was deadly serious, even if Ino didn't understand her reasons.

"I promise."

Yakumo smiled, and they both took up a position on the training field. Ino began with a standard attack. In the next moment she was on her back, looking into the sky and feeling Yakumo's foot on her windpipe. She blinked in surprise. The counterattack was so quick she hadn't even realized it was happening. Never before had she been defeated this quickly. It was surely a fluke. It had to be. The next time she lasted a few seconds longer until Yakumo broke through her guard and had her in a chokehold. After the fifth loss Ino gave up. "Okay, I have enough. You're really good at this."

Yakumo laughed lightly. "That's nothing. I'm the weakest in our group if you consider taijutsu. Choji is the strongest, Naruto the one with the most endurance, Shino the most balanced and Hinata the most dexterous."

Once again Ino could only stare disbelievingly at the two other girls.

Suddenly Hinata smiled. "It l-looks like Ino doesn't believe us. Are y-you up for a l-little exhibition fight?"

Yakumo grimaced. "You're just looking for another opportunity to hand me my ass, aren't you?" When Hinata only looked at her innocently she sighed. "Okay, but please check our surroundings beforehand, will you?"

After making a hand seal the veins around Hinata's eyes bulged for a moment before receding again. "All c-clear."

What followed was the most impressive fight between girls her age Ino had ever seen in her life. Now that it wasn't her on the receiving end she could clearly see how good Yakumo really was. Her movements were quicker, her strikes more forceful and her forms more fluid than anything Ino could do even on her best day. She didn't even hold a candle to Hinata. The small, pale girl was simply flowing around Yakumo's strikes and sneaking a lot of blows right past Yakumo's defenses. Hinata definitely held back on the force behind the blows to make a point, otherwise Yakumo would have been already disabled. It wasn't completely one-sided, but the difference in skill was clear. And it wasn't even the Gentle Fist style which was considered superior, no; Hinata was simply using the academy style to its fullest. The end came when Hinata bend under an incoming attack and punched Yakumo hard into her side, sending the girl sprawling.

"Ouch. Did you have to make that last strike so painful?" Yakumo asked plaintively, massaging her side.

Hinata helped Yakumo up before answering. "Y-You have to learn to keep your guard up; you o-open the same spot every time."

Ino stared slack-jawed at them. That went beyond everything she had expected. Hell, they were better than Sasuke was. When the two had dusted themselves off and sat back down besides her she asked the questions foremost on her mind. "Why do you hide your skills? How did you become this good?"

Hinata seemed uncomfortable. "I h-have problems with learning the G-Gentle Fist style. If m-my father learns of my p-prowess in normal taijutsu it would create additional problems."

"I don't like being in the limelight. If my skills become public knowledge I would probably be surrounded by people who would try to get in my good graces and feign friendship." Yakumo paused for a moment. "You should be familiar with this. Or are you telling me you regard all the girls around you as friends? Many of them only pretend to like you because you're the Yamanaka heiress and because you're good in class. I had to deal with that in my first two years at the academy; only Naruto genuinely liked me for who I was." She smiled a somewhat sad smile. "Thankfully Sasuke and you draw them like moths to a light in this class. I'm still in the upper third grade-wise, and as long as I don't stick out I can continue my education in peace. As to how we became this good; it took us years of hard training to reach this point. I've been training since almost the beginning of the academy, but taijutsu doesn't come easy for me. Hinata is more of a natural, but she is equally working hard." Yakumo looked earnestly at her. "We trust you to keep this to yourself."

Ino was floored by these revelations, and they continued their lunch in silence. Their arguments certainly made sense. Just this morning she had quietly acknowledged to herself that the girls closest to her weren't really her friends. She herself liked being the center of attention, but she knew other people didn't share that preference. Ino liked to gossip, but she had the distinct impression that Yakumo could become extraordinarily nasty if she wanted to. It would probably better to keep the events of this day to herself. Though it called several of her beliefs into question, she shelved these thoughts for later in favor of making small talk. As one would expect the topic soon became boys.

When she started talking about Sasuke, Yakumo stopped her. "Ino, we know you like Sasuke. Please understand that we don't share this sentiment because of various reasons. If we talk about him it will surely lead to bickering, so please don't. Every other boy is free game."

For a moment Ino was taken aback, but after mentally shrugging she abided by their wishes. There were always enough boys to talk about. After they finished eating they went out on the promised shopping trip. Yakumo did most of the talking, but from time to time Hinata offered surprisingly accurate comments. She had a great deal of fun, even if she didn't manage to part Hinata from her baggy jacket. Seriously, what was the girl hiding?

After they finished their shopping expedition with buying a few small items they went into the hot springs to relax a bit. When they took off their clothes Ino finally got a good look at Hinata.

'_Wow, why does she hide herself? I would kill for such a figure.'_

To Ino's surprise they didn't enter the pools in the public section but approached the private area reserved for kunoichi. She was about to say something when the receptionist at the entrance greeted Hinata warmly. After the girl activated her byakugan for a moment she exchanged a few whispered words with the receptionist who promptly waved them through.

"What was that about? I thought only active or retired kunoichi were allowed in here?" Ino wondered.

"I h-have an agreement with the m-management. I use m-my eyes to search for p-peeping toms in exchange for free entry. As m-my friends you can enter, t-too." Hinata replied.

They were watched curiously by a few of the bathing kunoichi, but nobody objected to their presence. A short time later they were sitting in one of the warm pools, relaxing. Suddenly Yakumo whispered "Remember our earlier conversation about dieting? I will show you something. Please stay calm and listen carefully." In a louder voice she said "Can you believe her? The only thing she was talking about was boys, and she was dieting of all things."

That provoked an immediate reaction from all the bathing kunoichi around them, even if they couldn't see another clearly through all the steam.

"Ha! How stupid can you be? That is the worst thing you can do at that age."

"Dieting will only get you small breasts, just look at Ami."

"Love you too, Chiyoko. Seriously, I was a stupid girl and it took me years to catch up. My fitness is still not where it would be if had eaten and trained regularly when I was young. You weren't any better with your fixation on boys."

"Yeah, yeah, I was stupid too. Shouldn't have worried so much, most boys at that age aren't really interested in girls. Now the guys are lining up for dates with me. The lack of training really bit me in the ass later, though. I thought I was doing well in the academy, but the taijutsu exercises in class aren't really enough. Hey Tetsuya, your department got a new female genin after the exams last month. How does she hold up?"

"Don't remind me, the girl is a catastrophe. Top of her class my ass. I had to work the last weeks solely on getting all the romantic crap out of her pretty little head. Perhaps in three months after some intensive training I can take her out on missions, she wouldn't even hold up against a group of drunken bandits as she is now. My superior lodged a complaint about the academy training, but as usual the thing disappeared somewhere."

"I swear it gets worse with time. When I graduated during the war they cut the training short because we were needed in the field, but I thought they brought it up again."

On and on it went. Each new voice caused Ino to get redder and redder and sink deeper into the water until only her nose and eyes were above the surface while her worldview received some heavy hits. If any of her classmates had said such things she would have simply discounted them, but these were all experienced kunoichi. She couldn't help but sneak glances at Hinata and Yakumo. Ino herself was still as flat as a board, but on Hinata the bulge of her developing breasts was clearly visible. Even Yakumo had a noticeable swell in her chest area. Was that really because of her dieting habits?

Ino was a very confused girl when she returned to the house of her parents much later. On the positive side, the confusion had completely replaced her depressive mood. She went through dinner and the rest of the evening pretty much on auto-pilot, her complete attention focused inward. Hinata and Yakumo were fun to be around, but simultaneously they were nothing like the other girls she knew. Their shopping trip had proven that they still liked girly things and had no compunctions about talking about boys (with the exception of Sasuke), but it wasn't their main interest in life. The skill they had displayed was far beyond her own. Combined with what she had heard from the kunoichi in the baths it opened a nasty can of worms.

She had honestly believed that she was doing everything necessary to become a good kunoichi, but her new insights called that conviction into question. Yes, she excelled at the academy; in fact she was always in the competition for the top position in class. She had never considered that the standards of the academy might be flawed or inadequate in the first place. Her father and mother supported her, and especially her mother was very girly herself. She gossiped about marriages and love affairs to no end, talked about fashionable clothes and often dieted herself.

… but her mother wasn't a kunoichi. The realization hit her like a brick wall. While she was a Yamanaka by birth she had never trained to become a ninja, instead focusing on the flower shop of her parents. Ino hardly remembered her maternal grandparents; they had both died shortly one after another when she was about four. Her father's parents had both been ninja and perished early in the third shinobi war; Ino knew them only from some stories. While her mother undoubtedly wanted the best for her, she wasn't necessarily the ideal person whose advice she should follow.

'_For Daddy I will be always his little princess. He indulges me more than he probably should. I have taken advantage of that often enough.'_ Ino thought self-critical. _'He would never tell me the truth if he thinks it would hurt my feelings.'_

Whom could she ask and expect an honest reply? The teachers at the academy and her hangers-on were out because of obvious reasons, Sakura didn't even bear thinking about and Yakumo and Hinata had made their opinion sufficiently clear while an unknown kunoichi wouldn't know her well enough to give an accurate assessment. That left her Yamanaka relations, but many of them would probably flatter her to gain her favor and indirectly her father's. Mentally going through her large number of relations she ended up with Masuya Yamanaka. Aunt Masuya had been a special jonin, but she had retired after surviving the Kyuubi attack with heavy injuries. Ino didn't like her much; she had a very sharp tongue and was known to be painfully honest. Some story of a teammate of hers getting killed because of a small lie, if she remembered right. Still, if she wanted an honest answer the middle-aged woman would be her best bet. She would visit her as soon as she found time. Well, that and build up the necessary courage.

* * *

><p>"…and I think we are finally making inroads with Ino. When Yakumo and I took our leave she was clearly deep in thought, though we aren't sure if it will lead to a genuine change." Hinata ended her account, earning her approving nods from the other three persons present.<p>

Naruto continued recounting the last week to his parents. "Nothing much of interest happened that Hinata-chan didn't already cover. Mizuki is coming along nicely; it seems he came to the conclusion that working with me is in his own long-term interest. I'm not exactly sure when I'll trust him enough to enlist his help with the more complicated stuff or jutsu, though. For now I have him going through the old academy documents to investigate our suspicions about the quality of the education. The more recent documents I already know, but the ones older than five years are stored in a much more secure part of the shinobi library."

* * *

><p>Mizuki sneezed. The damn dust was getting in his nose again. He wasn't sure why Naruto wanted him to research old academy records to find suspected irregularities about the academy education, but it wasn't as if he had a lot of choice other than obeying. For the past weeks he had sifted through hundreds of documents from the last twenty years, and he still hadn't found anything useful. Over the years there had been a lot of changes, but nothing that could explain the perceived lack of quality. The academy time had been radically shortened during the third war, but it was lengthened again to the normal four years after war's end. It had been expanded to five years around four years after the Kyuubi attack because of some unspecified concerns about the preparedness of the graduates. Additionally the early graduation had been abandoned due to worries about the mental maturity of the early graduates. Average grades, lessons, all checked out.<p>

Tiredly Mizuki rubbed the bridge of his nose. Not really looking he picked new folders to look through and returned to his desk. About halfway through the stack he discovered his mistake, apparently he had grabbed a misfiled folder from around thirty-five years ago which contained attendance lists. Quickly skimming over it he was about to close it again when he spied a attendance list not for the normal classes but something called supplemental class and Mizuki's brain made a tentative connection. His outstretched hand stopped immediately.

'_It can't be that easy.'_

He quickly searched through some other attendance lists and began cross-referencing his findings. Soon he had to get additional materials, but this time he had a lead. And a lead was all he needed to unravel this entire mess.

* * *

><p>"… not even able to do the basic forms without flaws. Never seen such a disappointment before…"<p>

Hinata kept her head down and let her father rant. There was nothing she could do about it; she just wasn't able to perform the Gentle Fist to the expectations of her clan. That wasn't to say that she was inept, far from it. Despite the flawed forms her prowess could still be considered above average, but it was perfection that was expected from her. Perfection she would never reach so long as she was forced to use the standard forms. Unfortunately, the one time when she had adapted a form in training until it felt more natural her instructor had interrupted the lesson and berated her for almost ten minutes for violating the 'traditional forms'. She had never made that mistake again.

She had talked with Daiki and Youko about it, and they considered it likely that she could create a variant of the Gentle Fist that was more suited to her. Only it would take her about two years with the help of a competent taijutsu user of at least chunin level if she solely concentrated on creating the new style. Hinata didn't consider it worth the effort. Once upon a time she would have done it simply to please her father and clan, but not anymore. _'What is the affection of a parent worth if it has to be bought?'_ This simple question had led her to reconsider her goals in life, and she didn't want to rely solely on the Gentle Fist, variant or no.

The Hyuuga as a clan focused almost exclusively on the Gentle Fist style and their byakugan, meaning they didn't use any other taijutsu style, genjutsu or any ninjutsu besides those linked with the Gentle Fist and the academy three. Hinata had accepted that as the natural state of things, but through the contact with Naruto's parents she had developed much more curiosity. She simply didn't understand why her clan did it. Sure, their bloodline made them good sensors and the Gentle Fist was a powerful style, but the Hyuuga were needlessly limiting themselves. The more powerful abilities could only be used by a minority of the clan, with the truly powerful ones were only allowed to be used by the main house. There was so much more that could be done with their bloodline, and so much more that was independent from it. It was simply madness. She wanted to learn as much as possible of different areas of shinobi knowledge to avoid becoming a one-trick pony, but it did seem like she would have to keep that secret from her clan. Not that one more secret mattered. The only answers she had received to her questions had been _it_ _is the tradition which you will uphold;_ with no further reasons given.

"…failure if there ever was one..."

A few months ago her father's speech would have hurt her deeply, but not anymore. It still hurt her, but not as badly. Bit by bit her affection and respect for her family and clan died away after she had met Naruto's parents and pledged herself to them. They loved her. Her clan did not. Each bit of love she lost for them made the emotional pain easier to bear. If she no longer included them in her heart they could no longer hurt her so badly, and someday she wouldn't feel anything for them anymore. Hinata couldn't decide if she should laugh or cry over the fact that her colder behavior improved her standing in the clan. Not that her standing would ever be good, but it was better than before. Now that she no longer cared about the clan as a whole she gained more acceptance from them than ever before.

"…am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, f-father. I will strife to b-better myself."

Bowing deeply, she left her father's study. The usual cold glares didn't faze her anymore when she made her way to her quarters. Before she entered her room Hinata took a detour to her little sister's room to talk for a while with Hanabi. Ever after she had begun her emotional control exercises and especially after her first kill several months ago her relationship with Hanabi had slowly improved. The elders had largely ceased their attempts at pitting them against each other. Hinata had been surprised by this change and could only puzzle over the reason. That was until she accidentally overheard two elders talking about her. They had welcomed her steadily more distant behavior as the first signs of _proper conduct for a Hyuuga_ and speculated about her future. Apparently they considered her still unworthy of being the clan heiress, but entertained the possibility of her marrying the heir of another main house family, thereby avoiding having to brand her with the caged bird seal.

Soon it was time for her to retire to her bedchamber. Today she would again visit Naruto's parents. Hinata wondered if this time they would discuss the strange errand Youko had given her, namely collecting hairs from as many fellow Hyuuga as she could. It had been pretty easy to gather shed hairs from the laundry, but she was curious about the reason for that. Daiki as well as Youko had seemed worried but had refused to discuss the issue with her until now. Yesterday she had delivered the collected materials to Naruto who would take them into the sanctuary. Hopefully answers would be forthcoming soon.

This time it was Daiki who pulled her into the world on the edge of dreams. Daiki's embrace was different from Youko's. Instead of light there was darkness, but it exuded the same protectiveness and warmth. After what seemed no time at all she woke up in the familiar cottage. The first day was as always spent in imitation of a halfway normal family, but on the second day they gathered at the edge of the meadows to discuss the last week. After both she and Naruto had given their account on the events of last week she asked about her errand.

The expression on Daiki's face became very grave. That meant he had discovered something bad.

"I discovered something very alarming, but I have two questions before I share my concerns with you. Hinata, who was the last non-Hyuuga who married into the clan?"

Eager to answer, the girl mentally searched through the lists and family trees she had been required to memorize early in her life. Hinata froze. There wasn't one. She had never really thought about it, but Daiki's question forced it into the open. Not a single non-Hyuuga had married into the clan in all the history known to her. Her vague dreams of marrying someone who wasn't as cold as her clansmen shattered when she faced the truth. She should have thought of that long ago, but through all the lessons about purity, the overheard discussion of the elders and simple observation she had kept her eyes closed to the truth.

Daiki interpreted her facial expression correctly. "I thought so. My second question relates to that. Who was your maternal grandfather, Hinata?"

That question she could answer without problems. "Masahiko Hyuuga, but I never knew him. Only my paternal grandfather is still alive."

"Thank you, Hinata. You might want to prepare yourself for some unpleasant revelations."

Considering this for a moment, Hinata left her seating place and went over to Youko who instantly enfolded her in her arms. "I'm ready."

"During her possessions of your body Youko detected some irregularities relating to your genetic makeup. We didn't want to worry you until we had more information, which is why we had you collect samples from as many of your clansmen as possible. I analyzed them before pulling you here, and the situation is worse than we thought." He paused for a moment. "All bloodline-carrying clans and even most shinobi clans without a bloodline practice inbreeding to a degree. It is a necessary policy to keep their powers from disappearing and many things that are important for shinobi are inheritable to some degree, like chakra capacity or general physical attributes like endurance. In fact, some clans created their bloodlines through controlled inbreeding in the past. They always have to walk a fine line between marrying too close a relation and thereby damaging their heritage and diluting the sought-after attributes too strongly. Generally the elders of a clan carefully control who has children with whom, with much effort invested in the planning of marriages. It is considered safe for a line to marry outsiders every three or four generations while marrying cousins from inside the clan the rest of the time."

Daiki took a deep breath of air. "The Hyuuga are far from this state. As you said, a Hyuuga is only allowed to marry another Hyuuga; and it seems this has been the rule for a long time, three centuries at least by my estimate. The amount of genetic damage that has accumulated is staggering. Frankly, only the fact that the Hyuuga are a very large clan and that the elders did a relatively good job with marriage planning has prevented it showing until now. This reprieve is running out, and I predict a population collapse in three generations at the latest."

Hinata was shaking by this point, but forced herself to listen to Daiki's explanations.

"There is more. The reason the Hyuuga don't use anything other than the Gentle Fist is very simple: They literally can't. Mounting genetic damage through the inbreeding has made it impossible for them to produce chakra other than the standard one. They can't generate elemental or medical chakra anymore. Even most genjutsu are beyond them because the chakra has to be adapted in a minor way, but even that they can't do anymore. In fact, a large percentage of the children born from the people I got samples from won't be able to use chakra at all. It might still be possible to avert this fate if all future marriages are with outsiders."

Even in her distraught state Hinata knew there was no chance of that happening. No chance at all. Her clan was ossified in traditions no one knew the reasons for any longer; that was if many of the traditions had a sensible reason in the first place. Neither the elders nor the normal clansmen were ready to change. So it was Hinata herself instead of Daiki who uttered the verdict.

"The Hyuuga are doomed."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>My thanks to my reviewers. Extra credit goes to **cmcwiki** and **Melkijad **for making guesses at the identity of the adult.

Mizuki was a surprise, wasn't he? I hope I made it believable; I had planned on using him in this fashion from the beginning. In practically all other stories he is (rightfully) killed or imprisoned by Naruto, but my Naruto wants people loyal to him, not Konoha. Who better than someone who hates Konoha in the first place? Note that at this point in time Mizuki isn't as mentally deranged as when he uses Naruto to steal the forbidden scroll more than two years later in canon (the plan for that was idiotic in the first place). I guess the stress of keeping his treason secret and Orochimaru wanting results got to him in the end.

With the introduction of Ino Naruto's circle of friends will be complete, and I hope to wrap up Naruto's childhood before Christmas. Unfortunately I'm currently very busy, so the next chapters might be delayed.

So long!


	13. Chapter 12: Making plans

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 12: Making plans**

"The Hyuuga are doomed."

Silence followed that statement.

Naruto was the one to break that silence. "There is nothing that can we do about that, can we?"

Hinata shook her head, still sitting in Youko's lap. "Short of brainwashing more than three-quarters of the clan I see absolutely no way for them to give up on their precious traditions. Even if they somehow could be convinced of the existence of the inbreeding problem most would rather see the clan vanish than sully the purity of the bloodline with non-Hyuuga blood. Should I or somebody else miraculously become clan head and try to make changes we would have either open warfare inside the clan or more likely a new leader via assassination in short order." She paused for a moment. "Does that mean I will be limited to the Gentle Fist style forever?" she asked with trepidation.

"Actually, you are perfectly capable of learning whatever shinobi technique you like." Youko answered.

"But you said…"

Daiki interrupted her. "What I said is true… for pureblood Hyuuga. Which you are not. Whoever your real maternal grandfather was, he was most definitely not a Hyuuga."

Hinata was floored and a bit scandalized by that revelation. Combined with Youko's embrace it was even enough to stop her shaking. "My grandmother cheated on her husband?"

Youko nodded. "It appears that way. You should be really thankful for that, otherwise you would be incapable of using elemental jutsu and many other things. You are both developing your elemental affinities. It will be some time until it will be detectable by chakra paper, but for us it is clear. That was what originally triggered our investigation because I noticed something a bit odd about how yours developed, Hinata."

Most shinobi developed an elemental affinity at some point in their life, usually in their teens. Their bodies began producing elemental chakra in very tiny amounts naturally, which could be detected by very good sensors or more commonly through the use of chakra paper. Producing elemental chakra congruent with one's affinity was vastly more efficient in chakra consumption and easier to control than elemental chakra of a different nature, meaning that one gravitated to a ninjutsu selection that reflected that affinity. It had no negative effect on the use of other elements; it was a perk without downsides. Affinities tended to run in families, but it was a very complex matter that wasn't fully understood.

Not to be confused with the elemental affinity was the elemental mastery. Mastery over an element had to be achieved by training oneself to consciously create and control elemental chakra of a specific nature outside of a jutsu. It was more of a sliding scale and often required years of difficult training for each element one wished to master. Typically one began the training in one's affine element first and added other elements as soon as one was ready, but even most jonin never went beyond three elements; the training was just too time-consuming and difficult. The benefits were much the same as an affinity, but much harder to achieve. Naturally, an affinity stacked with the corresponding elemental mastery was much stronger than a simple mastery. Another benefit of a mastery was the ability to deliberately create elemental chakra. It could be channeled through weapons to increase their lethality, among other things. The unknown shinobi Hinata had killed came to mind; he had been able to carve deep gouges into massive stone with his sword.

It was perfectly possible to use elemental jutsu without a corresponding elemental mastery or affinity, but in general techniques above C-rank became cost-prohibitive and too difficult to control without it. Naruto could simply power through the increasing chakra cost with his massive reserves, but the control issue would remain a problem.

"What are our affinities?" Naruto asked his father curiously while Youko was busy with calming Hinata down.

"Hinata is developing a water affinity, and it seems to be an extraordinary strong one." Daiki answered. "You have two of similar strength: Wind and lightning."

"Two, huh? That's rare."

"I suspect you originally inherited only the wind affinity, but somehow you acquired the lightning affinity through the manner of me entering the seal. There was a whole lot of lightning involved, and it probably had some impact on your developing chakra system." Daiki explained.

It was a common misconception that a person could only have a single elemental affinity outside of a bloodline, and that if they had two they would automatically be able to use fusion elements made up from their parts. That was actually false. It was perfectly possible for one person to have more than one elemental affinity, but it was very rare. The ability to easily fuse two basic elements into a new one was an additional, independent trait. Most stable, advanced bloodlines had these locked together, but it was not always the case. For example, the Shodaime Hokage had water and earth affinities as well as the ability to combine them into the wood element. His brother lacked at least the earth affinity, possibly even the combining trait, and was therefore incapable of using wood release. None of their descendants had been able to use wood release and precious few of their ancestors, so it was defined as an unstable bloodline.

"How do we go about it? Do we start elemental training now?"

"It would certainly be advisable to begin the training early, but I'm unsure about the best method. I and your mother can use all five basic elements pretty much on a whim." Daiki held out his hand to demonstrate. One after another the elements appeared and disappeared: a small flame shot out of his upturned palm, a miniature whirlwind formed, lightning crackled, a few pebbles appeared and finally water began to drip from his hand. "We have some ideas, but it would be better if you ask Mizuki about elemental training. He should know about it. After that we compare methods."

"Okay dad." Naruto watched silently while Hinata was regaining her composure. "Dad, if the Hyuuga have such problems while everyone sees them as the strongest clan what about the other clans? Or about the village in general?"

"I don't know, son. You are the one who walks around daily in the village, not me. We know the security situation is poor, but nothing about the general status. Perhaps you can lead an investigation when Hinata is better. It should be possible to enlist the help of your friends for that to a limited degree."

* * *

><p>"To sum things up: The academy education was never exceptionally good, but the children from the great and minor clans with previous or additional training kept the level high. When the minor clans fell into insignificance there were fewer children with additional education and with the effective loss of three great clans and some of the others with reduced numbers the level fell further. At the same time the academy curriculum was slowly watered down. Combined with the loss of many qualified teachers in the third shinobi war and the Kyuubi attack it led to the current situation where after five years of education the overwhelming majority of new genin need several months of intensive training until they can be considered ready." Mizuki concluded his explanation.<p>

Naruto nodded thoughtfully. "That explains the low level; it is a combination of several factors. Good work, you have proven your worth."

The academy was originally established under the Nidaime Hokage. Before that the education of new shinobi rested solely with the clans or apprenticeships, and even after the creation of the academy the clans continued to educate their children as they saw fit. They hadn't been required to attend the academy at first, but soon a mandatory graduation test to ensure 'comparable skills' had been introduced. Under the reign of the Sandaime Hokage attending the academy had become mandatory, and the cell system of jonin-sensei and three apprenticed genin for the best graduates had been introduced shortly after the first shinobi war. Before that groups of three genin and a jonin were common, but not formally predetermined. An experienced shinobi simply picked children he thought promising.

At first children with a clan background had only needed to attend a supplemental class to make sure they knew all they should before they graduated, but around thirty-five years ago the practice had been discontinued in favor of a full four years of academy education for everyone, even if early graduation was still possible. The clans still provided additional training for the children, but the second shinobi war put a noticeable dent in their numbers. Over the years the difficulty of the tests and education was slowly but steadily lowered to make things easier for children with a civilian or non-clan background, creating the illusion that the average grades as well as the quality of the instruction were staying constant by keeping the lessons but changing what was actually taught in them. All of the changes to the specific lessons were more or less minor, but over the decades the effects added up. The enormous death toll of the third shinobi war and the Kyuubi attack made things even worse.

If Naruto was forced to give an estimate he would probably guess that an academy graduate from around forty years ago was as good as an experienced genin today. That didn't say good things for the overall quality of their forces. He couldn't believe that the village leadership had let matters deteriorate to this point. On the other hand, the changes as well as the decline in quality seemed to have been very slow and gradual. It was entirely possible the people in charge of the overall situation like the Hokage never realized what was truly happening because they didn't have that much contact with the average shinobi. There would always be some outstanding shinobi who would be the most visible to the leadership, obscuring the real status of the vast majority of Konoha's forces. The leaders mostly read reports from other people lower in the hierarchy, and if the people writing the reports didn't recognize the problems because they lacked the information for a comparison everything would seem just peachy. If some of the older shinobi noticed something it would probably written off as emotional glorification of the good old times. That meant things would continue to decline until everything came apart simultaneously, but by then it would be too late to do anything.

The clan heads were too busy with the daily business of politics to notice anything, and the civilians had no true standard of comparison. Additionally many of them had an interest in keeping the requirements of the academy low to ensure the success of their children. A child from a civilian family just didn't have the same innate strengths that a child from a shinobi clan had, even without touching on bloodlines. Clans drilled their children from an early age, and combined with the selective breeding to increase chakra-associated traits and general fitness it made them far better suited on average to the ninja life than the majority of civilian children. Naturally there would be some civilian children who were just as good, but they would be the exception. That explained the long duration of the academy despite there being only enough real material to be covered in three years; most civilian kids needed the full five years to increase their physical fitness to an acceptable level using only the academy training. This was another problem: the academy was treated pretty much like a normal school by everybody when becoming a shinobi was or rather should be a full-time time job.

"I wonder what the situation in the other villages is." Naruto thought aloud.

Mizuki shrugged. "Who knows? We don't even really know our own situation, and most what I told you is conjecture supported by circumstantial evidence. The details of the last war are indefinitely classified far above my own level of access, and the same goes for the foreign intelligence reports. Suna is far smaller than us, Iwa did take a lot of damage in the last war, Kiri is embroiled in some on and off civil war and no one really bothers with the minor villages. Kumo is probably in the best shape, but that is only guesswork."

Naruto grimaced. "Yeah, we have nothing that could serve as rock-solid proof. I don't think we can convince anyone that there is a real problem. It isn't like the academy is completely useless; the education is just not good enough and inefficient."

"What about the Hokage?"

"I could bring the matter to the Old Man's attention, but I don't think he would really take my advice. Back in my first year I had to create an enormous ruckus just to get one obviously criminally biased teacher sacked. He doesn't think me mature or intelligent enough to have worthwhile input and I don't want to disabuse him of that notion anytime soon. Additionally, all changes would only bring improvements long-term without helping me personally or my friends." Naruto nodded to himself. "We shelve that matter for now; perhaps we can do something about it later when we are in positions of power. You have proven yourself a capable researcher, Mizuki-sensei. I will look into giving you a suitable reward."

Mizuki smiled and made a half-bow. "Thank you. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, there is something. What jutsu do you know and which of them can you teach me without attracting attention? I know it is technically illegal to teach an academy student jutsu outside of clan jutsu, but I don't believe any of us cares about that."

This question seemed to make Mizuki uncomfortable. "Unfortunately, my jutsu repertoire is rather limited. I only have a few D-rank and even fewer C-rank jutsu and one complicated B-rank technique. Mainly fire and earth, but the B-rank relies on a giant shuriken and it is not entirely practical to lug something like that around."

"What about the shinobi library?"

The white-haired man shook his head. "They don't really store jutsu in the shinobi library. Most books I can access are rather about the theoretical underpinnings, training techniques, historical and military treatises or documents of a rather low security level. I believe there are some basic jutsu that jonin with pupils have access to, but jutsu knowledge is mostly taught on an individual basis for money and favors and never truly written down. There is a cache of recovered techniques under ANBU authority somewhere as well as the restricted library in the Hokage tower, but again I don't have access to that. If you don't have someone willing to teach you for free it is extremely expensive and difficult to learn jutsu. Why do you think I was so frustrated? At first I didn't have the money to pay anyone, and later there was nobody willing to teach me anything after the rumors sprung up. "

Naruto sighed. "Typical. Well, no matter. I am interested in knowledge about seals and jutsu crafting. If we can't get useful jutsu we have to make our own. Finding such knowledge will be your next task." He glanced at the position of the sun. There was still some time left they could spend at their meeting place in the park before they had to leave. "I have another question. What do you know about elemental training?"

Mizuki considered for a moment. "I know the exercises for each of the five elements, but I myself have only mastered my fire affinity to a sufficient degree. Several years ago I began training my earth element, but I haven't really made progress; my teaching job simply takes too much time. The first stage exercise is always related to a leaf. For example, fire training consists of burning a leaf with chakra alone, while wind would have to cut it. There are additional details that are important, like…"

* * *

><p>Ino was devastated. She had asked her aunt for her opinion after she had finally gathered enough courage to do so. It had not been pleasant.<p>

As expected aunt Masuya had been painfully honest. She had ripped into her dieting habits with relish. Stupid and shortsighted had been the nicest words she used, combined with a detailed and realistic genjutsu-aided illustration what dieting could and would do to her body. Ino didn't believe that she would ever diet again in her kunoichi career. The comments about her training routine had been hardly more generous. Yes, the training she did would be enough for her to become an adequate kunoichi. Of course, adequate was a quick and painful way to a premature death as soon as she encountered enemies with a higher skill level or when she was engaged without support from team members. Both of which happened depressingly often in the real world. Besides, Ino didn't want to be 'adequate'. She wanted to become great and admired.

Then the conversation had turned to Sasuke. It was obvious her aunt held strong reservations against the last Uchiha, but for once she had refrained from commenting. Instead she had pointed out how incredibly stupid and inconsiderate Ino was behaving. After having explained to her in great detail that a boy who preferred to be alone wouldn't appreciate to be smothered by his admirers Ino had to admit her efforts at winning Sasuke's affection might not be the most advisable way to go about things.

When she had brought up her experiences with Yakumo and Hinata her aunt had actually smiled and complimented them. Ino had goggled at her. Her aunt almost never said something nice. Masuya had advised her to follow their example before beginning to criticize Ino's choice in clothing. Fashion critique was a bit more than Ino could take after the preceding conversation, and she had taken her leave after thanking her aunt for her help. She hoped she would never have to talk to her again. While the conversation had given her the confirmation she needed, it was the single most unpleasant experience in her life.

'_Well, there is no sense in wallowing in my misery. How can I fix things?'_

The obvious thing was joining Hinata and Yakumo in their after-academy training and stop dieting. It would be painful at first, but Ino was determined to persevere. Both girls were pleasant company, and she might even find new friends in them. They came with three boys, though. Shino was a bit creepy with his bugs and silent behavior, but he had good grades. She knew Choji from when they were little kids and their fathers had let them play together. After the talk with her aunt Ino felt incredibly stupid for her constant attempts at getting him to diet. Akimichi used their body mass for jutsu; he needed that extra weight. Choji had just nodded and smiled whenever she berated him about it, but in retrospect he had probably only wanted to avoid arguing with her. Grade-wise he was a bit under average. The last member of their group was Naruto. He got mostly the same grades as Choji, but the one thing he had in spades was determination. A determined training partner was just what she needed. All in all, their company would probably be tolerable.

Sasuke and her hangers-on were a thornier matter. If she spent more time training she would most assuredly lose her leading position in the community of Sasuke's admirers. On the other hand, her past efforts hadn't worked. Perhaps he was looking more for a capable kunoichi as a future bride? If he did, she would leave all the other girls in the dust without them knowing. Yakumo and Hinata were the only ones who might fall in that category, and they were obviously not interested in Sasuke. Ino still didn't understand why but had accepted it as fact. Her hangers-on would largely gravitate towards Sasuke anyway if she didn't spend as much time on shopping and similar activities.

Ino nodded to herself; it seemed a viable plan of action.

* * *

><p>Youko shook her head sadly after Naruto had informed her of Mizuki's account of elemental training. "That is how shinobi train their ability to produce and control elemental chakra? No wonder they have such difficulties with it."<p>

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"Well, if what you told me is correct shinobi begin the training with the most difficult endeavor, namely generating combat-grade elemental chakra. In fact, the entire training consists of that. That is just stupid. It's like a completely untrained person trying to run a marathon. Incredibly difficult and potentially damaging, and the training effect is in fact less than starting with easier tasks. We have planned something different. Please give me your hands."

Youko took Naruto's hands in her own and visibly concentrated. A barely visible glow began surrounding their hands, its color somewhere between white and light blue. It didn't feel unpleasant, just very strange. Like a steady wind with the occasional light cutting sensation.

"What are you doing?"

"This is low-grade wind chakra. It isn't really good for anything, but it helps you getting a feel for the properties wind chakra has. Try to match your own chakra to what you feel from it."

Naruto did just that for half an hour. After their session ended he didn't think he had made any progress. His mother chuckled when he voiced that opinion. "My, aren't you impatient? Even if this method is much safer and quicker than the shinobi way it will still take many months. It isn't the only exercise; I would recommend using your chakra to feel and try to control your element of choice as the next step. After you are comfortable with that we can proceed to more intermediary exercises until we finally arrive at producing elemental chakra that is usable in combat."

"That helps Hinata and me, but what of our friends? I don't think there is anybody we can easily approach who has the ability to create low-grade elemental chakra."

Youko tapped her finger against her lips. "Indeed, that is a problem. Perhaps your father has an idea; I heard him talking about something like 'enchanting' and 'combining chakra and magic', but I don't know the status of that project."

"How many projects do you have? Each time something comes up you have already some ideas." Naruto asked curiously.

That caused Youko to laugh. "Kit, we have dozens of different ideas and projects that we are constantly testing. Did you think we were lazing around? You know we can be in more than one place at the same time. For example, at this very moment I'm talking to you in my human form, one bijuu-shaped avatar is sparring against your father, over two dozen avatars of various shapes are tinkering with different kinds of chakra manipulation and techniques while about a dozen are doing the same with magic. Three others are constantly making plans and game scenarios, four are dedicated to learning more about my divine and demonic powers and a few are enjoying the pleasures a human body can provide."

Naruto chose to ignore the last part. "How many avatars can you make? Are you omnipresent?"

"No, not omnipresent. Multipresent would be a better word, and we are running close to the limit we can sustain in here. Outside it would probably be a lower number. The exact number of avatars is dependent on a lot of factors, but the main ones are attention capacity and power. We have a limited amount of attention and processing capacity, but we can split it up to different locations. Like multitasking, but better. Likewise, we have a limited pool of power we can distribute among the avatars. In the outside world our current setup would leave us wide open for attack by beings on a similar level, so we plan to stay concentrated and only form a few avatars if it becomes necessary when we get out of here."

"I really should learn more about what you can do."

"That's easier said than done. Even we aren't exactly sure of our capabilities, and the total control we have over this small world doesn't make things easier. A small, overlooked variable that is different in the outside world could make entire techniques developed here useless. Your father and I spend most of the time we gain when we possess your bodies to observe everything so we can build accurate models here. Still, if you want we can begin to teach you about the powers and limitations of divine beings."

* * *

><p>A few weeks later Mizuki again proved his worth by gathering all the available texts on sealing. Unfortunately, they weren't exactly what Naruto had hoped for. On the next visit to his parents he vented his frustration.<p>

"This stuff is more like painting via color by numbers than any useful, systematic introduction into the sealing arts. It describes what I have to do to create simple seals like storage seals or exploding tags with a few varieties, but not why or how it works. It's still useful, but for our goals it seems to be a dead end. Mizuki said there is some more advanced stuff accessible by higher ranks, but most seal-related things are a closely guarded secret. I would need a seal master to teach me the theory before I could create my own seals or unravel the damned Yondaime's seal."

"Wasn't there anything that would help us?" Daiki asked.

"Well, there was one book Mizuki managed to pilfer from a restricted section. It deals mostly with checking the status of existing seals, like verifying if they are still working. It doesn't tell you what their purpose is, just if they are still functioning." Naruto answered.

"Better than nothing I suppose. It will come in handy with your big investigation project. Speaking of projects, I have good news concerning the elemental training project. It will take me a few months, but now I'm confident I will be able to create one affinity tester and some elemental chakra generators. I think seals would work better for that purpose, but I found a way to achieve the desired results with magic. The objects will look like they are seal-based, but you should keep them away from any seal master just to be sure."

"Thanks dad." Suddenly Naruto remembered something. "What is Hinata doing? I seldom see her anymore after the first day on each visit."

"She is learning the first stages of magic and requires a quiet environment for that. Her education should be much quicker because thanks to you we discovered what works and what not, but she will lack your in-depth understanding of magic at first. Still, Hinata will be able to learn the completed spells relatively quickly."

"I don't understand why you didn't teach me more spells anyway. It has been a long time since the last one." Naruto complained.

Daiki sighed. "Because most what we can develop isn't useful in your situation. You can only use magic in the vicinity of Konoha, and the more powerful stuff only inside of the sanctuary. Even then most magic has a long ramp-up time measured in minutes. At the moment there are no really pressing issues, so we would rather invest the time for fundamental research in the hopes of it becoming more useful later." Seeing Naruto's rebellious look he relented. "But if you are so dead-set on learning a new spell, what would be your preference?"

Naruto brightened up immediately. "Well, I have some ideas…"

* * *

><p>It had taken a lot of convincing and passing the entire thing off as a training exercise in information gathering, but finally Naruto's friends had agreed to collect as much information about Konoha as they could with Naruto acting as the coordinator. Now, several months later they were finally finished. Naruto and Hinata presented the collected information first to Youko and Daiki; their circle of friends would be informed in the following days.<p>

They began the overview with great clans. The erstwhile premier clan of Konoha, the Senju, was for all practical purposes extinct. The sole surviving member Tsunade of the Sannin had left the village years ago to begin a new career as alcoholic and gambling addict, earning her the nickname 'the legendary sucker'. Her child-bearing years were over anyway, so even if she would return she would be unable to continue the clan. It was often said that the Senju married into other clans and families, making the whole of Konoha their legacy. While that statement was factually correct, it merely obscured the true facts. At the present day, there existed no living person with a blood relation to the Senju clan in Konoha. All families the Senju married into were either completely extinct, or at least the branch originating from the Senju member had died out. They were unsure if that came to pass only due to chance or if there was someone who helped the process along. Currently the group was leaning more towards chance, as the majority of the intermarried relations as well as almost the entire remaining core clan died during the great plague after the first shinobi war. Additionally, that event probably pushed Tsunade into becoming a medic. The closest living relation to the Senju was probably Naruto through the Uzumaki line, but the degree of kinship was very distant and as far as his parents could tell he had no actual Senju blood in his veins.

Hiruzen Sarutobi currently held the voting rights of the Senju in the council. They had been transferred to him upon the death of the last adult clan head of the Senju, Sho Senju. He had been married to Hiruzen's older sister, but the marriage had been childless. Tsunade had refrained from claiming clan leadership and was obviously content in letting her teacher represent her clan in the council to this day. The Senju otherwise played no role in the current political landscape and never would again.

The Uchiha were in similar dire straits as only a single member of them remained in Konoha. Before the massacre they tied with the Hyuuga in a bitter rivalry for the most populous and powerful clan. They controlled and manned the Konoha police force as hereditary right since Konoha's founding. The police force wasn't rebuilt because it would be a violation of their rights and the council was unable to muster the necessary two-thirds vote to revoke this privilege. Because the former clan heir Itachi Uchiha was condemned as guilty party of the massacre and a nuke-nin, Sasuke Uchiha was the heir apparent to all the rights and physical possessions of the clan, making him the most eligible bachelor of the village. That led to all sorts of favoritism because everybody wanted a shot at either marrying into the Uchiha clan or currying favor with the clan heir. Their council seat was currently empty until Sasuke was either old enough to claim it or he made special jonin. Other then the hereditary rights, a whole lot of valuable properties, loads of money as well as shinobi knowledge and the ingratiating behavior of the villagers nothing remained of the power of the Uchiha clan. It would probably be generations before they recovered, if ever.

The Hyuuga were currently the biggest and most powerful of the great clans of Konoha and often treated as nobility. Superficially all seemed well with the clan, but thanks to Hinata's efforts they now knew they were well on their way to ruin. The practice of marrying exclusively inside the clan had led to a dangerous degree of inbreeding. The number of failed pregnancies, stillbirths and birth defects was already sky-high and still rising, but nobody inside the clan seemed aware of the true extent of the problem. It was probably more a case of willful blindness though, especially considering the entire clans' obsession with purity, tradition and their narrow focus on the byakugan. Naruto's parents predicted a population collapse within three or four generations at the latest that could only be prevented by forcing all current members to marry outside the clan. Considering the personality of the clan elders and the majority of clan members, the chance for this were effectively non-existent, thereby dooming the clan. The tensions between main and branch house were almost insignificant in light of this fact.

Current clan head was Hiashi Hyuuga, who despite being an utter failure at parenting was probably the most progressive clan head the Hyuuga had in centuries, not that that was saying much. He focused mainly on the divide between main and branch house, though he didn't seem to have made any progress. Regrettably he was often occupied with power struggles inside the clan and it was uncertain how long he would be able to retain the position of clan head. Politically, the Hyuuga were one of the main pillars of Konoha, but due to their somewhat isolationistic attitude they seldom interfered in the daily running of the village.

The Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka were all clans of medium size that were closely allied. They suffered some losses during the third shinobi war and the Kyuubi attack but had already recovered and were slowly growing in size. Since they all followed the practice of regularly introducing fresh blood into their clans to avoid inbreeding the prospects for further growth seemed good. They were all deeply involved in the day-to-day workings of the village in short-lived alliances alternating with antagonism with the civilian councilors. The Yamanaka seemed to have some internal problems, but since they hadn't brought Ino completely into the fold yet they were unable to determine the exact situation.

The Inuzaka had lost an excessive number of members in the Kyuubi attack, thereby falling from large to medium-to-small size. It would take them quite some time to recover fully, but the trend pointed upwards. They had experienced somewhat of a baby boom in the last years after they stopped mourning, which should help them enormously. They insisted on retaining the privileges of the shinobi and were often at odds with the civilians.

The Aburame were a clan of small size after suffering heavy losses in the third shinobi war. Their bitter feud with the rival insect-using Kamizuru clan from Iwa had left both clans severely damaged, although the true amount of damage they suffered was not widely known and the Kamizuru came out of the conflict far worse off than their Konoha counterparts. Due to the peculiarities of their bloodline they were often shunned to a degree by the villagers because their kikaichu and appearance were seen as creepy. Not that anyone would say that to the face of an Aburame, but the sentiment lingered in the population. It seemed difficult for them to find acceptable external candidates for marriage, making their recovery slow and difficult. Politically they stayed neutral most of the time and occasionally aligned themselves with whoever presented the most reasonable proposals.

The Kurama were almost in the exact same position as the Uchicha in that they had only a single surviving member, their friend Yakumo. Her situation was arguably worse because all clan holdings had been destroyed in the enormous fire that wiped out their clan. Even before that catastrophe their numbers dwindled and their bloodline was faltering, making them slowly disappear into obscurity. The Kurama seat was currently voted by a civilian who was closely allied with the Hokage.

"Of the nine original founding clans three are effectively destroyed, one is strong but steering towards collapse, three are doing okay and two are weak, with one of them on the way to recovery while the other one is at least stable." Naruto summed up. "In other words, the shinobi manpower provided by the great clans has practically been cut in half. Things only continue as they are because of political reasons and inertia. The situation of the minor clans is even worse."

In general the minor clans had borne the brunt of the damage of the second and third shinobi wars as well as the Kyuubi attack. Many were completely destroyed or had only a few surviving members and were unlikely to continue as formal shinobi clans. Since well before the Kyuubi attack no family had managed to be recognized as new minor clan. A careful analysis of the gathered information showed a disturbing trend. It seemed that the Sandaime had actively discouraged the formation and continued existence of minor clans for a long time, all in the name of his goal of a unified Konoha. The privileges originally only granted to the minor clans were increasingly given to civilian clans, families not following the organizational structure of a clan or outright discontinued. Apparently the man considered the existence of the clans divisive and preferred for his shinobi to only see themselves as belonging to Konoha as a whole, not to another source of identity. He was very subtle in his approach; hardly anyone seemed aware of his leanings. Perhaps even the Sandaime himself was unaware of the consequences of his policies; he often seemed to see only the good and unity of Konoha and not the unintended consequences. All in all, their available manpower and influence was constantly waning. That left the shinobi without a clan.

"While many of them are good shinobi individually they aren't doing much good for the future of the village. Jutsu knowledge is often confined to a single person, and without the support structure of a clan it isn't properly preserved because there is nothing in place to cover that eventuality. Take the famous Kakashi Hatake for example. He is the last living member of the Hatake clan and is rumored to have learned more than a thousand jutsu, but he isn't teaching them anybody. He routinely fails his genin teams and I don't think he has written anything down. Though considering our extra knowledge about the man he would probably fail to do so even if he got a team. Anyway, only a small percentage of all shinobi are jonin, and not all of them take pupils. That means with each death irreplaceable knowledge is permanently lost, weakening the village further."

After concluding the part of their report regarding shinobi they proceeded to the security situation of the village.

Much information was based on the contents of the forbidden scroll of seals and some writings they found in the archives. Against external threats Konoha was once protected via several seal-based wide-area genjutsu barriers that made even finding the village extremely difficult. During Naruto's forays into the woods he had visited all seal stones listed in the scroll. The entire array had been purposefully deactivated sometime in the past, probably after Konoha gave up the policy of hiding from the external world. The majority of the seals broke down long ago due to neglect, and he wouldn't take any bets on the reliability of the remaining ones. Not that it mattered, with that many parts missing it was impossible to raise the genjutsu again, and Naruto had found clues in the historical texts that the central control chamber had been dismantled during the rebuilding of the Hokage Tower after the second war.

Aside from the fixed seal-based defenses there should have been a number of ninjutsu, genjutsu and mundane traps at irregularly changed locations scattered through the countryside. They couldn't find any of them, and the woodsman Naruto asked didn't even know that something like that existed. ANBU and some other shinobi occasionally patrolled the woods, but frankly even an untrained city-dwelling civilian could stumble directly into Konoha without anyone noticing. There had been plans for the construction of a great outer wall during the reign of the Nidaime Hokage, but the work had stopped unfinished.

The inner great wall was the only remaining still partly-functioning part of the original defenses, and even that thing wasn't in good shape. Some damaged parts had been fixed rather sloppily, and many seals that should have made the wall nearly indestructible and non-climbable had broken down due to lack of maintenance. None of the stored offensive or defensive seals were still functional. The inner detection barrier connected to the wall still stood, but it had more holes than a Rock Country cheese. Only the main gates were still guarded, the secondary gates were totally unsupervised. Nobody knew how many backdoors and secret entrances had been built, they had found twenty-five of them and they weren't looking very hard.

Hinata had remotely scanned the barrier chamber and at first glance all seemed in order, even if the guys in there were more interested in card games than supervising the barrier. They took a closer look during shift change via a hidden entrance and called up the detailed status report of the seal matrix with the master key. Apparently nobody had bothered to check it since before the time of the third war. The barrier team seemed totally unaware that there were entire sections where a breach would go unnoticed, and judging from a training manual lying around they didn't know that there should have been a second detection zone several kilometers out.

Internal security in the village was on an all-times low since the Uchiha massacre. Because of the destruction of the police ANBU was forced to take care of some of their tasks, stretching their personnel dangerously thin. In short, the village was wide open for infiltration and even direct attack because of the absence of external defenses, while the internal security was severely lacking.

"It's perfectly possible for some enemy shinobi to execute some large-area jutsu from outside the barrier or even inside the village and wreak catastrophic damage before the shinobi belonging to village security can react. This village is a death trap waiting to happen." Hinata elaborated.

Morale in general was excellent, the shinobi as well as the civilians believed Konoha to be the strongest of the hidden villages. The painful losses of the Kyuubi attack were still somewhat present and generated some resentment against Naruto, while the third shinobi war was more and more fading into a distant memory. The decay of the alien technology was only cause for concern for some of the leaders; most people were more troubled by the slowly drying up supply of cheap clothing and luxury goods. Because that process had started years ago business was largely unaffected as new suppliers took over.

They had been unable to spy on the village leadership as much as they wanted, but from what they had gathered no one connected all the dots. They were aware that this clan or that clan had lost a lot of people, but simply didn't draw the logical conclusion. Everyone had bought into their own propaganda that they were the strongest of the hidden villages and everything was fine.

Compared to earlier generations the skill level of the shinobi forces was waning, and had been dwindling for a long time. The academy taught less relevant knowledge in a longer timeframe, and the selection process for the academy admission as well as the placement on the teams had been thoroughly politicized. Fortunately the extended education of the non-apprenticed students was still fairly useful, but what a jonin-sensei taught was hit-and-miss. In the past the clans had compensated such shortcomings, but were now unable to fill that hole due to their loss in members and importance.

As a rule, apprenticed genin were promoted far too early. Many were thrown into the chunin exams after only a year of service and promoted before they got a good grip on their duties and capabilities. They currently had only one S-rank shinobi permanently residing in the village, and that was the Hokage himself. Of the three Sannin only Jiraiya was still completely loyal to the village, but was busy with his spy network and… other activities and visited only every few months. Tsunade had abandoned the village and indulged in her vices. Orochimaru had turned traitor and was now one of the bitterest enemies of the Leaf. Itachi Uchiha, the slayer of the Uchiha clan, was likewise classified as S-rank. No other currently active leaf shinobi came even close to them. The next powerful were probably Kakashi Hatake and Maito Gai, but they were only listed as A-rank.

"Summing things up, this pathetic village is well on its way to the trash heap of history, but nobody does anything about it or even recognizes the danger. Now, what do you two intend to do about it?" Youko asked.

"I don't think we can do anything anytime soon. Nobody would believe us children, and I don't want to show my hand." Naruto replied.

"I experience it daily with my clan, the problems are there for all to see, but everyone chooses to ignore them. Most people don't have access to the knowledge to really realize the scale of the problems, and it seems that those who do close their eyes to reality." Hinata added.

Naruto nodded. "It isn't like Konoha will collapse tomorrow, but the long-term outlook is bleak. I wish we could just abandon the village and start anew somewhere else, but we need it for the years to come. The looming threats are just too big for us to deal with them alone, and we need the knowledge we can learn here. Other villages probably won't simply take us in, or if they do they will take measures to ensure our loyalty that will interfere with our plans. That means we have to make sure that Konoha doesn't fall in the foreseeable future."

"You and your friends are in a relatively good position. Counting Ino you have the heirs of four great clans on your side. It will be years before you can exercise any sort of policy-changing influence, but if you six become strong enough you might personally blunt some of the dangers and make a difference." Youko counseled.

"Yes, we have two years until we graduate. We have to make the most of the time and train what we can." Naruto agreed.

Now it was his father's turn to voice his opinion. "You can't skip academy classes, which severely hampers your free time and the amount of advanced training you can do. I recommend that you concentrate on things that will give you an advantage in the long run or that make you stronger in general like mastering an element or two and learning the theoretical basis of ninjutsu and genjutsu in general, enabling you to craft them yourself later. I don't think you will be able to learn much secret knowledge like the sealing arts, but at least exploding tags and basic storage scrolls should be possible to learn. Later on you might not have the time for uninterrupted training, but if you already know the theoretical basis you should be able to learn jutsu much faster."

* * *

><p>Choji made his way through the village, occasionally nodding and greeting people he knew. It was a week before the start of their fourth academy year, and he got to know a lot of people in the past months. The reason for that was an idea of Naruto; the blond boy had started what was probably one of the most ambitious information gathering exercises ever envisioned by an academy student.<p>

In its wake Choji had discovered that he was a natural at information gathering. Not the secret spying stuff, no, but people liked to talk to him. It seemed that he instantly appeared trustworthy even to much older people, and they talked about things that they would normally keep from a kid of his age. With a bit of coaching he was able to steer conversations easily, and by now he had created the beginnings of a genuine information network. Ino had similar talents and was busy building her own network, but she had started much later due to her joining them only last semester. It had taken her quite some time to get used to their training methods and become fully integrated, but she had developed a deep friendship with Hinata and Yakumo.

He stopped walking for a moment when his bag of chips was empty and he had to extract a new one from his pockets. The bags of special chips with a high nutritional value had become his constant companions since he started training in his clan's techniques in earnest. Until he got a better grip on the techniques he lost a lot of weight in each training session, which he had to regain in the meantime. He was really lucky that he liked eating, but the crumbs sticking to him were annoying.

Soon he arrived at Yakumo's house. When he entered he noticed Yakumo, Naruto and Ino missing while Hinata and Shino sat in the living room. Both were going through some notes. "Where are the others?

"N-Naruto-kun decided it is time to reveal his s-secrets to Ino. Yakumo w-went along with them."

Nodding his thanks to Hinata, Choji sat down. In the last months Ino had proven to be a trustworthy friend. Despite her tendency to gossip she kept her involvement with them largely out of her conversations in class and in public. Choji was glad that Naruto had decided to trust her, he always found it difficult to keep things from people he considered his friends. In spite of her nagging Choji had always liked Ino, he still remembered the time when they played together as small children.

His thoughts drifted to the impending conversation. Naruto had collected all they had discovered, and today he would present his conclusions. Choji was concerned about what they would learn. In the course of his own efforts he had found troubling signs that not everything was as it should be. Nothing definite, but whenever he talked with the others and the subject of their investigation came up they all seemed worried; especially Naruto and Hinata. It wasn't a good sign when both the boy who was best at sneaking around as well as collecting all their individual findings and the girl who could see through walls were worried about what they discovered.

After a few minutes of waiting his three missing friends entered the room. After greeting them Naruto started a whispered conversation with Hinata about which notes to use. Yakumo disappeared into the kitchen to get some refreshments while a pale Ino sat down beside him.

"Are you alright?"

Ino waved him off. "I'm okay, but thanks for asking. The discovery that Naruto has… that in his belly and the identity of his father was just very shocking." She shook her head. "I can't believe they still keep it secret from him. No wonder so many people don't like him." A determined look entered her eyes. "I will help him prove all those idiots wrong."

Smiling, Choji leaned back and prepared to listen to Naruto's summary of their findings. Yakumo returned, and they all sat down. After that Naruto began talking. Choji lost his smile in the first few minutes after the revelation of the Hyuuga situation. Blow followed after blow, and Choji began to wonder if he was trapped in a nightmare. The worst part was that many things were corroborated by his own findings; he just hadn't known many additional pieces of information to get the whole devastating picture. From what he saw on the faces of his friends they entertained similar thoughts. When Naruto finally finished everyone had a bleak expression on their faces.

Choji was the first to voice a question. "Is the situation really this bad?"

Naruto's expression became even bleaker. "This is only the tip of the iceberg, there's probably a whole lot of stuff going on that we never learned about. Even what we know we can't prove beyond a doubt. Do any of you think that the adults would believe us and make genuine changes?"

Hinata was the first to answer. "My f-father never listens to anything I h-have to say. I could s-say to his face that our c-clan is dying and he w-wouldn't believe me."

Yakumo was the next. "My uncle would probably have believed parts of it, but not the entire extent of our discoveries. Now I have no adult that would trust me."

Choji sighed before he answered. "I don't think my family would believe me, or not enough to matter. Our clan is in good shape, and my father admires the Hokage and his philosophy. He just won't believe that the situation is this bad."

A visibly shaken Ino spoke up next. "Daddy would hear me out, but like Choji's dad he believes in the wisdom of the Hokage. I think he would shrug it off as an over-dramatization of a young girl. Perhaps he would bring it up in a few meetings, but he wouldn't really press the issue to make changes."

"The Hokage talks with me one or two times per month, but he doesn't truly listen to what I have to say. Additionally, I don't trust him fully. He keeps things from me that I have a right to know, like about my tenant or the identity of my parents. Furthermore, he is directly and indirectly responsible for a lot of the problems we discovered. I don't think he would reverse his whole stand on policy just because I tell him some facts which he doesn't want to see." Naruto said.

Shino was the last one to give his opinion. "You are correct in your assessment that my clan is not in a good shape. I will reveal more because Hinata has trusted us with secrets of her clan, but it is never to leave our circle." Each of them gave their agreement before Shino continued. "Our numbers have fallen far. Currently there are less than one hundred Aburame left in Konoha, and only sixteen of us are active shinobi including me. We sustained heavy losses in the last war." That caused several sharply indrawn breaths. The Aburame had once been one of the great founding clans with several hundred members. Now they were only the size of one of the original minor clans. "Our discoveries are mainly logical conclusion from circumstantial evidence, but in time I would be able to convince my clan of our findings. Unfortunately, our political power is diminished, and my clan's voice alone won't be enough."

In the following silence each of them dwelled on his own thoughts.

Naruto broke the silence. "Hinata and I already talked about it, and we think there is only one thing we can do. We must become as powerful as we can as quickly as possible and acquire support of both political and personal nature along the way until we can make the necessary changes ourselves. There is still time; it isn't as if the village will cease to exist tomorrow. Konoha could probably still weather the assault of one enemy village in the near future. It's the long-term outlook that is the problem. We don't think enemy spies have discovered the village's true situation, the self-delusion of the populace and leadership makes it difficult for someone not intimately familiar with the local situation to recognize the extent of the many problems. The propaganda that Konoha is the strongest village was very successful, meaning we should have at least several years of relative peace."

Shino nodded in agreement. "You are correct. At the moment we are already much better than virtually all our fellow academy students, and we have two years left to improve before we graduate. Extrapolating our past progress, we should be able to reach the level of highly capable genin on the verge to chunin in average skill level."

Yakumo took over. "Until we are genin we can't make many useful connections, most people just see us as kids. Even after we graduate we will need some years to build a reputation. We all are virtually certain to wind up with a jonin-sensei; I think it should be possible to bring most of them slowly around to our view. With our estimated skill level we should be on the fast track to chunin, either through the exams or regular promotion. We will need some time to become familiar with the job, but I think the timeframe two years after our graduation should see the first of us promoted. Two or three years more for special jonin, or even full jonin if we are lucky. Give it an additional year to settle properly in, and we are looking at around eight years before we can begin to push for real changes. Perhaps earlier if we can find sufficiently highly placed allies."

"Thanks to N-Naruto-kun's chakra training t-techniques we should all reach jonin-level reserves and control around the t-time we graduate. Chakra t-training is one of the m-more time consuming things in a shinobi career, but w-we can get it out of the w-way early. That w-will give us more free t-time later to learn j-jutsu and other skills." Hinata voiced her opinion.

Suddenly a very shaken looking Ino began speaking. "Stop! Just stop it. How can you talk about such things? We are just children; there is nothing we can do about such things. You are talking about taking over the village. That's madness; I can't believe…"

She was interrupted by Yakumo. "Ino, listen. You are right; currently we are children, but that doesn't mean we are stupid. When we graduate in two short years we will be formally declared adults. Our profession is one of the most dangerous there is, and we must prepare as good as we can. I wish we could leave the problems to the establishment, but they are part of the problem in the first place. Who is there other than us? Someday in the future you will take over leadership of the Yamanaka clan from your father. It may very well be that Konoha will be disintegrating by this point, or that a new war happens that threatens to destroy the village. Imagine if you are in this position without making the preparations we are discussing. Don't you think you will blame yourself when you realize that you could have done something earlier?"

Ino stared at her for a moment before erupting into tears. Sitting closest to her, Choji took her into her arms in the hopes of calming her down. Today's revelations obviously had been too much for Ino, she still wasn't used to their more mature mindset.

"Ino-chan, please calm down. You and I share much the same problem: our parents don't think us ready and shield us from too much of the politics and the reality of shinobi life. Yakumo, Hinata and Shino have all been tutored in politics for years, and Naruto had to fend for himself for a long time. You can't really stay ignorant if you sneak around as much as he does. I didn't want to believe much of what we found out earlier myself, like how politicized the team assignments are. But now I can't keep my eyes closes to the truth any longer."

Finally Ino seemed to calm down. "Sorry for my outburst; all this was just too much for me." she said sniffling while wiping away her tears.

"It's ok, we are all friends here."

After Ino had regained her composure they continued planning.

"I think it best if we learn all fields equally before we specialize. That means each of us should be familiar with the basics of medicine, poisons, taijutsu, seals, ninjutsu, genjutsu, traps, wilderness survival and all that other stuff. If we learn the basics and the theory now we will have a much easier time later. Those of us with clans should learn as much of their clan techniques as possible. Hinata has too much problems with her clan's techniques to really specialize in them, she wants to study advanced medicine instead. I'm already a very good ranger; I think I will concentrate on jutsu creation. Additionally, I recently acquired something very interesting."

Naruto disappeared for a moment into another room but returned immediately with a bag. After he sat back down he opened it and put six metallic objects on the table: One small pyramid and five goblets, all made from the same grey metal and covered all over with seals. Engraved at the bottom of each goblet was a different elemental symbol.

"I explored much of Konoha's underground in the past, and a short time ago I got these together with an explanation what they do. This," he tapped the pyramid, "is an advanced detector for determining your elemental affinity, while the goblets are training tools for developing your elemental masteries."

"Such things exist?" Yakumo asked disbelievingly. "I always thought elemental training takes many years to complete and is very difficult and dangerous."

"Normally yes, but these were apparently created by someone who thought of a better method. If you channel chakra into these things they produce very low-grade elemental chakra to give you a better feel for what you have to do. Here, let me demonstrate." Naruto gripped the stem of the goblet with the lightning symbol. A few seconds later an insubstantial glow appeared inside of the goblet, and Naruto put his other hand directly into the glow. "It's harmless, but in the long-term it should help enormously. Unfortunately we don't really have enough time for concentrating solely on elemental training, but by the time we graduate each of us should be nearing mastery in his chosen element. Let's see what our elemental affinities are. Hinata-chan, if you would do the honors?"

Hinata took the pyramid in her hands and channeled chakra into it. The seals began glowing, and from the tip of the pyramid a small fountain of water erupted. The drops disappeared into nothingness before they could hit anything.

Yakumo was next, but in her case a flame appeared.

Shino's efforts created a small ball of crackling lightning.

When it was Choji's turn another flame appeared.

Sand and small pebbles began to trickle from the top of the pyramid when Ino channeled chakra into it.

Finally it was Naruto's turn. Choji was surprised like all the others when a miniature whirlwind permeated with lightning appeared.

"Hey, how comes we all get only one affinity and Naruto gets two?" Ino asked.

Naruto gave her the overeager smile he often displayed to the world at large. "I'm just that awesome!" Before Ino could explode he became serious again. "I suppose it is luck. We have a good representation of each element here, but Yakumo and Choji will have to share the goblet of fire. Shino, you can have the lightning goblet for now; I will begin with training my wind affinity."

After everyone had taken their respective goblets and tested its functionality their planning session resumed.

"In my opinion we should keep our true skills under wraps until we graduate. We can't win anything if we show our hand at the academy. If we are seen as prodigies it only calls unwanted attention to us, and I don't want to deal with hordes of hangers-on. In contrast, if we appear to improve massively as genin it will give our jonin-sensei more fame and influence as a superb teacher. That could be very beneficial for our long-term goals if we can convince them of our views. Although we should keep our worries about the village to ourselves for the foreseeable future, it isn't like it would do much good if we voice our findings now." Yakumo proposed.

Shino nodded in agreement. "I agree. We have to avoid being seen as alarmists or crackpots. Only after we have attained a sufficiently secure position we can begin to implement our reforms."

Choji had a question. "How can we keep everything secret? We will need books and the help of a qualified teacher for many things; we can't learn everything on our own."

Naruto cleared his throat. "I have already secured the assistance of our teacher Mizuki. After searching in the academy regulations I found something that can help us. Next year we will found a formal study group. According to regulations it needs an adult teacher supervising our activities, and Shino has used his father to pull the necessary strings to get Mizuki appointed. You can trust Mizuki; Hinata-chan and I have acquired… things that ensure his permanent cooperation and silence."

Yakumo raised one eyebrow. "Blackmail or bribery? No, it has to be blackmail, bribery is not secure enough."

"It is b-better you don't know. A-Aside from the chakra exercises y-you can show him everything." Hinata answered.

"Does anyone want to add something or wants to back out?" Naruto asked. When nobody said anything he continued. "Good, that concludes our planning session. We are the Circle of Six, and we will change the future."

* * *

><p>Kenji slowly made his way through the woods to the neighboring village. It was an arduous journey, but in the end it would be worth it. Amaya had such a sweet bum, and her husband had passed through his own village this morning on his way to the trading post. He was often away on business, and Amaya hated being lonely. Kenji was only to happy to correct that problem. He would have to hunt some animals on the way back to explain his absence, but it wasn't anything new. The more often he could get away from his own wife the better.<p>

It was growing dark when he arrived at the village, but something was wrong. There were a lot more people on the village square than usual, and a massive fire was burning. Three solid wooden tables stood around the fire, and a human was bound to each one. Kenji carefully crept closer, making sure he stayed hidden. Some of the people standing around had painted a triangle inside a circle on their foreheads, while others were wearing skull masks. A short, fat person in robes was standing close to the fire and making a speech, but Kenji wasn't close enough to understand the words. When he shortened the distance he recognized the man as the local innkeeper, normally one of the friendliest people he knew.

"…descend from the darkness and grace us with your presence! Let the sacrifice begin to anoint our Lord's newest disciple!"

All the people standing around began chanting at once. "Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!"

The innkeeper approached the first table, and suddenly he held a long knife in his hands. He held it up for all to see before he plunged the knife into the bare chest of the woman lying on the table. The woman began to scream loudly, but the man didn't seem disturbed in the slightest. Instead he began to _saw_. It didn't take him long to create a hole, and with his free hand he ripped the still beating heart out of the body. The crowd rejoiced when he held the heart into the air before throwing it into the big fire. It broke Kenji's heart when he recognized one of the ecstatic faces as belonging to Amaya.

The air assumed an oily quality, and all light seemed to be sucked somewhere else. Kenji knew he should leave, but his eyes were riveted on the scene while he couldn't move a single muscle. When the third sacrifice died the flames became black, sending out rays of not-light. Kenji would wish for the rest of his life to be able to forget what happened next, but the memories would haunt him for all his remaining days. When he was finally able to get help from the nearest imperial garrison he looked like he had aged twenty years and his formerly black hair had turned completely white.

* * *

><p>In distant Konoha a set of golden glowing orbs along with a set of black ones snapped to the northwestern horizon at the exact moment the third heart touched the fire.<p>

A male voice spoke. "We have a problem."

A female voice spat out a single word. "Jashin"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Once again I want to thank my reviewers.

For those of you interested in the pacing of the story: The chapter after next should see Naruto's graduation.


	14. Chapter 13: Getting ready

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 13: Getting ready**

"Who is this Jashin, and why is he a problem?" Naruto asked. Never before had he seen his parents this worried. It was quite unsettling.

"Jashin is a god. Which makes him very, very dangerous to all of us." Daiki explained. "When I entered this world I became aware of the presence of several beings that would qualify as gods or are on a similar level, but they were either sleeping or otherwise indisposed. The danger of them waking always existed, and now it seems to have come to pass. If our original plan had worked we would have been free long ago and would be in a position of strength. Now we are terribly vulnerable. If Jashin or another god should recognize what we are and that we are trapped here he will have almost no difficulty in destroying us all."

"Is the situation really this bad? I thought you were very powerful." the blond boy wondered.

Youko answered his question. "We are. Even if we aren't sure about the exact power levels; in an open fight your father and I would have a good chance at defeating Jashin or most other gods if we can fight them one at a time. The problem is that if he finds us now it would be more akin to us wrapped in chains inside a cage that allows hardly any movement and him completely free on the outside. It wouldn't even qualify as a real fight."

Daiki took over. "We have still some things going for us, though. One, Jashin is seemingly still unaware of our existence. Two, unless he looks very closely specifically at you or Hinata he won't recognize the situation for what it is. A cursory glance would only identify you as a demon container. Otherwise you would appear as a completely normal human. Three, even if he notices you doing something with our power he will probably assume that you are simply agents of another god and won't assign you a very high threat factor, meaning that the stuff he will throw at you should be survivable. Still, if he is active now you will have to deal with his followers sooner or later."

"Then we have to prepare. What do we know about Jashin or his followers in particular?" Hinata asked.

Naruto thought for a moment. "I believe I have seen some casual mentions of Jashinism in the historical texts I read, but they were always small, isolated groups with no real signs of supernatural power. That's all I got."

Youko had more information. "I still possess some vague memories of the Juubi from the age of gods, but they only contain some generalities. Jashin was a dark deity connected with death and destruction. He was always considered dangerous, but he wasn't one of the big players of that time. The Juubi was imprisoned in a special tomb at the end of the age of gods when most divine and demonic beings left this world. It was freed eons later to once more roam the world before the Sage of Six Paths sealed it and split it into the nine Bijuu. As the Kyuubi I occasionally found signs that some gods had remained in this world, but in the millennium of my existence I never encountered definitive proof. Today I recognized his power, and a feeling of enmity towards him from the Juubi part of me."

"We only observed an echo from what he was doing, but I can definitely say it was some sort of invocation ceremony done by mortals that involved human sacrifice some distance to the northwest. It was probably still inside the borders of the Land of Fire, though we can't locate it any more precisely than that. I think the purpose was to imbue a willing target with some of Jashin's power. Considering that we can only perceive the outside world for a few hours every week it is very likely that this has been going on for some time without us noticing. The particular signature of the ceremony indicates he has gathered enough worshippers to establish some sort of support base to grant chosen followers additional powers. At the present time we can say nothing specific about his goals or methods, but somehow his power seemed... foul. You will have to keep your ears open for news relating to Jashinists. If he isn't going for a limited, secret cult the increased propagation of his religion should become public knowledge soon." his father elaborated.

Naruto thought back to his recent lessons about divine beings. In general, gods were interested in gaining followers because they gave several benefits. Not every god used all of the subsequent options, but they existed.

The first and most important reason was that the belief and worship of mortals generated power which could be used to strengthen a god. There were different degrees to that, from doing some rituals once a year without believing in them to sincere and fanatic belief accompanied by constant prayers. You needed to be a divine being of some power in the first place to profit from such things, though. A human could have the entire world worship him, and he still would only be a mortal with delusions of grandeur.

Another reason was that a god could use his mortal followers to act in his stead and generally represent his interests without him having to invest too much effort.

Thirdly, if a mortal was sufficiently harmonized with a god's domain his soul could be used after his death as additional means of creating power. The options ranged from entering a god's personal afterlife to complete integration into the god himself.

A fourth option for gods intimately connected with a specific domain was to draw power from the strength of a connected principle. For example, a god of justice might want to get as many humans as possible to live under a reliable system of fair laws; a god of marriage would want to reduce extramarital relationships and so on. It applied more to weaker gods connected with certain, relatively narrow human philosophical concepts, though.

Generally, the souls of mortals held power. Everyone wanted them, and many beings would go to great lengths to get them. Most demons and some gods lacked the ability to draw power from worship. They tended to outright devour every soul they could get their hands on.

There were a lot more possible sources of power unconnected with mortal followers, and a god or demon would be wise to use as many as possible. Otherwise random events like a simple epidemic that killed a lot of people could have devastating effects on a deity's survival chances. His parents for example were self-sustaining even without any sort of followers. As long as they were imprisoned they couldn't use that method to gather additional power anyway.

"Why would Jashin want to destroy you in the first place?" Hinata asked curiously, interrupting Naruto's train of thought.

Daiki shrugged. "We don't actually know he will do that, but it is a reasonable assumption on our part. Part of it would be simple opportunism. There are rarely divine beings in such a precarious position as us. Jashin could gain a great deal of power from our remnants in exchange for relatively little effort on his part. Furthermore, we are possible rivals for the souls and worship of mortals. Most deities don't like competition."

Naruto frowned. "You said there are more sleeping beings of power in this world. What if they wake up and want their piece of the pie?"

His father's expression became grim. "That danger exists. Normally there are some rules in place to prevent conflicts from escalating too far, and things resemble more an incredibly complex board game with the mortals as tokens. A god directly attacking another god would only happen if the victim is sufficiently weakened from losing in the game. Unfortunately, on this world no power exists that could impose such rules. It may very well be that we are looking at a free-for-all no-holds-barred struggle for dominion over this world in the future."

"For now, we can do nothing about it, but I think we will have to step up your training of directly invocating our power without one of us taking possession of your bodies. You two are the only ones who can do that because of the direct connection to this world. The enchantments of the sanctuary should prevent Jashin from noticing anything; we will reinforce the protections once again. Kit, you will have to learn to better control my chakra; the simple draw you can manage at the moment won't be enough. I want you to be able to control at least two tails by the time you graduate." Youko commanded.

Naruto sighed. "Great, another time-intensive project."

"It can't be helped. Sometime in the future you might need the biggest hammer you can get, and we will do our damnedest to provide you with it."

* * *

><p>Mizuki was in an emotional state he hadn't known for a long time: He was actually genuinely happy with his life. Even more surprising was that this state already lasted for several months. The order to supervise a study group had come as a surprise to him, but he soon realized that it was a boon. Not only did he receive a considerable pay raise; in compensation for his time investment his normal workload teaching idiot children had been markedly reduced. It was quite the exclusive group, consisting of Naruto and the heirs to five great clans. Even more exclusive were the topics they covered in the group.<p>

Before his new assignment he had been a mere assistant instructor helping mainly with the taijutsu and other practical instruction of the children. Mizuki had no illusions that any of them would even remember him after they graduated. He had hated teaching the brats basic skills with a passion, but had been forced to put up a friendly façade. Most of the children had enough connections that a negative remark to their parents could ruin his career even more.

Now though everything was different. All five of Naruto's friends had displayed a burning desire to learn, and they had left the normal academy curriculum far behind. Mizuki found that he actually enjoyed discussing genin- and chunin-level subjects with them. He learnt as much as he taught, especially because Naruto had acquired some books with very advanced topics he needed help with. Help Mizuki was only too eager to provide. It would take him some more time, but he had made good progress in creating his own techniques and honing his skills in general. He wasn't privy to all information, but what he saw was obvious. Naruto had recruited five people with enormous future influence and was gearing up for a long-term take-over of the village. The others saw him as their leader, and they were well on their way to become the most powerful group of genin that had ever graduated from the academy. And Mizuki would be close to all of them, meaning he would probably be receiving a high position in the future power structure. They continued to hide their true skills in class, which Mizuki thought a very wise measure. Nothing was worse than a horde of hangers-on that got in the way of training and that you couldn't even use to further your goals.

That was not the only source for Mizuki's happiness. His relationship with Tsubaki had progressed a good deal, and he was now seriously thinking about proposing to her.

This happy state of affairs came to an end on a Saturday afternoon when a runner delivered a message to him. He was to immediately report to the Konoha hospital. Mizuki hastily complied with a spreading feeling of dread. Upon his arrival he was pointed to the intensive care unit. A doctor awaited him in the corridor.

"Mizuki-san, right?" Upon seeing his confirmation the doctor continued. "I'm sorry to inform you that Tsubaki-san has been seriously wounded in the line of duty and is currently undergoing treatment. Her condition is critical and you are on the top of list of people to inform in such an event. Please wait here, we will call you as soon as practical."

Mizuki felt his insides freeze upon hearing these news, but the medic had already hurried away. A few moments later he found himself sitting on a bench in the hospital corridor. It took him a few minutes before he had completely regained his senses. On a bench at the other side of the corridor sat a blond man going through some reports. Mizuki recognized him as Inoichi Yamanaka, father to his pupil Ino and head of the Torture & Interrogation department. When he spied his lover's name on one of the files he addressed the man.

"Sir, can you tell me what really happened? I only know my friend Tsubaki was heavily injured."

The blond man seemed to notice him only now. Mizuki found himself scrutinized as the man obviously thought about a reply.

"You are in a relationship with Tsubaki-san, aren't you?" He sighed and continued without waiting for a reply. "I suppose it is better to give you the full story before some rumors spring up. All of the following is to be considered secret information, am I making myself clear?"

Mizuki nodded, which was apparently enough.

"As far as we have pieced things together at this point the jonin Aoi Rokusho deceived his genin team after they failed the chunin exams to steal the sword of the Nidaime Hokage and a scroll detailing its use as an alternative means of promotion. When he was about to make his escape to another country with the two objects his genin Idate Morino saw through the deception and tried to get help. This led to Aoi abducting him and killing his two other pupils in the struggle. His older brother, who is my deputy, noticed his absence and took up pursuit together with two ANBU operatives. Unfortunately Aoi had planned his defection in advance and received help from an unknown party. The ANBU were killed and my deputy Ibiki was taken prisoner and tortured in order to retrieve the necessary information to decipher the secret scroll." Inoichi stopped for a moment and let out a deep sigh.

"Tsubaki-san's four-person team was returning from an unrelated mission and detected the chakra emissions from their tries to get the sword to work and chose to investigate. In the ensuing battle her three teammates were killed together with an unknown number of enemy shinobi while Tsubaki-san was heavily wounded by the sword-wielding Aoi. Idate-san was wounded as well, but managed to destroy the scroll and bring Tsubaki and a helpless Ibiki to safety when the building caught fire. Aoi's fate is unknown, but he is presumed to be on the run with the sword of the Nidaime. A short time later a second pursuit team reached them and brought them back here. All of them are currently undergoing medical treatment." he concluded with a sympathetic look before returning to his reports.

Hours passed without any news regarding Tsubaki. Mizuki absentmindedly noticed that the two Morino brothers were out of danger and that Inoichi left after a while. It had grown dark before a doctor approached him with his professional mask firmly in place.

"I fear I have bad news regarding your friend. We did all we could, but her internal injuries are too severe. Tsubaki-san is conscious and not in pain, but we don't think she will see the next morning. She wishes to talk to you. You have my condolences, Mizuki-san."

Mizuki was in a daze when he was led to his lover's room.

'_This can't be happening.'_

When he entered her room and saw her for the first time in weeks he had to use all his self-control to avoid crying out. Her formerly lovely face was marred by a trail of electrical burns and the blanket covering everything below her neck was supported by a wooden frame to prevent it from touching her body. He was just sitting down on the chair at her bedside when she opened her eyes.

"Hello dear."

"Hello love. How are you?" he answered while taking her hand into his.

Tsubaki chuckled lightly. "I know I'm dying; I… just wasn't good enough. There isn't much time left. Please, promise me three things."

"Anything."

"Promise… promise me you won't go after Aoi yourself. Don't blame Ibiki or the kid. Lastly, don't mourn me forever. When the time is right find a nice woman who can make you happy."

Mizuki had tears in his eyes by this point. "I promise."

"Such a sweet man." Tsubaki smiled and closed her eyes.

A few seconds later she stopped breathing.

Hours later, Mizuki aimlessly wandered the empty streets of the village. It wasn't the first time he had lost a friend, but never before had it hurt so badly. He wanted to scream. He wanted to track Aoi down, rip his entrails out, cook them on a fire before his eyes and feed them back to him. But most of all he wanted to take Tsubaki into his arms, hear her voice again and feel her lips on his. Mizuki didn't react when a familiar head of blonde hair appeared before him, nor did he react when he was led to Naruto's home. He just continued to stare into the space before him. A cup with a clear liquid was set before him.

"Drink this." Naruto commanded.

Obediently Mizuki took a deep swallow only to cough when the alcohol traced a fiery trail down his throat. It didn't prevent him from drinking more. Alcohol wasn't a permanent solution, but it would take the edge off the pain. It didn't take much prodding from Naruto to get him to open up; the boy was a quite skillful manipulator when he wanted. When Mizuki woke the next morning he already felt considerably better. He was by no means fine, that would take months, but he was over the immediate shock.

Naruto had already prepared breakfast, and they ate in silence. When he was about to leave the apartment Naruto addressed him. "I promise you, should the opportunity arise I will make sure Aoi will meet a most painful end."

Something was bothering Mizuki. "Why are you doing this for me?"

Naruto gave him an unreadable look. "I care for my subordinates. If they are loyal to me I have a responsibility for their welfare."

Mizuki gulped. Such a thing was rare in the shinobi world. Especially considering that Naruto didn't need to take his feelings into consideration because he held his life in his hands. "Thank you, Naruto-sama."

* * *

><p>Idate Morino stared unblinkingly at the hospital wall. His injuries had already been treated and he could move around as long as he didn't exert himself too strongly, but there was no place where he wanted to go. Four normal ninja, two ANBU and his two teammates dead and his big brother tortured… all because of him. They had participated in the chunin exams in Suna and failed spectacularly in the first round. It had been a disgrace. In retrospect he could understand why his brother had told him that he was barred from making chunin and should reconsider if he wanted to remain a shinobi at all. At the time he had been too angry to think, but now he understood. He and his teammates had gone about the entire thing in a completely stupid fashion. Even after two years as genin they had treated everything as a grand game. Granted, some of that had been their sensei's fault, but still; he should have taken everything more seriously.<p>

Ibiki had seen it and had probably known that almost nothing he could have said would have made much of a difference. Meaning he had started one of his psychological games to either get Idate to prove him wrong and shape up or quit altogether before he got himself or other people killed. When their sensei came to them with an alternate route to promotion it had seemed like a gift from heaven. It was only after Aoi made them to leave Konoha that Idate had become suspicious. When he had begun to object and tried to inform someone…

Idate shuddered at the memories. Aoi had simply smiled and before he knew what was happening Miwa and Ryoichi had been dead. Two years they had been together on a team, and their teacher had murdered them without batting an eye. Following that Aoi had knocked him out; probably to get some ransom later. When he woke up next they were already in some hideout where foreign shinobi had awaited the traitor. His big brother had come for him, but there had been too many enemies. He had been forced to watch the torture of his brother. Despite all the horrible things they did to him he had kept his secrets and only called them amateurs.

'_That was probably even true.'_ Idate thought. _'Big brother has been tortured before, even if he never talks about how he got his scars. Not to mention that he has experience as torturer himself.'_

Aoi had been forced to use trial and error to learn the handling of the Nidaime's sword. Idate shuddered again as his mind went through the next chain of events. The hope upon the arrival of the four Konoha nin, the despair when they were slaughtered one by one in the chaotic battle, the satisfaction he had felt when he managed to destroy the stolen scroll. Despite being wounded by a grazing hit from a water jutsu he had managed to bring his brother and one of the Konoha kunoichi to safety. He had felt some amount of pride that he had been able to do something.

And now the woman was dead. Eight lives had been lost because he had been too stupid to recognize what their teacher was doing and because he had trained too little to make a difference.

'_Never again.'_ Idate vowed to himself. _'Enough with playing at being a ninja. I will train and become stronger. And if I'm lucky I will meet you again one day, Aoi.'_

* * *

><p>Ino yawned sleepily when she made her way to the bathroom. Her mother just had to wake her when she had an especially nice dream. She didn't remember any details, but there had been a lot of kissing and… naughtier stuff. A quick shower later she was sitting at the breakfast table with her parents. Her breakfast consisted of more food than she had eaten on a single day before she joined Yakumo and Hinata, but she didn't have a single gram of unnecessary weight on her body. The training she did saw to that. Her mother occasionally still tried to get her to eat a bit less, but Ino didn't listen to her on that subject anymore. She had come to realize that while her mother wanted the best for her she simply didn't understand the necessities of kunoichi training. Besides, two months after she had stopped dieting her breasts had finally started to develop. There was no way she would endanger that.<p>

Her father stayed out of the argument even if he should have supported her new training regime and corrected her old bad habits. Ino felt no small amount of frustration over her father's behavior. On the one hand he often indulged her and her mother more than was reasonable, but when it came to advanced training and political tutoring he always considered her too young. It had taken her an eternity to get him to teach her the Yamanaka's most basic jutsu, the Shintenshin, and it didn't seem likely that he would teach her anything else before she graduated.

On her way to the academy she ran into some girls who once belonged to her hangers-on.

"Hey Ino, Sasuke-kun is displaying a new technique with shuriken and wire at the academy training field. Want to come along?"

"No thanks; I have to get to the class room."

"Your loss. Come on, girls."

She shook her head when the girls took off in the direction of the training yard. Why would she want to watch some boy display some silly trick she probably already knew? Ino stopped dead in her tracks when she came to the realization that Sasuke didn't mean anything special to her anymore. She hadn't even specifically thought about him in months.

'_When did I stop caring about him?'_ Ino wondered.

The answer was obvious: It was after she stopped spending her entire time surrounded by girls who idolized him. At first after her inclusion into the group she still thought often about Sasuke, but Hinata and Yakumo never talked about him, causing him to slowly disappear from Ino's thoughts. After their grand investigation she had worked her ass off to catch up to the others in their physical and chakra training. She literally didn't have the energy to think much about boys in general and Sasuke in particular. At some point during that time she had lost her crush and admiration for him.

If she now tried to draw a mental picture of the boy she wanted as a boyfriend the result was… Naruto. Ino blinked in surprise. That merited further thought, but she had to get to class if she didn't want to be late.

Soon after she arrived in class the lecture started. Ino listened only with half an ear; the study group was already far beyond these basic lessons on trap setting. She used the time to mentally compare Sasuke and Naruto, especially the things she had once admired about the last Uchiha.

Cunning. You couldn't really get more cunning than Naruto. Learning an enormous number of skills in self-study while living alone since the age of five. Assembling their group of friends. Masterminding the long-term takeover and restoration of their village while displaying the image of an overeager and slightly stupid kid to the world. Being the best student in class couldn't really compare to that. Point for Naruto.

Talent. No contest, point for Naruto. All of them were probably better than Sasuke by now.

Coolness. Well, Sasuke was cool in a dark, aloof way. Naruto was cool in a mature, worldly-wise way, and the weekend when he took their group into the woods was still etched into her memory. His role as an experienced hunter and leader had really shone through. Ino decided she liked the latter type of coolness better.

Looks. Both boys were good-looking in their own way. Ino blushed involuntary when she remembered seeing Naruto train without a shirt on a particularly hot day. His muscles were impressive for a kid their age, and she doubted Sasuke could compare. Additionally, Naruto's whisker marks were just cute.

Tragic past. Being orphaned on the day of one's birth, getting the most dangerous demon in the world stuffed into one by one's own father, being isolated by almost the whole village since one's birth and being the possible victim of a conspiracy beat getting one's own clan slaughtered by one's brother. Furthermore, with the Yondaime as his father Naruto was more or less a lost prince that had been cheated of his birthright. Hell, he was probably the last of his own clan as well. The Uzumaki had once possessed their own village but were now extinct for all she knew.

Popularity. Ino had to give this one to Sasuke, but it was more because Naruto didn't want the popularity. It would interfere with his plans. He was certainly popular with all his friends.

That made it five to one in favor of Naruto, and there were additional considerations. For one, Naruto actually paid attention to her. He listened when she talked and took her opinions seriously. That wasn't to say that he always agreed with her, no, he wasn't afraid to argue, but he took her input into consideration. Ino knew she was a bit of a flirt, and Naruto always flirted back. Until now it had been light-hearted and relatively innocent, but she could easily imagine it becoming more. Additionally, while he tried to hide it he seemed to display an interest in the bodies of all three girls in the circle, so he was definitely interested in girls.

Ino briefly considered the other two boys she was closely familiar with.

Choji was always nice, but she saw him more as a brother she never had. Besides, he never wanted to argue with her, and it wasn't fun to encounter no resistance. Well, he seemed to enjoy his disputes with Yakumo a great deal, so maybe he had already a girl in mind.

Shino was mostly too reserved to outright flirt with her, but even he paid her attention and the occasional compliment. Still, his stoic nature wasn't what she wanted in a boyfriend.

In contrast, Sasuke had always completely ignored her. All three boys of their circle were more capable and far more friendly than him. Why again had she tried so hard to gain the love of a boy who obviously wasn't interested?

Then she remembered something else. The man in the dream last night had blond hair, not black. Her dreams in the past had always been about interactions with Sasuke. Well, the kissing that is. The naughty parts had only appeared of late.

'_Oh god, I think I'm developing a crush on Naruto.'_

* * *

><p>"Do you have a bit of time for me?"<p>

"I have always time for you if you need something, Hinata. What can I do for you?" Youko asked warmly.

It was a beautiful day, and Youko had been trying to create a fusion element from fire and earth. Hinata had heard her talking about it at length this morning. She knew the Yonbi could do it, which meant that the original Juubi had been able to do it, too. If some mortals with a measly bloodline could do it she saw no reason why she shouldn't succeed, after all she was now far more powerful than ever before. Unfortunately, Youko's experiments had been unsuccessful so far, at least judging from the state of the countryside.

With a wave of her hand the burned and torn land changed into lush meadows surrounding a small lake. After they had sat down Hinata began explaining her problems.

"I think something is wrong with my byakugan. Lately I increasingly suffer from headaches, and using it feels subtly wrong. I have enough chakra, and I don't activate it that often anymore since we finished with the investigation, but it doesn't get better." Hinata shrugged helplessly.

Youko hummed thoughtfully. "I can't say I noticed something amiss when you used it around me, but then again I'm not completely familiar with how it works. It would require an in-depth inspection to gather more information."

"Please do it."

"This might feel unpleasant." A gold-red chakra arm extended from Youko and entered Hinata's head. It felt indeed quite unpleasant. Due to her chakra training Hinata could feel the major pathways of her chakra network, and she could feel tugs all over the place. "Please activate your eyes now, Hinata." When she did so her usual headache started, and the unpleasant feeling doubled in intensity. Finally Youko removed her chakra hand from Hinata's head. "You can turn them off now. I have an idea what the problem might be."

Hinata watched in fascination when Youko created an incredibly detailed model of the chakra system of her head region in thin air. Minutes went by, and Youko zoomed in to some sections while creating several slightly different models. Finally she dispelled all models but two before she addressed Hinata.

"Interesting, very interesting. It seems the inbreeding of your clan has affected your byakugan after all. How do you activate it?"

"I simply push chakra into my eyes; when it reaches a certain level they activate and I can change modes simply by varying the flow." she answered.

"I thought so." She created a magnified view of a somehow malformed chakra vein connecting to the back of her eyeballs. "This is the core of the problem. That chakra vein is permanently closed. If it were open the entire chakra flow to and from your eyes would be much smoother. It isn't a crippling problem, and the Hyuuga have compensated by increasing the amount of chakra they pump into their eyes, but that is a suboptimal solution. Incidentally, the location of your blind spot coincides with that. Due to our training this pathway has partially opened and is causing the symptoms you described. If I were to open it completely the problems should go away without any loss in functionality. There might even be some benefits, but no promises about that. I can make the changes now and they will carry over to your body in the outside world, but it will be very painful."

Hinata thought for a moment and came to a decision. "Do it now. Better some moment of pain than the constant headaches."

Youko had been right, it was very painful. In fact, it felt as if someone was poking a white-hot iron into her head. After a few moments the pain disappeared. After a nod from Youko, Hinata tentatively channeled some chakra into her eyes. It was much less than normally required, but her sight expanded nonetheless. She couldn't determine a difference in how she saw things, but her control was much better. A bit of experimentation later and she had explored the main changes.

"My eyes require much less chakra to function, and it feels much more natural to use them. Before I had to literally stuff chakra into too small a space, but now it is more like a constant loop. I can activate them on a moment's notice with barely a thought, and switching modes is much easier. Well, and my blind spot disappeared."

Youko nodded appreciatively. "The flow is much smoother now. I think the actual chakra throughput of your eyes is higher than before, but the now open vein channels it back. In effect you recycle a good amount of the chakra, reducing the overall drain. Oh, and it seems you lost the bulging veins; I can't discern optically if you have your byakugan activated or not. That might cause problems with your clan. Additionally, sometimes your iris expanded until your eyes looked solid; that was when you brought your eyes close to your limit."

After a few tries Hinata found a way to consciously open and close her new pathway, meaning she could choose between the old-style and new-style byakugan. Oh, and her headaches were gone for good, a fact which she thanked Youko profusely for.

"The ability to use your byakugan without anyone noticing will be very useful, and I'm glad I could help you. Is there anything else?" a smiling Youko asked.

Hinata nodded carefully. "I… I think I like Naruto."

The red-haired woman arched an eyebrow. "Oh? 'Like' as in you would like to rip his clothes apart and make love to him on the spot? Or 'like' as in you would like to share your life with him, never let him go and bear his children?"

Hinata struggled to keep her blush in check. It had developed into a game between them. Youko would say or do something to make her blush, and she would try to maintain her composure. By now she rarely lost control. Her stuttering and fainting days were long over, unless she needed to deceive someone. During the grand investigation a year ago she had looked into quite a lot of private rooms where people were busy with intimate activities. It had been very educational, and combined with the years she had spent in the world at the edge of dreams under Youko's tutelage there were very few things she didn't know about sexual relationships. Her body might be eleven halfway to twelve, but her mind was more that of a sixteen-year old. A very naughty sixteen-year old. By now she had come to terms with the fact that she had some voyeuristic tendencies and liked both men and woman. Hell, both Yakumo and Ino sought her advice on such things.

"Both."

"You certainly have my approval. I take it you are aware that you can't display any sort of affection for him while you are in the waking world?"

She nodded. It was an unfortunate fact that she could never have a boyfriend in the outside world. Should her clan discover that she was genuinely endangering the 'purity' of the bloodline she would be either killed or more likely branded with the caged bird seal and imprisoned for life. It made her wonder how her grandmother had managed to have an affair and hide that fact. After all, considering the range of the byakugan you could never be certain you weren't watched if you weren't behind thick walls. It was doubly difficult for her because of her earlier un-Hyuuga like behavior and poor standing in the clan. That ruled out Choji and Shino, the only boys she would have even considered besides Naruto.

Naruto was the optimal choice due to a lot of factors. Most importantly, he was the only one from whom she had to keep no secrets. She knew who he truly was, and it was the same for him. In their time together she had developed genuine affection for the real him, not the idolized picture she had once admired. The image he displayed to their circle of friends was very close to the real him, but there were still secrets. That his parents treated her pretty much like a daughter and they shared a whole world inaccessible by everyone else were additional benefits.

"What is Naruto's opinion about it?"

Now Hinata's face showed signs of frustration. "I tried to talk about it with him but I think he purposefully avoids the topic. He shows clear signs that he is interested in girls, like his expression and physical reactions when he watches us train, but he made no overt moves."

Youko sighed. "I was afraid of that. Somehow he got the idea into his head that he has to wait until he is older before he begins any sort of romantic relationship, which is silly. I think part of his mind is confused how old he really is, probably because of how much time he has spent here without aging. Granted, gods aren't exactly known for their standards concerning sexual morality. As long as all sides are willing and know what they get into I am perfectly fine with everything." She shot Hinata a calculating glance. "He won't take my advice, and my mate is content with letting Naruto have his own way. That means you will be on your own. Start slowly. Flirt with him. Tease him. Pursue him. If he still tries to avoid the matter, spell it out for him in a manner he can't ignore. Either he is willing to enter a relationship with you or he isn't, but then you will know for sure."

A predatory gleam entered Hinata's eyes and she smiled in a manner that would have made Naruto quite nervous had he known about it.

* * *

><p>Yakumo felt very queasy when she left the slaughterhouse after saying goodbye to her friends, but it had been an educational and very important experience. Working in a slaughterhouse for two weeks during the summer break had been another of Naruto's ideas, and it covered a very problematic hole in their academy training: It served to familiarize them with the sight and smell of blood and gore in addition to killing animals. There was nothing that could really simulate the feeling of using a sharp tool to change a living, breathing being to a dead hunk of meat; all while the animals screamed and tried to escape. Or sticking her arms as far as she could reach into the corpse of a cow to properly disembowel it. Sure, she had killed and prepared various poultry before at her home, but that was nothing compared to the butchery in one of Konoha's main processing facilities for animals. It belonged to the Akimichi clan, and it had been easy for Choji to arrange for them to temporarily work there.<p>

On their first day all of them with the exception of Naruto and surprisingly Hinata were in steady danger of puking. Considering that Naruto had been hunting in the woods longer than she knew him that had been foreseeable, but Yakumo wondered how Hinata had gained her resilience. Anyway, that unpleasant episode should help them when the time came for their first real battle. It had certainly given her a few new ideas for genjutsu.

She rubbed her hands in anticipation. _'It will be so much fun using them on my willing test subj-… eh, friends. It isn't payback for forcing me to be the first for each new animal, I would never do that.'_

Her experiments certainly taught them to never underestimate genjutsu. At the same time it gave them valuable experience in recognizing and breaking such illusions. The academy lesson would leave them woefully underprepared to deal with a competent genjutsu user. Yakumo was unquestioningly the best genjutsu user in their group, with Ino on second place. The others all possessed more or less the same basic capabilities.

After five minutes of imagining the horrors she would develop with her memories from the slaughterhouse Yakumo's mind switched to the next important issue on her list: Finding a boyfriend.

Shino had actually been her first choice. They often thought along the same lines, and despite his reserved personality she believed that he could be very affectionate. Unfortunately, it was not to be. After a bit of flirting that left no doubts about her intentions Shino had gently rebuked her. It wasn't as if he didn't like her, no, he had let her in one a closely guarded secret of his clan. The Aburame had problems finding acceptable candidates for marriage. This she had known. What was new to her was that 'acceptable' in this context meant a person who could produce offspring with an Aburame with any chance of success.

Apparently his clan had removed itself quite thoroughly from humanity at large in a genetic sense through a long time of selective breeding to strengthen their bloodline. Meaning there existed very few people with whom they could successfully breed. They had corrected that policy even before Konoha's founding, but such a development wasn't easily reversed. The problem became critical after the Aburame's enormous losses in the third shinobi war. They could no longer afford to marry inside the clan in fear of inbreeding due to their small numbers, nor could the clan allow a relationship without hope for offspring. Shino used his kikaichu to check for compatibility. Unfortunately she wasn't compatible.

After having her hopes dashed Yakumo had turned towards the other two males in her life she considered her friends. At first she simply couldn't decide between pursuing Naruto or Choji. Both had their good points and drawbacks. In the end she used a coin toss to make her decision.

During the past month she had tried to make some advances on Naruto, but so far she had no success. He simply treated her as he always had: as very close friend. It was quite frustrating.

Maybe she should be more obvious about showing her romantic interest in him?

* * *

><p>It was already dark outside when Inoichi arrived to meet with his friends at their favorite bar. The blond man greeted the other men before ordering a drink. He immediately gulped it down before ordering a new one.<p>

"Bad week?" Choza asked.

Inoichi grimaced. "You can say that. It was another of these cults worshipping Jashin. By the time anyone noticed half the local population was already belonging to the cult and happily sacrificing the other half. The army called us in to take out the leadership before they took care of the rest."

"These troublesome cults keep appearing despite the mandatory death sentence for Jashinists. Half a year ago the Fire daimyo outlawed the religion, but it only drives them underground." Shikaku gave his opinion.

Choza shrugged. "It wasn't as if he had a lot of choice, not after what they did in the Land of Hot Springs. Additionally, they call the feudal and social order into question with their talk of the end of days and divine rule."

Inoichi sighed. "I just wish we could find how they gain followers so quickly. No matter what I do, I can't read their minds properly."

"I agree, it is a mystery, but we can't forget that they are a rather minor problem in the great scheme of troubles. Despite the… extreme nature of their deeds, Jashinism has only very few followers and the incidents are pretty rare. The Land of Fire has a lot of other troubles, even after the daimyo has secured his rule and pacified the provinces. I probably will be commuting a lot between here and the capital in the next year. It's so troublesome, but as jonin commander I have to hash out our cooperation with the chief of the secret imperial police." Shikaku said.

Choza was surprised. "They resurrected that organization? The Land of Fire didn't need something like that since the days of the Shodaime."

The Nara clan head could only shrug. "Apparently the daimyo feels differently. They will be small at first and mainly police the higher echelons of the officials. Some of the provincial governors threaten to become too independent and powerful, and there are always some troublesome, scheming nobles to consider. They shouldn't interfere much with the number of missions the village receives. The son of the chief visits the shinobi academy, giving us a bargaining chip if some problems arise."

"Speaking of the academy, how are your children doing? Ino constantly pesters me for more training."

"Choji comes along nicely, he really applies himself. His grades aren't that good, but he admitted to me that he doesn't want to end up with a fan club like the Uchiha boy and keeps them down intentionally. He is already training in some pretty advanced clan techniques." a visibly proud Choza answered.

Shikaku sighed. "I wish Shikamaru would do the same, but we can't seem to get the troublesome boy to take his training seriously. He probably knows the subjects by heart considering that he always passes with the exact minimum amount of points, but I'm worried about his physical training. Yoshino gives me no end of trouble about it."

"He still has time; graduation is still almost a year in the future. In the worst case his sensei will have to kick his ass into gear, he won't be going on any dangerous missions anytime soon. I'm more worried about Ino training too much and not enjoying her childhood. She wants to learn everything now instead of giving it time. I had to put my foot down and refused to teach her more clan techniques until she graduates." Inoichi reassured him.

"I'm not sure if that is wise, but I won't tell you how you have to bring up your daughter." Choza seemed uncomfortable for a moment. "Choji brought something up. You know we planned to ask the Hokage to put our children on one team, but my son requested that we don't do it." The big man held up his hands. "Oh, he still is close friends with Ino and considers Shikamaru a friend, but he said he wants to make his own name for a few years before recreating the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. I would like to hear your opinions."

Inoichi wore a thoughtful expression. "Ino said something similar, and she has real problems with Shikamaru's attitude. She said she doesn't want to have to constantly be on his case to prevent him from slacking off."

The Nara clan head covered his eyes with his hands. "Troublesome. I see their points, though. It would be useless to try and force them together; especially when they know that we influenced the team placement. If they still hold their opinions in a year I agree to letting the Hokage decide without our influence. How did they know about the political nature of the team placements in the first place?"

"Who knows? They seem to know all sorts of stuff. The Kurama girl or Shibi's boy could have known; they seem to have received tutoring in politics. Hiashi's daughter is another possibility, or maybe they have guessed it on their own." the Yamanaka clan head speculated.

Chouza was relieved. Choji had been very forceful with his request. "Then we let them have their own way. Maybe it is for the best, our team formation is widely known. If they learn different skills while on separate teams they could create quite unique moves when they finally get together. It isn't like there will be a war in the near future; they have time to come into their own."

* * *

><p><strong>BLOOD! Give me their blood!<strong>

"Mother wants your blood."

"Get away from me! NOOO…" "No, have mercy… " "Please spare me! Please…"

Soon the cries subsided and only the soft wind of the desert was audible while his sand absorbed the blood of the bandits they had been sent to eliminate. Gaara was content. He had once again proven his existence. The jonin whose name Gaara had never bothered to learn was going on and on about something inconsequential, but he paid the man no mind. If he became too annoying he would feed his blood to Mother. Kankuro still had his two puppets out and Temari her war fan ready, but they knew better than to disturb him.

From one moment to another the voice went silent, and simultaneous gasps from Kankuro and Temari caused him to look up. Something had vertically bisected the jonin cleanly, and his halves were slowly sliding sideways. With a wet plopping sound they separated and fell to the ground. That sort of injury could have only been caused by a wind blade, and from Temari's reaction he inferred that she wasn't responsible. Meaning an enemy was around. Gaara immediately took control of a large amount of sand and let it form a circle around him.

"Heh. Just my luck. Suna's jinchuuriki and his family." A gravelly voice sounded. Turning towards the origin of the voice, Gaara saw a burly man with dark blond hair that was graying at his temples clad in an unremarkable grey jonin uniform standing atop the dune bordering the now destroyed bandit camp. On his belt he wore a slashed hitai-ate that Gaara identified as belonging to Ishigakure, one of the minor villages bordering the Land of Wind. "I go for a short reconnaissance and the idiots manage to get themselves killed. I really should have followed the other group. Damn coin toss."

"Who are you?" Kankuro shouted.

"Katsuo Maruyama, until recently right hand of the village leader of Ishigakure. Originally I was on my way out of the Elemental Nations before the bounty on my head becomes widely known, but you just killed my support group." Cold grey eyes scrutinized them before he smiled without the slightest trace of amusement. "Then again, you're a nice consolation price. Your bastard father killed my brother and son while your bitch of a mother did for my daughter and both grandchildren. I think I will return the favor."

**I want his blood!**

"Temari, Kankuro, stay back. I will spill his blood."

"But Gaara…" Temari began.

"Stay out of this or I will kill you!" Gaara snapped.

Katsuo let out a short bark of laughter. "Confident, aren't we? Let's see what you got."

A wave of sand shot towards the man but hit only empty air. A few thrown shuriken were effortlessly stopped by his sand defense, but Gaara quickly grew frustrated with the fight. The man was too quick and kept his distance, his sand never managed to catch up to him and Mother's screaming got steadily more intense. Katuso constantly created smallish blocks of a black stone without hand seals and hurled them against him, but he always battered them away. Most weren't that precisely aimed in the first place and didn't pose any danger to him. Then everything changed. He heard only a "Heh, enough playing around." before Katsuo seemed to disappear and he received a vicious uppercut directly to his chin that lifted him into the air. Before his sand could react more blows rained down upon him; a kick to his chest drove the air out of his lungs before he was violently flung away and collided painfully with the ground, though his sand managed to cushion his fall. Unsteadily he stood up, his sand armor flaking away almost completely.

**Release me; I will deal with this nuisance myself. **_'Yes mother, he will pay for hurting us.'_

Gaara made a hand seal and the sand began to create a solid sphere around him, held tight by Mother's power while he himself maintained a floating sand barrier a little distance away. Normally he was loath to release Mother, but this seemed a fitting opportunity. The man would pay with his blood for hitting him. Gaara never noticed the horrified looks of his siblings.

"Earth Release: Obsidian Shower"

Suddenly a hail of sharp black stones was coming right at him, but Gaara wasn't worried. He had enough time to move his sand into their way… only for the projectiles to punch right through as if his sand wasn't even there. The sand controlled by Mother tried to deflect them but had no more success than he had. The cocoon dissolved immediately under the onslaught. A sharp pain caused him to look down. One of the black stones had sliced his right side open. From a big, ragged wound a sheet of blood was flowing and already covering his right leg. Gaara watched with incomprehension as it dripped to the ground in one big stream and several smaller ones from other wounds.

"What's this warm stuff? Mother what did… Ahh… Uwaaaaa! Blood… my… my BLOOD!" he screamed while holding his head.

"Pathetic. You didn't think I would let you actually transform? Secret Art: Reign of Divine Silence"

Gaara only now noticed that he was standing in a circle of obsidian blocks with glowing seals on their surface. A shockwave of blue light emerged from them and hit him in the blink of an eye. It felt like his entire body was on fire.

"AAAAHHH!" **AAAA-…!**

The voice of Mother was abruptly cut off, and he could feel his control over the sand falter. He first fell to his knees and then on his back. Without the steady flow of demonic chakra he felt as weak as a baby, especially in combination with his earlier injuries.

"Kid, you're not the first jinchuuriki I have faced. In fact, you don't even hold a candle to your predecessor. It's typical for the arrogance of the great villages to simply assume no one would develop counters against their super weapons. You rely solely on your sand and demon-supplied strength. You are pathetic. But don't worry, I will release you from your miserable existence in short order. A free, rampaging demon will be a nice parting gift to the Elemental Nations. Obsidian Shower!"

Gaara could only watch helplessly as the hail of sharp stones moved towards him. He closed his eyes and raised his hands in an instinctive defense, but opened them immediately when he heard the typical sounds of Temari's fan followed by the sound of stone hitting cloth and metal and something wet splattered against him. Before him stood Temari with the ruin of her beloved war fan in her hands, bleeding from several wounds. It was her blood that now covered his hands and face.

"I won't let you hurt my brother!" Temari shouted before her legs gave way and she fell down. Gaara saw that a jagged piece of steel from her fan had pierced her leg, but it had seemingly missed the artery. He could see some other wounds from grazing hits by the stones and pieces of her fan, but they looked relatively shallow compared to his own wounds. A long groove in the ground marked the direction her windblast had taken, but their enemy had evaded it effortlessly. Her attempt at deflecting the black stones with her wind obviously hadn't worked completely. It had been enough to change the course of the missiles somewhat, but some still got through and shredded her fan, peppering her with steel- and stone fragments.

"Nice try, missy, but you have to use far more power if you want to do something against my attacks. Too bad I broke your little fan."

Suddenly the man jumped to the side; just in time to evade a flurry of senbon needles Kankuro had launched from his puppet. Gaara glanced at his sister; the girl was still down and busy ripping a strip of cloth from her clothes to use it as makeshift bandage. She was obviously in a lot of pain; while the steel piece had missed large blood vessels it stuck deep in her leg muscles. Temari wouldn't be able to fight in this condition.

A new splash of blood hit Gaara, this time from Kankuro. After blinking away a few drops of blood he could see that despite the amount of shed blood Kankuro seemed only lightly wound and continued to engage their enemy. He had used his puppets and body to shield them from another attack that Gaara hadn't even seen coming. If only he could muster the strength to move! Gaara was becoming weaker by the minute; he could feel his blood still flowing out of the large wound in his side and could do nothing but watch the fight between his brother and their enemy. Something was strange about it. It seemed that the man was more testing the puppet's capabilities rather than fighting them seriously. Suddenly Katsuo jumped backwards to avoid a cloud of poison gas… right into the opened body of Kankuro's larger puppet. The hatch closed immediately, trapping Katsuo inside.

"Now I've trapped you! Die!" Kankuro shouted. His puppet Crow detached its body parts, which immediately launched itself blade-first into the barrel-like chest of the larger puppet. After nothing happened for a few moments, Kankuro seemed to relax, but something was wrong. Gaara's eyes widened in realization. The sound of the blades striking had been wrong.

Suddenly both puppets shattered in a great cloud of splinters. In their place stood a spiky copy of the man made from the same black material he had used in most of his attacks. _'A clone.'_ Gaara thought. He noticed movement behind Kankuro who stared at the unexpected destruction of his puppets aghast. Before Gaara could shout a warning, Katsuo emerged fully from underground, grabbed Kankuro, broke his right arm like a twig and gave him a mighty kick that send him flying through the air. Gaara was sure that he had heard ribs breaking. At the end of his flight path Kankuro collided with a boulder, causing again the sharp crack of snapping bones before he slid to the ground and lay unmoving.

"Boy, if you have to play with puppets use at least your own toys. I remember these from my fights with Sasori of the Red Sands before the last war. He was much better with them than you are. And ditch that silly cat suit and make-up, it makes you look like an idiot." He laughed his gravelly laugh. "Not that you will have much opportunity to change your behavior."

He turned around and approached Temari and Gaara. "And you missy, you relied far too much on that fan of yours. I watched while you killed the bandits. Without it you're nothing." He assumed a thoughtful expression before a cruel looking obsidian knife materialized in his hand. "I think I will peel your face like an apple before I send your corpse back along with the heads of your brothers. If I'm lucky that will trigger a new war, it would serve the bastards in my old village right for banishing me."

For the first time since his uncle had tried to kill him Gaara felt true fear. No, it was even worse. He hadn't been that helpless against Yashamaru; Mother had always been there to help him. But now he was alone and saw his death approaching in the form of the burly man with the cold eyes. He began to shake in terror. Suddenly he felt a warm hand embracing his own. Turning his head, he saw that Temari had crawled over to him and was holding his hand, tears spilling from her eyes.

"I'm sorry I wasn't a better sister to you, little brother, but you aren't alone. At least we can face our death together like a family."

Before Gaara could respond Katsuo stopped abruptly and clutched his neck. Gaara noticed a tiny arrow sticking there. His breathing suddenly labored, the man staggered and fell to the ground.

"Ha. Got you." Kankuro wheezed, a small blowpipe for poison darts falling from his mouth.

Katsuo let out a chuckle while the veins in his head were visibly turning black and blood bubbled on his lips. "Heh. Killed like a rookie because I didn't make sure you were out of the fight. Congratulations. I hope you'll learn something from this." he said before he stopped breathing forever.

Much later, Gaara sat cross-legged on a boulder overlooking their small campsite. For the first time in his life Mother was silent. He knew it wouldn't last, he could hear her soft snoring in his head and her power was once again coursing through his body. The desert night was… peaceful. It gave him some much needed time to think. His gaze often returned to his sleeping siblings close to the campfire or the bloody bandages on his side. Some additional blood had soaked into his clothes and covered his hands. Not anyone's blood. It was his own, mixed with that of his siblings.

After the battle he had been lying on the ground slowly bleeding to death. His automatic defense wasn't working anymore and he couldn't muster the concentration to move the sand on his own. It would have been the easiest thing in the world for Temari or Kankuro to kill him in that moment. He knew only too well that a few more minutes would have sufficed for him to die of blood loss; they wouldn't even have needed to do anything. Only… they hadn't. Not only had both of them thrown themselves in harm's way to save his life, they had bandaged his wounds. Gaara could feel them healing, he would probably be fine in a few days. Kankuro had sustained the worst injuries, but he would be okay after a few weeks in the hospital. Aside from the leg wound Temari's injuries were the lightest of them. His sister had some basic knowledge of medical jutsu; it was enough to stabilize them. She had sent one of her weasels for help, but it would probably take until mid-morning until they arrived; their current location was fairly isolated.

He once again looked at his bloody hands. The blood of his siblings was indistinguishable from his own. He didn't like the sight of his own blood. Suddenly he came to the realization that he also didn't like the sight of his siblings' blood. They… valued his continued existence. It felt nice. In that moment Gaara came to a decision. He wouldn't kill them even if they became annoying or Mother wanted their blood. As long as they lived they would acknowledge his existence.

That brought him to the last battle. It was only a mistake of their enemy that had allowed them to win. Due to his insomnia he had spent many nights reading. It helped him deal with the noise. Mother was Mother, but sometimes her voice was just so… loud. By now he was probably one of the most well-read people in Suna. Gaara had discounted many things about shinobi tactics that he had read; after all he was almost invincible with Mother's help. Only now he realized that wasn't really the case. Only the sand armor was truly his own. While he controlled the majority of his remaining sand, Mother supplied most of the necessary chakra.

Now that he thought about it dozens of ways to circumvent his sand came to mind. Or to simply overpower it, as their adversary had done. That state of affairs was simply unacceptable. Luckily he had already most of the necessary theoretical knowledge to train other shinobi skills. Besides improving his sand-based powers he would have to acquire a lot of other abilities. The physical training in particular would be unpleasant, but it had to be done. Never again would he be defeated so easily. The same was true for his siblings. Temari would have to branch out her skills and not rely so much on a single piece of equipment. The same applied to Kankuro. In his case Gaara would have to get him to refrain from using makeup and wearing that silly headdress. It simply wouldn't do for any of his family to become a laughing stock. He would probably have to apply quite some pressure to change their habits, but he was no stranger to threats.

Family… A new thought appeared in his head. Mother was currently sleeping and probably wouldn't wake up for a while. That enabled him to try something he had seen other families with siblings do. Nodding to himself, he left his post on the rock.

The next morning Temari received the shock of her life when she found a dozing Gaara cuddled up to her.

* * *

><p>It was a sunny if somewhat cool day in Konoha a few days after the end of the winter term of the ninja academy. Three teens were sitting atop the Hokage monument enjoying the late morning sun around a blanket and a picnic basket. A casual observer would notice that each of the three probable academy students was engrossed in a different innocuous activity and discard any thoughts of suspicious activity on their part. A closer inspection would yield some more details.<p>

The only female among them, a pale girl with bluish-black hair, was attentively looking around, an open book on bird watching and a checklist of different bird names in her lap. From time to time she would check one of them.

A chubby boy with brown hair and spiral tattoos on his cheeks was lying on his belly and writing in a notebook, a bag of chips besides him. If the aforementioned observer would invest the effort to sneak a peek at the book he would discover that the boy was apparently trying to write poetry.

The last of the trio was a blond boy with blue eyes and whisker marks on his cheeks. He was leaning against a rock with his arms behind his head and his face pointed towards the village, seemingly dozing or cloud watching most of the time.

If the hypothetical observer would go to the trouble and listen to their conversation he would only witness idle chat about academy topics, friends or general stuff that teens talked about. Now, if said observer would be able to stick around and avoid detection by the girl's very unique byakugan and the blond boy's extremely sharp senses of smell and hearing he would hear a very different and far less innocent conversation.

"It seems Kakashi finally showed up and gave them some lame-ass excuse about getting lost on the road of life. He is now giving them the same spiel he gave the last genin team half a year ago." Naruto said.

"I see two b-bells in his hand; he indeed seems to intend to give them the same t-test he gave the last two groups we observed him testing in the past." Hinata added.

"…munch, munch… no sense in wasting a perfectly good picnic day. Just keep observing, perhaps something interesting happens." Choji decided.

Hinata was using the telescope vision of her byakugan to observe the distant training ground 3 optically, the trees being only a minor obstacle to her matter-penetrating gaze. Naruto was using one of his original jutsu utilizing wind manipulation to create an effect similar to a directional microphone to add the audio information. Together they were giving a running commentary of the happenings that Choji wrote down in a cipher that looked for everyone without the key like bad poetry.

"… and Ichigo still hasn't noticed he is trapped in a genjutsu and only attacking a tree. I only hope his sword isn't too badly nicked at the end of the day." Hinata commented.

"Judging from her breathing Rukia is still unconscious from that water jutsu Kakashi used after she got a little too liberal with some fire bombs. She was lucky she didn't set the whole forest ablaze." Naruto informed them.

"Aizen has just engaged K-Kakashi in a taijutsu battle. What's that, Kakashi seems as if he is f-faltering. Has Aizen managed to get a hit through? ... No, it w-was only a feint and Kakashi is n-now behind him and seems to preparing a jutsu that … ouch."

"What happened? I heard Kakashi saying the jutsu's name, Konohagakure's Most Secret and Sacred Technique: One Thousand Years of Death, and Aizen shrieking like a little girl, followed by a splash some time later. Was it a cool jutsu?" Naruto inquired.

"It was a c-chakra-enhanced ass poke. Aizen was c-catapulted into the river." Hinata said with a disgusted expression.

Choji stopped writing and turned around to stare at Hinate, as did Naruto. "D-Don't look at me like that, it's really what he did. It's not my f-fault Kakashi is a perverted porn addict who gets his jollies by sticking his f-fingers into young boys' asses."

"Oookay, I vote we do our damnedest to avoid getting assigned to Kakashi. All in favor?" Choji asked. Both Hinata and Naruto nodded.

"That shouldn't p-pose much of a problem. He is certain to get Sasuke from our year b-because only he can train him in the use of his sharingan once it awakens. S-Sasuke already has the title of rookie of the year as good as bagged. That means they will assign the t-top kunoichi and the dead last to his t-team if they stick to tradition. With the domination of the academic knowledge in the t-test scores Sakura is certain to take that position." Hinata said with a brief look of distaste at the mention of the pink-haired girl's name. "You two have simply to avoid b-being dead last." she added with a smile which caused Naruto and Choji to stick out their tongues at her.

After a few moments, Naruto stood up and stretched.

"Kakashi gave them the same speech about teamwork he gave the last team and sent them back to the academy. I really wonder if this idiotic bell test is only a fake to fail the teams assigned to him. After all, he never accepted a team even if he shows up each term." he wondered.

Choji closed his notebook and assumed a sitting position. "That was the last team test for this term. Nothing really remarkable about the teams or tests, not like half a year ago when that spandex-clad madman tested his team's 'fires of youth'. Sometimes I wonder why they bother with these tests, the outcomes are obviously rigged." After a look at his now empty bag of chips and at the position of the sun he declared "It's time for lunch anyway. I can't wait to see what mom packed this time."

Hinata and Naruto agreed even if it was still a little early. They had been at their observation post since before Kakashi's stated time for the test in the unlikely event that the man arrived early to prepare the training ground. They had brought some snacks, but nothing compared to an Akimichi picnic package assembled personally by Choji's mom. She was justifiably hailed as one of the best cooks in the entire clan. After they had feasted enough on the delicious food, conversation sprung up again.

"W-What do you think will be the optimal team structure for all of us?" Hinata asked.

"Well, that is difficult to say. The members of our circle can work together in almost any combination. It really depends a lot on which jonin will be available to teach. Have any of you heard anything?" Naruto said.

Choji had an answer for that. "It's a bit too early to be certain, but some talk has started. There are rumors that Kurenai Yuhi wants to take on a team. She has just made jonin, and apparently wants to get the required teaching out of the way. Other than that, nothing."

"She's the highest level genjutsu user that Konoha currently has after the death of the Kurama clan, isn't she? Yakumo-chan would probably like her as a teacher; she has the necessary knowledge to bring out her talents."

"Ino w-would also profit from her teachings, genjutsu h-have a lot in common with manipulating minds." Hinata interjected.

"How many teams do you think they will let pass in the end?"

"Let's see, first we have all the clan heirs, you, Shino, Sasuke, Yakumo, Ino, Hinata, and Shikamaru if he manages to find enough motivation to actually pass the test. That's already seven people they can't possibly send back. I'm pretty much guaranteed to get a team because of being the resident jinchuuriki and the Hokage's pet project, Kiba is also a safe bet. Sakura has enough potential and her family is connected enough to get her a spot. Ten people overall; that means we're looking at four teams with two lucky guys from the rest of the class thrown in." Naruto reasoned. "Kakashi and Kurenai are likely to become senseis, that leaves two unknowns for the other two teams. If Shikamaru doesn't improve his grades he will end up with Kakashi. Sometimes I think his laziness is becoming worse every day, we have only half a year left to graduation and he still does only the minimum necessary amount of work. That attitude will get him killed one day. "

Choji looked sad at that. Shikamaru had been his friend from an early age, but they had drifted apart over time. The Nara boy did only the minimum amount of work necessary to pass the tests and seemed only interested in sleeping and cloud-watching. Sure, his clan had a reputation for laziness, but Shikamaru took it to whole new level. Without his deep friendship with Naruto Choji would probably have gone along with it, but he had changed a lot since getting to know the energetic blond boy.

"Can't we do anything about Shikamaru? Nobody deserves to be on a team with Sakura and Sasuke under Kakashi." Choji pleaded.

Naruto looked at him thoughtfully before nodding. "Alright, we can try again one more time, but I don't think it will change anything. There appears to be nothing that gets through to him. I don't want to show our hand completely, so we just warn him about his possible future team and invite him to the study group again."

"Thanks Naruto. I still remember the time when he, Ino and I played together as small children. He's a friend, and I hate to see him die because he's lazy and got a bad team." Choji said gratefully.

"J-Just remember you can't help somebody who doesn't want help." Hinata warned sadly. "That way lays only grief. I know; I tried it for years with my c-cousin."

A dark cloud seemed to pass over them before Choji put on a cheerful smile and asked "Well, who wants a piece of lemon cake?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>My thanks to my reviewers. The next chapter will contain the graduation and team assignment.

A word on pairings: I do know which pairings I will use at the end, but even if some characters form a relationship there is no guarantee that it will hold throughout my story.

No Bleach crossover is intended; I'm not familiar with that particular universe (not enough time to read). My nephew is a fan and made me put these names in. For some reason he wanted to let Kakashi use his special jutsu on Aizen.


	15. Chapter 14: Graduation

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

WARNING: This chapter contains a hopefully not too-explicit scene of a certain nature. It won't go beyond (heavy) petting/groping without actual intercourse, but I thought it prudent to give advance warning. Watch for the appearance of lemons if you don't want to read it. It is a fairly important point of character development, though. No further warnings about content of that nature will be given from this point on.

**Chapter 14: Graduation**

"… and if you manage to land a hit on these spots the f-fight is pretty much over. Unfortunately, against a competent and aware enemy with not too much of a skill d-difference that is almost impossible. Therefore you should aim for crippling h-hits that hamper the enemy's ability to defend himself from more damaging attacks. Even mere flesh wounds can help due to the b-blood loss; every little advantage can help you win the f-fight. Depending on if you need the enemy for something else or if he is expendable, striking these areas," the girl pointed at several specific areas of the diagram she had drawn on the blackboard, "offers the highest chance of success, but it will leave them in need of t-timely attention by a medic-nin if they aren't to stay permanently crippled. Thank you for your attention." Hinata concluded her lecture.

After congratulating Hinata for her well-done effort Ino retired into a corner of the class room they had appropriated to go through some of the notes she had taken during the lecture. The winter break was nearing its end, and soon the academy would start again. The circle was using the free time to do a bit of cross-lecturing about the different areas they had specialized in. Today's lecture by Hinata had been about the application of medical knowledge in combat. It went far beyond the basic information they learned in the academy, even if some of Hinata's suggestions had been somewhat disturbing. On the one hand Hinata was the gentlest and friendliest girl Ino knew… while on the other hand her lecture had once again shown that she could be the most vicious at the same time. To even contemplate such tactics… Ino shuddered a bit. Sure, it was effective, but normally you needed the mindset of a professional with several years of experience to get to that point.

Soon it was time for them to depart to their respective homes, and through careful timing Ino managed to intercept Naruto when he was about to leave.

"Would you like to walk home with me, Naruto-kun? We have largely the same way."

For a moment it seemed as if he was about to say yes, but his expression went rapidly through some changes she couldn't identify before he shook his head. "Sorry Ino-chan, but I have to check some projects I'm currently working on. Perhaps another time."

"Okay." Ino said a bit dejectedly. She stayed behind for a moment to exchange some words with Shino before she left the academy. Outside she met up with Yakumo.

"I guess you didn't have any more success than I did?" Ino asked.

"No, as usual Naruto-kun declined. Sometimes I wonder if he is interested at all."

Ino shook her head. "No, it isn't that. We clearly get some reactions from him. Sasuke just ignores everyone. Naruto often appears as if he wants to say yes but holds himself back forcefully."

"You're right. As often as we notice him watching us he is clearly interested in girls in general and us in particular. Still, his behavior doesn't make much sense. He tries to keep us at arm's length, but sometimes he makes a move only to backpedal immediately. Whenever the topic of relationships comes up he steers the conversation away from it." Yakumo sighed. "Want to come with me to my house? We can talk more over some tea."

"Sure, I have still some time left before my parents expect me back."

It had come as no small surprise for Ino when she noticed Yakumo displaying a romantic interest in Naruto as well. At first she had feared a repeat of her experience with Sakura; their rivalry in their pursuit of Sasuke had completely destroyed a once wonderful friendship. This time it had been different. Neither she nor Yakumo wanted their friendship to suffer, and they had come to an accord. They would compete for Naruto's affection in a friendly manner without trying to sabotage the other. The final decision would be Naruto's alone, and the defeated party would accept that without fuss. Ino hoped she would be able to abide by that plan, but her resolve hadn't been called into question yet. So far none of them had made any headway with Naruto despite a little over half a year of trying, and they were slowly growing frustrated. On the positive side, they had always each other to talk about their lack of progress. Their intense training schedule didn't leave them much time for the pursuit of Naruto, which was the main factor why they hadn't lost their patience until now.

Talking about their different ideas to finally get him to either take one of them out on a date or declare that he wasn't interested they made their way through the village. It didn't take long for them to arrive at Yakumo's house.

"What sort of tea do you want? I have several flavors stocked." Yakumo asked.

Before Ino could come to a decision a knock on the door interrupted them. When Ino went to open it she found Hinata standing before her.

"Hello Hinata. I thought you wanted to return home. What brings you here?" she asked while ushering her into the living room.

"I heard you talking about trying to get Naruto to notice you, and I think I should be part of this conversation." Hinata answered.

"Why, do you fancy him, too?" Yakumo asked half in jest.

"I do. Without his h-help I would still be completely alone and devastated by the demands of my clan. Only Naruto's determination and f-friendship kept me from falling into depression. He taught me so many things I can't even b-begin to count them and showed me a world I would have never found on my own. Naruto is everything t-to me and I would do almost whatever he asked of me. I love him with all my heart." Hinata declared in a serious tone.

Ino got a sinking feeling while listening to Hinata continue talking about Naruto. She knew Hinata well enough to recognize that the girl was speaking the complete truth. When she tried to place Hinata's expression the closest things she came up with were how Choji's mom looked at his dad, or how her own mother looked at daddy. That meant… oh. It really seemed as if the girl was deeply in love with their crush. Ino was honest enough with herself to say that while she had a fairly substantial crush on Naruto she couldn't match the depths of Hinata's feelings. A sidelong glance to Yakumo showed her that the brunette was coming to the same realization. Regretfully she was about to announce that she was about to give up on him in favor of Hinata when the girl continued speaking.

"… but I will never be able to be with him."

"Wait, what?"

Hinata wore a very pained expression. "Did you f-forget what I told you about my clan? Hyuuga aren't allowed to marry anyone other than a Hyuuga. I will never be allowed to have a boyfriend. Someday the elders will choose a h-husband for me, and I will have no choice but to obey. If I'm ever even suspected of endangering the purity of the bloodline I will face either imprisonment for life in the clan c-compound or an 'accident' will be arranged." Tears became visible in Hinata's eyes. "Naruto deserves all the happiness he can get. Happiness I can't give him. You are both my friends. If either of you can capture his heart and make him happy you have my blessings."

This confession provoked a tearful embrace and several minutes of declarations of friendship. Finally the conversation returned to the topic on hand.

"I think Naruto-kun is conflicted because he can't decide which of you he likes b-better and doesn't want to hurt anyone. Maybe he even recognizes that I like him and doesn't want to cause me pain. Give me some t-time; I will talk to him and convince him to make a decision." Hinata promised.

"Are you sure? Whenever a conversation enters a topic remotely related to relationships Naruto steers the conversation away from it or leaves." Yakumo remarked.

A very peculiar glint entered Hinata's eyes. "Oh, trust me. I hope I can avoid extreme m-measures, but I will get him to deal with the problem. You have my w-word on it. In the meantime, work on him together. I can't promise that he will actually agree to take one of you as his girlfriend, but I should be able to get him to stop with his inconsistent b-behavior."

* * *

><p>It was a very warm day in the world at the edge of dreams, with the temperature just short of being unpleasantly hot. In the copse of lemon trees surrounding a small waterfall it was a bit cooler; which was one of the reasons Naruto had chosen it as his resting place. Strangely, some of the trees were in full bloom while others were littered with fruit. Naruto had reached it after about a day of swift travel from the house of his parents. Currently he was lying under a tree only clad in his pants after he had cooled down in the small lake at the base of the waterfall. He hoped the distance would give him some time to find a solution to his problems.<p>

Naruto had four problems. Three of them bore the names Ino, Yakumo and Hinata. The last one hung between his legs. Or rather, and that was a very big part of the problem, stood with increasing frequency and duration. In short, his sex drive was slowly getting out of control.

Now, normally children don't really know what these urges are about and need a few years to figure everything out. Naruto's specific problem was not only that his body developed very early; thereby subjecting him to these urges far earlier than his peers; but that he was already very mature mentally when it happened. That meant he knew exactly what was happening and why, and he had only to determine what he liked. It hadn't him taken long to determine that he was absolutely straight. That still left him subject to these urges, and they became stronger with time.

At first it hadn't really been a problem. He had some interesting dreams from time to time after which he had to clean his bedding and he paid more attention to attractive specimens of the female gender. Naturally that interest focused largely on older woman; the girls of his age hadn't reached the point for his body and subconsciousness to recognize them as valid options. Occasionally he had to relieve himself when the pressure became too much (his memorized image of a nude Anko helped enormously here), but all in all it was manageable.

That came to an end when the three girls of his acquaintance reached a point where they became interested in boys, more specifically in him. Hinata was developing early like him, but at first she had been too repressed to register in that manner with him. Later on she had been as discreet as possible with her own needs. All that had changed around a year ago. It wasn't the flirting and light teasing that was the problem. Neither were the slowly developing curves of the three girls. He could have weathered all that. The problem was their scent.

'_I wonder how Kiba deals with it.'_ Naruto thought.

For years his heightened sense of smell had been a boon, but now he was beginning to curse it. Each person had their own unique scent, and Naruto was able to determine some things about the person in question. It wasn't some secret knowledge, no; it was roughly the olfactory equivalent of seeing someone's facial expression and general complexion, but it included some areas that people normally didn't expect to become known and therefore didn't guard against. For example, Naruto was very aware of the physical attraction and occasional arousal the girls felt. In other people he could simply ignore it, but he was close enough emotionally to all three girls that something in his brain decided 'potential mates, woo them now!' and elicited physical responses on his part. Very big and hard responses.

While he could shut down his nose in order to ignore their scents a moment of inattention was enough for his subconsciousness to ramp the sensitivity of his nose back to the max. Their scents were just so enticing, tempting, alluring, beguiling, seduc-… GAH! Not to mention distracting. It had become a delightful torture for him not to do anything inappropriate and use all his considerable self-control to keep anyone from noticing. Upon questioning his parents he had learned that part of it was a build-up of mental effects caused by him visiting them. The time-compression and interaction with his sleeping body played merry hell with his mental development, and indirectly with his hormonal responses. His parents did everything they could to keep him sane, and he had to admit that an age-inappropriate sex-drive was better than all the alternatives they had listed, like manic depression or a massive amount of his old friend paranoia.

It had become infinitely worse when all three of the girls decided they wanted him as their boyfriend around half a year ago. In general he had nothing against that, but he simply couldn't trust himself not to go too far if he allowed one of the girls to get close. That meant he had to keep his distance until they all were a few years older, as hard as it was for him. Unfortunately, he simply couldn't bring himself to completely block their advances, leaving him in a quite uncomfortable spot. He had hoped to find some peace in the world of his parents, but while he was safe from Yakumo and Ino a far more dangerous and determined predator had unrestricted access to him. Hinata acted normal in the waking world, but here it was different. She flirted and teased mercilessly and wore more and more daring clothing. While nothing so far could be considered really inappropriate, she had enough curves by this point to pull it off. Combined with an awful lot of deliberate physical contact she initiated it was driving him spare. It was made worse by the fact that he could smell exactly how much she was attracted to him… and how strong her own sex-drive was.

In an effort to escape all this Naruto had let his parents turn him into a fox, and it had helped for a short while. That lasted until he met a vixen with bluish-black pelt the next day in the woods. A vixen who was very, very attractive if seen through the eyes of a male fox. The instincts of his fox form had nearly led to an _accident_ before he regained control, which incidentally seemed to disappoint the vixen a great deal. Apparently Hinata had not only learned magic in her alone time with his parents, she had learned to cope with a different shape and was now equally comfortable as fox and human. Anyway, this encounter had shown that there was no escape and Hinata was extremely determined in her pursuit of him.

The worst part was that he was horny as hell and wanted it badly.

'_We are too young, dammit.'_ he thought once again.

Suddenly he felt something magical colliding with him and he lost control of his body. A few seconds later Hinata entered his field of vision. She wore skintight buckskin breeches and a sleeveless doublet made from the same material. It was cut in a way that emphasized her developing breasts quite nicely without really giving much away. To Naruto's surprise Hinata seated herself directly on his belly. Her purpose became clear when he felt the magic holding him fade away. With Hinata sitting on top of him he wouldn't be able to get away.

"Sorry about that, Naruto-kun, but we have to talk. I won't let you evade the conversation this time."

Naruto gulped. "What conversation?"

Hinata giggled. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you know what this is about."

After this comment Hinata began to caress his upper body, and combined with the feeling of her legs it elicited an immediate physical response. Luckily he had shut down his nose the moment he caught a glimpse of the girl; Naruto doubted he would be rational at this point if it were otherwise. Hinata wasn't sitting exactly on his groin, but her position was close enough that one rapidly hardening part of his anatomy was touching her backside.

"I yield, I yield! I promise I won't try to avoid our talk; please stop."

Immediately Hinata stopped her caresses. "Good, but I will stay on top of you until we are finished." She smirked. "I rather like the feeling of you under me."

He ignored that in favor of asking a question. "What exactly about our relationship do you want to talk about?"

Hinata took a deep breath. "You have noticed that I as well as Ino and Yakumo are interested in you, and your reactions show that you reciprocate that interest even if you try to hide it. Your evading of the matter simply can't continue. As I am the first to be able to speak to you without you fleeing, I will say my piece. I love you, Naruto-kun. I have admired you all the time since you stood up to that academy teacher in my second year. But the most important part is that you helped me become who I am today. Without you I would have never met your parents and still be the pathetic, friendless little girl who stalked you without ever approaching you. In the nearly five years we have spent alone together in this world I have come to know you better than anyone else, and I dare say that you likewise know the true me better than anyone. I know and share your dreams and hopes. You are everything I could ever want in the man to share my life with. I love you with all my heart." Then she kissed him on the lips.

Naruto didn't really know how to respond to this and let panic determine his answer. "I like you, too. You are like a sister to me."

It was a feeble lie as well as a low blow, and Hinata obviously recognized it as such judging from the hint of anger in her expression. The playful and somewhat evil smirk that appeared on her face not even a second later made Naruto quite nervous.

"A sister you say? I wonder what kind of sister would do this."

Before he could react Hinata kissed him again directly on the lips. When her tongue unexpectedly entered his mouth his conscious mind went blank for however long the kiss lasted. He couldn't help but respond in kind with his tongue; it just felt too good. Naruto moaned when the kiss ended, but he quickly regained his bearings.

"You are right; I don't see you as a sister. I like you very much. But please stop, we are too young for such things."

After looking at him blankly for a few moments Hinata suddenly began to laugh. In fact, she was laughing so hard her entire body was shaking and tears were spilling from her eyes. Naruto could only watch in confusion. What was so funny? Finally she calmed down.

Wiping the tears from her eyes she began speaking. "You silly man; these eyes see everything. I know exactly how often you get a hard-on, the look of longing you wear when you think nobody watches, the cold showers you take as often as you can and how many times you jack off. Likewise, I'm sure your nose tells you how often I masturbate. Don't you dare tell me we are too young for this."

Naruto stared open-mouthed at her, but Hinata wasn't finished yet.

"I have seen people naked and having sex since I fully activated my bloodline when I was seven. When I was nine I already used my eyes to peep on people. I wasn't in good mental shape at that point in time, but thanks to you and your parents I developed nicely, I think. Have you any idea how often I had to relieve the pressure from simply looking at you?"

"But you always act so proper in the outside world!"

Hinata harrumphed. "Please, you should know better than anyone that my shy and meek public persona is only a mask; just like your behavior as a dumb and happy kid. Heck, even our friends know that to a degree. Who do you think Ino and Yakumo talk to if they have questions regarding the development of their bodies and relationships? I'm the farthest from innocent a girl can get without actually having sex." She wriggled her butt, causing it to rub against a sensitive region and eliciting another moan from him. "A status I intend to correct in the foreseeable future."

"That doesn't change the fact that twelve is too young!" Naruto ground out.

"How old are we really, Naruto-kun? Our bodies may be twelve, but our minds are older. I was nine when I first entered this world, but I have spent nearly five additional years here by my count. That would make me around seventeen. You would probably be in your late twenties if you had aged normally." She held up her hand to forestall Naruto's protests. "I know, I know; time spent here isn't equivalent to actually being that old because of the way the memories integrate. Still, we have a maturity far in advance of our physical age, and a quite active sex drive. What you are doing by denying it is self-destructive; you need to let it out. Can you honestly say you don't desire me?"

Naruto looked into her eyes for a long time until he deflated. "No, I can't. If I were to release my self-control I would be having sex with you in a few seconds at the latest. But I fear I will go too far and do things neither of us really wants."

Hinata's hands began to caress his face. "And that is the root of the matter. You fear change. After spending so many years as a child you are loath to let it go and tell yourself you are too young. You aren't. The urges show that your body is ready, and your mind is mature enough to know the means and consequences. You only have to stop lying to yourself. I assure you, I am quite capable of stopping you should you go too far." She giggled. "Not that I believe you ever would; you are fiercely protective of your few friends and would never hurt them. Just let nature take its course."

He simply stared at her and tried to bring order into his chaotically whirling thoughts. Apparently he was taking too long for Hinata's liking, and she reached back with one arm and began to stroke the bulge in his trousers.

"I give! I give! You are right, I want you badly."

Hinata's smile was brilliant. "I want you, too. Let's see what we can do about our mutual desires."

It took mere seconds after that confession for Hinata to discard her clothing and remove Naruto's trousers. Now she was standing before him in all her naked glory, and Naruto couldn't stop looking at her. Her body was already showing some clear signs of what she would look like in a few years, and he couldn't get the image of her he had seen in the visions of the future out of his head.

"You are beautiful."

"Thank you. I like how you look, too." A few quick steps later she was in his arms and kissing him hungrily. Their bodies rubbed against each other, causing them to moan in concert. "I think I'm not quite ready for actual intercourse, but we can always do other things." She stepped back before her hand closed around his member. The next few seconds were a bit unclear for Naruto, but after that he found himself on the ground entwined with Hinata. One of his hands was between her legs while the other one caressed her breasts. Hinata meanwhile let her free hand wander over his body while the other one worked his nether regions.

It became steadily more intense until he could hardly think anymore and the pressure and feelings of pleasure simply became unbearable. With a gasp he came, and he felt Hinata's body buckling in ecstasy at the same time. It was only the first of many events of the same sort, occasionally interrupted by a short trip to the lake to cool down and clean up.

Several hours of love-making later Naruto was lying on a soft bed of moss, with Hinata snuggled as close to him as she could get. With each breath Naruto inhaled her scent deeply. For the first time in many months he felt completely relaxed. It had grown dark, but the night was still warm enough to eschew clothing. Besides, the direct contact between Hinata's skin and his own felt simply wonderful. Suddenly Hinata began to giggle.

"What is it?"

"It's just I always wondered if your extreme endurance translates well into sexual staying power." She began to rub her body against his again. Almost immediately a certain part of his anatomy reacted accordingly. "I think we can answer that question with a resounding yes." She giggled again. "We will have so much fun in the future."

Another bout of pleasure later they continued talking.

"I guess I can gently let Yakumo and Ino down now that we are together." Naruto remarked.

"You will do no such thing. In fact, I want you to choose one of them for your girlfriend and never even hint at any sort of attraction between us in the outside world." Hinata commanded with steel in her voice.

That confused Naruto a great deal. "But why?"

Hinata sighed deeply. "Naruto, I will never be able to give you children. As long as my clan holds power we can never be together in the waking world. You know what will happen to me if they even suspect that I am in any danger of sullying our precious bloodline with the blood of an outsider. I want you to be happy, and I know that you yearn for a big family. Yakumo and Ino are my friends, and either of them would be good for you. Or perhaps another girl we haven't met yet if things don't work out between you."

"You want to effectively share me with another girl?" Naruto asked in astonishment.

"Do I want to? No. If there was any other way I could have you for myself without compromising our goals or your happiness I would take it. But the one thing I will never accept is you staying alone for my sake." she answered.

Naruto shook his head in an effort to think more clearly. "Do you honestly expect me to have sex with them?"

"Don't be silly. Neither Yakumo nor Ino are anywhere near ready for what we have just done. I expect there will be some months of simply spending time exclusively with your chosen girlfriend and holding hands before you advance to cuddling and some kissing. Anything more won't happen until well after our graduation."

He was hesitant to voice the next question. "What… what if I don't want to do this?"

Hinata's voice was pained, and Naruto could feel tears falling on his upper body. "If you feel you can't do that I will give up my claim to you. Your happiness is more important to me than my own. I would rather forsake what comfort I could gain from our relationship here than see you alone in the waking world, without the family you hope to gain." Hinata looked up to him, her eyes still brimming with tears. "Whatever you decide to do I will support and remain your friend. The choice is yours, my love." And then she kissed him with incredible gentleness. It was quite different from their earlier kisses that had been full of unrestrained lust. This one spoke of longing and love so deep it made his heart ache.

The sensation lingered with him long after Hinata had fallen asleep on top of him. Sleep fled him this night as he laid thinking. It was clear to him that Hinata felt far more strongly about him than he felt about her… at this point in time. He certainly desired her and even had feelings for her to a meaningful degree, but he couldn't match her devotion. If he allowed the relationship to continue and grow he was certain that he would love her dearly in a short time… but that would mean adding another secret to the pile he had to keep from whoever he chose to court, now and in the future.

'_Can I love someone else and found a family while I live with Hinata as my lover here? Or can I forsake her and be happy outside while I watch her heart break slowly week after week?'_ The silent trees held no answer for Naruto.

'_What should I do?'_

* * *

><p>Ino was a very angry girl. The main reason for that was her father's refusal to train her further in their clan's techniques despite her having mastered the shintenshin jutsu almost to perfection. By now she could use it on a moment's notice and had even improved the speed at which her mind traveled.<p>

Her friends had been good test subjects; Choji, Shino and Yakumo could force her out almost immediately by now. She shuddered for a moment when she recalled her impressions of Yakumo's mind. Ino hadn't looked around, that would have been a breach of trust, but she had gotten some inkling about how their minds worked. Choji was kind and loyal, but he wouldn't hesitate to stomp all threats to his friends and family into the ground. Shino had a very orderly mind, with everyone neatly sorted into friends, enemies and pawns. Yakumo was simply scary; a fact that she had proven with some of her genjutsu. She wouldn't do anything permanent to her friends, in fact she would protect them at all costs, but Ino never wanted to give Yakumo a reason to be angry at her. Her mind was an incredibly complex and always shifting web of schemes and machinations of all varieties, with a very creative imagination. The first time she had taken possession of her had caused her nightmares for days. On the positive side it had given her the opportunity to learn how she could possess someone and not let things she didn't want to see affect her while still making the possession work. That skill would come in very handy if she had ever to take possession of an insane mind. Naruto and Hinata were an enigma to her. No matter how hard she tried, if she used her jutsu on them she simply bounced off. Ino couldn't really fathom how much mental strength was necessary to achieve that feat. Not even her father had a strong enough mind to prevent a possession in the first place.

In spite of all her advances her father obviously still saw her as too young to be able to learn the more advanced techniques. Ino had asked nicely and let her charm play, but her father simply didn't budge. It had culminated in a shouting match several days ago after she lost her temper. In hindsight that confrontation had been a very stupid idea. Not only had her father refused to train her, he had given orders that no other clan member was allowed to do so. If Ino had simply kept silent she might have been able to wheedle some instruction out of some relative, but that door was now closed. It was a lesson she was determined to heed in the future. If some obstacle presented itself, it was better to find a way around it instead of trying to break through with brute force.

Unfortunately, she had already been angry before that confrontation, and it had impaired her judgment. Part of the reason for that was Naruto's decision to start dating Yakumo. While it had hurt her that she wasn't chosen it simply wasn't possible to be angry about that. Who was she to begrudge them their beginning relationship when Hinata, the girl who genuinely loved Naruto, was giving them her blessing? It was really quite humbling; Ino didn't think she could have done the same if she were in Hinata's place. And that had been the source of her anger: The impression that her character had shortcomings.

The other reason for being angry was a failed reconciliation attempt with Sakura. Ino was sure she would never again fall for Sasuke, making it seem a good idea to at least return to speaking terms with her erstwhile friend. Unfortunately Sakura simply didn't believe her and blew her off.

'_I have to learn to control my temper. It might give me no end of trouble in the future otherwise.'_

Now she was in search of a teacher who might be willing to ignore the orders of her father. The Yamanaka lived spread all over the village instead of concentrating in one clan compound, although they still maintained the original compound. Less than a fifth of the clan still lived there, and Ino had only visited with her father for the clan rituals necessary to utilize their clan jutsu. Despite widespread opinion saying otherwise the Yamanaka didn't really possess a bloodline. Sure, most members were born with an affinity for their chosen specialization in the mind arts, but in theory everyone could learn to use their jutsu. That was if one was schooled in mental discipline and other related preparatory techniques and underwent the necessary and very secret rituals at an early age. The rituals mainly involved meditation and the use of exotic psychotropic drugs to loosen the bonds between mind and body. If someone tried to use the Yamanaka jutsu without that preparation he would get an unwelcome and very short surprise when his mind shredded itself into very tiny pieces.

Currently she was wandering through the almost deserted clan compound while avoiding most of the people who lived here. Her family and especially her father weren't well liked in these quarters. Ino had originally been oblivious to the fact, but her clan was deeply divided. The majority followed her father, but a sizable minority didn't really accept his leadership and only grudgingly went along with his orders. Ino still hadn't discovered all the details, but apparently the rift became visible when her great-grandfather had been clan head. The larger faction accepted the Sandaime's vision of a unified Konoha without the divisions the clans imposed and integrated more and more with the normal population. The smaller faction wanted to stick to the time-honored traditions of the Yamanaka and resented the reforms the progressive clan heads had enforced. Ino was undecided on the matter. On the one hand it was certainly much more pleasant to live intermixed with the normal population. On the other hand many of the traditions that fell out of use because of the reforms might have been justified or brought some benefits. It should have been possible to find a balance between useful traditions and modern life. The example of the Akimichi, Aburame and Nara showed that it was possible.

She had only scratched on the surface, but Ino knew that a lot of powerful Yamanaka techniques weren't in use anymore. For whatever reason she didn't know, but it was one of the causes why she was wandering around in the clan compound today. Only one person was guaranteed to have answers and give them to her despite orders to the contrary, and she lived a withdrawn life here. In fact, Ino hadn't known of her existence until a short time ago. When she talked with Naruto about her problems he had pointed her in the right direction. It was quite the enigma from where the blond boy pulled all these interesting bits of knowledge.

Finally she arrived at her destination; a mansion surrounded by a park in a secluded area of the compound. Gathering her courage, Ino knocked on the door. At first nothing happened, but then the door opened. Before Ino stood one of the most massive men she had ever encountered with a somewhat empty expression on his face.

"E-Excuse me, my name is Ino and I wish to speak with Izumi Yamanaka."

For a few seconds the man showed no reaction. Ino feared at first he didn't understand her, but suddenly he took a few steps back and made inviting motions with his hands.

'_Perhaps he can't speak?'_

After closing the door behind her the man started walking through a corridor, leaving Ino no time to truly examine her surroundings. Ino followed him quickly until they entered a waiting room. The man motioned for her to wait before he left through another door. Ino used the opportunity to look around. The waiting room was tastefully decorated with various items of art, most of them very expensive. On the wall to the side hung an incredibly life-like painting that caught her attention. It showed an extremely beautiful and elegant platinum blonde woman of perhaps eighteen or nineteen years in an ancient kimono that could be mistaken for an older version of herself. Sure, there were some differences like the exact shade of the hair and eyes, but the resemblance of the facial structure was uncanny. Ino only hoped that the rest of her body would develop similar to the woman.

A very old sounding female voice interrupted her musings. "You may enter; the door is open."

Ino entered through the door and stopped for a moment at the sight. At the other end of the room the oldest looking woman Ino had ever seen was sitting on a pile of cushions. Incredibly wrinkled and shrunken, with hair as white as snow done in an artful style she was the very image of an ancient elder. To the side stood motionless the same man that had greeted her at the door with a completely vacant expression.

"Come closer, child. My eyesight is not what it once was."

Ino blushed and resumed moving. She hadn't realized that she had stopped. When she stood before the woman she could see that her small body seemed to consist only of wrinkled, spotted skin and bones; almost no flesh was left on the woman's limbs. One of her eyes had obviously gone blind behind a white mist, but the remaining one was a deep blue not unlike her own eye color. Up close she noticed a slight shaking of all of the elder's limbs.

When Izumi began speaking it caught Ino by surprise. "Am I what you expected to find here, an decrepit old woman? The ravages of old age aren't pretty, I fear. It gets us all in the end, no matter our beauty. I know I don't look anything like my portrait anymore. I noticed your interest."

"That was you?" Ino couldn't help but blurt out.

The old woman chuckled. "Oh yes, that was me around ninety years ago. The painter was one of my friends and lovers; one of the greatest artists of that time. We had to interrupt the painting session quite often because he wanted to… study me up close and in detail. Unfortunately, only a few of his works have survived over the decades. Enough of this talk, why have you come to me?"

"I want knowledge. I think there is something wrong with our clan and Konoha, and I want to learn more jutsu and more of our clan's history." Ino answered.

Izumi hummed thoughtfully. "What is your ninja status, and which of our clan's jutsu do you know?"

"I will become a genin in about half a year, and the only Yamanaka jutsu I know is the shintenshin. I perfected it as good as I could, but my father still refuses to train me further and has given orders to that regard."

Ino stopped speaking when she noticed that Izumi's slight shaking had intensified. A closer look revealed that she now wore an expression of anger. "You are telling me that you only know a beginner's jutsu that no sane shinobi would use in combat when you are about to venture out in the world in half a year?" Upon seeing Ino's nod, the old woman seemed to deflate. "What has become of our clan? When I was young nobody would even have considered for a child to fight without the mastery of at least five combat-capable mind jutsu. I never thought a grandchild of mine would be sent into combat so unprepared."

"I'm your granddaughter?" Ino asked surprised.

Izumi chuckled. "Oh yes, if we only consider the direct female line I'm your five times great-grandmother. I had five children, four of which had children of their own. After a few generations everyone is related to everybody in a clan. Back to the topic; are you willing to do what you need to if you want to learn the forgotten secrets of our clan?" Izumi asked while gesturing to the big servant.

Ino looked up to the big man with the vacant expression. "What about him?"

"He is but one of my servants. I believe his name was Fujin. In exchange for a favor I did the Sandaime a few years ago he allowed me my pick of the prisons. After I raped his mind into nothingness he made an acceptable servant. I only need a portion of my attention to control his body. Unfortunately, I must have made some mistakes. That one lost the ability to speak, and his brother didn't survive the procedure. It seems my skills aren't what they once were."

Ino couldn't quite keep the horror from her face while the nice old lady talked about the particulars of completely destroying the mind of a human as if it was nothing. Quickly she schooled her features into polite interest. She needed that knowledge, and she never harbored the illusion that the secret skills of a clan would be _nice_.

It seemed that Izumi had watched her attentively, for the old woman interrupted her explanation. "Good, you are horrified but are willing to set it to the side in favor of learning. It is good to know horror and overcome it, many of our higher techniques are considered quite despicable. Let me look into your mind. Only then will I decide if you are worthy."

This was a quandary for Ino. She knew she needed Izumi's help, but what if she didn't approve of her actions? Pondering this for a few moments, Ino came to a decision. She had come too far to back out and needed the elder's aid too urgently. With a nod to Izumi she signaled her willingness. Upon seeing this, the old woman's emaciated hands made one of the Yamanaka's special hand seals. The sensation that followed was nothing like Ino had ever felt before. It was like a soft breeze moving through her mind, touching upon memories and thought processes here and there.

Suddenly the presence of Izumi retreated from her mind, and tears began falling from the elder's eyes. "Oh child, where have you been? I have waited and waited for a worthy successor, shrunken and forgotten by the world. And now that you are finally here I no longer have the strength to continue. I cannot train you."

Ino was taken aback by the outburst. "What do you mean you can't train me? You and I are here now, aren't we?"

Izumi shook her head sadly. "I am dying, child. One or two months are all that I have left. Not enough time by far, and my mind is already unraveling. I had planned to end it on my own terms in a few weeks. Death by a painless and fast acting poison is far preferable to dying in senility. Even now it takes much effort for me to stay coherent enough to talk with you."

Ino gulped. Even at her young age she knew that the greatest fear of every practitioner of the mind arts was the loss of one's own mental faculties.

"I saw your plans, and I approve. You have quite the group, you know." Izumi sighed deeply. "I always thought the idea of the villages wasn't a good one, but what you have discovered goes beyond anything I ever suspected. Although there are still things you do not know about our own clan. I can't even walk anymore, but my mind can still use vehicles to see and listen. We are in decline as a ninja clan. Our numbers grow, yes, but each year fewer of our children become shinobi. We have currently fewer Yamanaka shinobi than at any point of the history I am familiar with. The policy of integration begun under the first Hokage has led to a slow dissolution of the clan. Once upon a time we were feared, almost on a level with the Uchiha. No secret was safe from us when we jumped from mind to mind and only the strongest could withstand our powers. Alas, after we joined the village the majority of the clan didn't want to be seen as something to be feared, and our prowess suffered."

"Why didn't you do anything?"

"What should I have done? The majority of the clan as well as the elders and the clan head were convinced by Hashirama of the idea of Konoha. I was in my twenties and already famous, yes, but I didn't have enough support to take over leadership. If I had resisted it would only have split the clan, and that would have been the ruin of the Yamanaka. You couldn't really show that much weakness in the time of the clan wars, some enemy would have made use of it. Then it was a gradual process that was mostly internal to the Yamanaka. More and more techniques were declared forbidden because they were considered 'too extreme'. Without anyone teaching them they were forgotten after the old guard died. The Yamanaka were never big on writing such things down, we mentally transferred the knowledge from master to pupil. In fact, it would be very difficult to explain the inner workings of many Yamanaka jutsu using words. By the time I was considered an elder myself when I was nearing fifty and most of my more influential opponents were dead I already lacked the vitality to turn the clan around." Izumi stopped for a moment. The long conversation was obviously taking a great deal of effort from her.

Ino was shocked. She had known something was wrong with her own clan, but she hadn't expected it to be such a long-term problem.

Meanwhile Izumi had recovered enough to continue speaking. "I never made a secret of my opinion that Konoha's policies were weakening our clan, and it led to me being slowly sidelined. When young Hiruzen assumed the mantle of Hokage things became worse. He was even more extreme than the Shodaime and Nidaime in his foolish, soft-hearted ways. I offered what opposition I could, but to no avail. The Nara and Akimichi were always good allies, but I doubt the wisdom of the Sarutobi. Hiruzen's father Sasuke was a great shinobi as well as a good lay, but their dedication to peace was excessive. My health was declining, and I retired completely after the second shinobi war. I just didn't have the strength to make a stand. For years I hoped some promising child would become my pupil, but everyone who sought me out proved to be a fool lusting after power for power's sake."

"What about the people still living in the clan compound?"

Izumi scoffed. "They are largely fools who cling to the traditions without recognizing what they do and why they were established. Should they gain power I believe our clan would go the way of the Hyuuga. At the moment the Yamanaka seem to follow the path of the Senju into oblivion. If you want to lead our clan back to greatness you will have to pick sensible allies from both groups." The old woman took a deep breath before continuing. "There is one thing I can do. If you agree I will dump my memories into your head. You will still be you, but you will have access to my experiences. Unfortunately, it will be largely a jumbled mess you will have to sort out on your own. There isn't enough time left for me to organize it in a fashion that is easily understandable, not to mention that my mind isn't in good enough shape for that anymore."

Ino thought about it for a while. It was dangerous, but it would be the only way left to her if she wanted to gain the knowledge she desired. Straightening, she looked directly into Izumi's one good eye. "I agree; to save our clan I will take the risk."

A toothless smile was her answer. "Good. Now clear your mind, this will take a while."

Hours later, Ino stealthily left the Yamanaka clan compound. She doubted she would ever see Izumi again in this world, but her memories would be forever with her. They were a jumbled mess indeed. Each mind organized itself differently, and Izumi's already very complex mind had been muddled by the beginnings of senility. Izumi had paid special attention to make her memories of preparatory clan rituals and secret training techniques especially clear because she would need to do them as soon as possible, but when she ventured into other sections there was no telling what sort of memories she would encounter. Her first tries had shown her a very boring meeting of the clan elders from around sixty years ago, a relatively unspectacular mission with a fight against bandits and lastly Izumi's wedding night. The last one had her still blushing. It had been very obvious that Izumi had already been very experienced at that point. Still, it would take her years to sort everything out.

* * *

><p>"<span>Bunshin<span>!"

Two perfect copies of Yakumo appeared behind her, earning nods from Iruka and Mizuki. "Congratulations, Yakumo. You are hereby promoted to a genin of the Leaf." Iruka said while handing her a hitai-ate. After a moment of thought Yakumo fastened it around her waist like a girdle.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei." she answered before returning to the classroom.

There she made immediately a beeline to her friends, some of which had already passed the last tests. In fact, only Naruto and Ino were still missing their forehead protectors because of the position of their last names in the alphabet. After receiving their congratulations and a hug from Naruto she sat down and let her mind wander.

The genin exam had been pathetically easy, just as they had predicted. If all went as expected there wouldn't be a single member of the elite class that would fail the tests. It had been far more difficult to keep their scores to the level of their peers than to actually pass the exam. Yakumo was really glad that they would soon be able to openly show more of their skills. Concealing their abilities was quite wearing, but it had been worth it. She really didn't want to deal with a crowd of hangers-on. Or with the scrutiny of the teachers and perhaps other authorities, for that matter.

She watched impassively as the last Uchiha entered the testing area. He would most likely be the rookie of the year, and he was quite welcome to the meaningless title. Her clan had always harbored a dislike for the Uchiha due to some long-standing enmity involving the stealing of jutsu, and Sasuke was in her opinion a prime example what was wrong with the clan. When he wasn't brooding the boy displayed an unhealthy combination of arrogance and a combined superiority- and inferiority complex. Sasuke thought of himself as the best, and he wouldn't deal well with the fact that someone was better than him. They had contemplated for a while to include him in the circle; he was a clan heir and possessed an enormous drive to succeed, after all; but in the end they had come to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it. With the last Uchiha they would never be able to keep things under wraps, either from his desire to show off or because some members of his fan club witnessed something they shouldn't. Not to mention his grating personality; there was none of them who liked the boy on a personal level, even his previous fan girl Ino had developed something of a dislike for him after a while. The decision to let him have the best scores had been unanimous. If one of them had displayed superior skills Sasuke would have hounded them to no end, either to constantly provoke fights to prove his superiority or to badger them to teach him their skills.

Loud cheering caused her to look up. Sasuke was proudly displaying his hitai-ate to the class, and his fan girls were going wild. Sakura Haruno was the loudest of them. Barring unforeseen complications, the pink-haired girl would have a reason to cheer even louder in one week's time when the teams would be announced. Thanks to her impressive academic talents she would be the best kunoichi, even if Ino, Hinata and herself were better in the practical subjects. That should cause her to be grouped with Sasuke; an honor each of the girls of the circle was only too happy to eschew.

Finally it was Naruto's turn to display his prowess in the three academy jutsu. With a nod to them he left for the next room, only to return a few minutes later with a shiny new hitai-ate around his head and a wide grin on his face.

As soon as he came near her she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. None of their class mates noticed; they were still focused on the Uchiha. "Congratulations, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks, Yakumo-chan."

Ino was the last one to be tested, and it went off without a hitch. When the group finally left the academy they encountered a gaggle of proudly chatting parents. They stopped for a moment for some last words between them.

"That's it, then." Choji said.

"I can't believe that our five years are already over and in a week we'll be real ninja." Ino added.

Hinata nodded. "It s-seems shorter, especially the l-last two years."

"Our skills are well within our predictions. Everything is going according to plan." Shino remarked.

Yakumo surveyed the crowd. "You shouldn't keep your parents waiting any longer. Remember, we meet again tomorrow evening at my house for our private graduation party and the last regular planning session."

"Have fun with your families; you don't graduate every day." Naruto saw them off.

She and Naruto watched from under a tree with a swing as those of their circle with parents were welcomed by them. Well, in the case of Hinata it was a branch house member named Ko who did the duty. From what the girl had told them he was often assigned as her guardian and one of the few Hyuuga who showed something akin to care about her well-being. Unfortunately, he seemed to despise Naruto, a fact which had prevented Hinata from considering him a friend. Some of the other people sent occasional glares in the direction of Naruto, and she was sure that there were some venomous comments going around, but that was nothing unexpected. Naruto didn't care about them, and neither did she.

She felt Naruto's hand enfolding her own. "I think it's time for us to go. We need to freshen up a bit before we go to the Akimichi restaurant I reserved a table in."

Yakumo favored him with a smile. "That sounds lovely."

It had been a stroke of good luck that Naruto had chosen her as his girlfriend. They had only recently advanced from holding hands to occasional kisses on the cheeks and some cuddling, but she could hardly be happier. Their intense training and other projects didn't leave them much free time for the pursuit of their relationship, but what quality time they had was very nice. Considering that they had been close friends for more than five years there wasn't much they didn't know about the other. Naruto was pretty much what she considered an ideal boyfriend. It was therefore a quite happy couple that walked hand in hand away from the academy.

On the next evening, Yakumo's hand seemed to blur when she drew sketch after sketch with a piece of charcoal. Before her, her friends sat on a couch, with Naruto in the center framed by Ino and a bunshin of Yakumo, followed by Choji and Shino, respectively. Hinata sat by Choji's side and Mizuki stood behind them. Some furious sketching later, Yakumo put down the charcoal and dispelled the bunshin.

"Okay guys, I'm finished for now. I don't know how long it will take for me to complete the paintings, but in some months each of you should receive one."

Painting had become her means of relaxation, and she enjoyed it a great deal. Yakumo knew a few techniques that helped with creating multiple paintings of the same scene at once, which she had used to create a small side-business for creating portraits. She knew that there had been some Kurama main house techniques for using paintings as a focus point for genjutsu, but this knowledge had been lost in the fire. After she had removed her stuff they prepared to listen to Naruto's speech.

"The first thing I want to do is thank you all. You have been great friends for however long I have known you. With that out of the way, our greatest task begins in a few days. Ever since our great investigation two years ago we have prepared as good as we could. We all have some basic knowledge in almost all subjects aside from our individual specializations, but the academy has severely restricted our available time. I'm proud to announce that Mizuki-sensei has reviewed our progress and considers us already better than some chunin. Evaluate your senseis, and depending on their trustworthiness you can begin to reveal your skills at a slower or higher pace. Aside from the missions we will never again have that much time to train. Use it well." Naruto raised the glass in his hand. "To us, the Circle of Six, and Konoha's future."

After repeating the toast they all took a sip from their glasses. The contents weren't alcoholic, even if they were now technically allowed to drink alcohol. It wasn't deliberately spelled out for the new genin, but they were now considered adults with all the accompanying rights and responsibilities. Naruto's speech was followed by reports of the various projects. Their elemental training wasn't quite finished, but they had made very good progress. Naruto had created several utility jutsus, but he couldn't advance to combat jutsu for want of a decent testing area. Creating a new jutsu was a somewhat volatile process, and they wouldn't be able to explain the amount of property damage it would cause. Hinata could probably pass the test for becoming a professional medic-nin while Shino had become interested in barrier jutsu and was developing the kikaichu of his newly acquired second hive to act as chakra conductors in order to create the necessary focal points. Choji had by now enough strength to shatter softer wood with his bare hands and was their best taijutsu fighter, not that any of them were slouches. Ino had made some progress in her clan's mind jutsu while Yakumo herself had mastered several genjutsu and taught the other some low-ranking, easy-to-use ones. Their chakra reserves and control were their greatest strength; they all were more or less at jonin level. Hinata could probably already be considered kage-level in that regard while Naruto was literally off the charts somewhere between kage and bijuu. Mizuki was probably a jonin in skill by this point.

"Who will b-be our senseis?" Hinata asked.

"We are relatively sure that Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi and Hayate Gekko will be the ones with passing teams this term." Choji answered.

Hinata nodded in acknowledgement. With the exception of Kakashi they all seemed to be capable teachers, and hopefully they had been successful with foisting off Sasuke and Sakura onto him. If they grouped the lowest scoring genin with them the third member of team Kakashi would be Shikamaru. Confirmation would have to wait until after the decision by the Hokage the day after tomorrow, though. After they had concluded their planning session the party began in earnest.

It was already very late when Yakumo spied Naruto talking to Mizuki in the hallway. Yakumo still didn't know what Hinata and her boyfriend had originally done to acquire their teacher's cooperation and silence, but by now the point was moot. It seemed that by now Mizuki was genuinely loyal to Naruto and considered him his master. Ever after the tragic death of his lover Tsubaki he had grown closer to him. All members of the study group had done their best to help Mizuki dealing with her death, and by now he seemed to have recovered completely. His assistance over the years had been invaluable, and he had profited enormously as well.

"…disable… Iruka… team composition… Sasuke… can't take…chance… Kakashi…Hokage…"

After catching these few words Yakumo decided she didn't want to know what the conversation was about and returned to her place on the couch. Plausible deniability was a good thing, after all.

* * *

><p>Mizuki felt a slight twinge of regret as he sprinkled the powder into Iruka's meal. It was not actually dangerous, but would cause Iruka to feel quite sick for a few days. The effects could be easily mistaken for a stomach disorder caused by slightly spoiled food. He had taken care to be the one who got their meals for their dinner discussion.<p>

The reason for that little maneuver was the upcoming team assignments, and Naruto-sama had been quite clear in his instructions to make sure the suggestions from the academy were reasonable. Nobody could be allowed to interfere with them, and Iruka was a major element of uncertainty. He had displayed an appalling lack in judgment when it came to evaluating the individual skills of his class.

He had a lot of leeway in the fulfillment of his task; he only needed to make sure that none of Naruto's circle were grouped with the Uchiha or assigned to Kakashi Hatake. Mizuki wasn't sure why Naruto wanted that, after all Sasuke was a promising shinobi and Kakashi was widely hailed as one of the top shinobi of Konoha, but he trusted his master to have his reasons. Naruto had helped him enormously and was quite reasonable in his demands, so Mizuki was content to obey.

The next morning Mizuki visited Iruka's house after the senior instructor didn't show up for a meeting. As expected Iruka was violently ill and wasn't able to leave the house.

"Sorry Mizuki, could you please take over for me? The Hokage expects me this evening for my evaluation of our prospective genin and team assignments. The papers are all in my office, and-"

"Just rest, Iruka, I take care of everything." Mizuki interrupted.

"Thanks, Mizuki. You're a true friend."

'_If only you knew.'_

Several hours later Mizuki was cursing while he was looking through the senior instructor's documents. What the hell had Iruka been thinking? Reinstating the Ino-Shika-Cho trio only because their fathers had worked together? It was completely self-evident for any casual observer that Choji and Ino were hardworking, motivated and wanted to make their own name, which couldn't be said for Shikamaru. Not to speak of the fact that the powers and tactics of that team combination were widely known. Sure, it might happen anyway because of political pressure, but there was simply no reason to recommend it from the start.

Mizuki thought it very likely that the Hokage and Iruka had spoken about these things beforehand and already planned the teams. Once upon a time Mizuki had hoped to become close to the Hokage, but no longer. His master had helped him more than the Hokage had ever supported Iruka. He would have to destroy these documents, but that was nothing an 'accidentally' knocked over cup of coffee couldn't solve.

The evaluations of the abilities of the individual genin were all over the place. For example, there was no special mention of Naruto's skills in traps and evading pursuit, even if the whole village saw some of his ingenious pranks and the following wild chases. Mizuki knew his master had been holding back a large amount of his skills, but this was ridiculous. It was as if Iruka recorded only their academic performance without considering their personalities and other traits they actually displayed in- and outside of class.

'_This crap is completely useless. I'll have to scrap everything and simply go to the meeting with the individual evaluations of the genin and think of team recommendations for myself. At least these notes say which jonin are expected to pass their teams.'_

* * *

><p>Later that day, Mizuki was sitting in one of the conference rooms in the Hokage tower together with two secretaries, the two village advisors and the Hokage himself. One of the secretaries was currently announcing the jonin that had been picked to lead the teams. Or fail them in the rigged tests, depending on who got which team.<p>

"….Team 7 will be led by Kakashi Hatake, Team 8 by Kurenai Yuhi, Team 10 by Asuma Sarutobi and finally Team 11 by Hayate Gekko. The last four we expect to pass their teams."

"I fear there has to be a change in plans, Hokage-sama. Gekko-san was hospitalized yesterday for an indefinite time. On his last mission he encountered an enemy using poison gas, which damaged his already worn out lungs further. He is no longer fit for duty until he completes a lengthy therapy of several months." the Hokage's other secretary interjected.

The aged leader furrowed his brow. "This complicates matters. We don't have another jonin available that I feel comfortable to withdraw from high rank missions. Anyone we assign a team that we expect to pass will be completely unavailable for at least half a year teaching his genin the basics. After that we can expect up to two years of limited availability."

Mizuki noticed the councilor Homura visibly perking up during the Hokage's speech. "I think I have a solution to that problem, Hiruzen. One of the jonin that seek my council has expressed a desire to take some time off after more than five years of an uninterrupted string of high ranking missions. She might be persuaded to take a team instead."

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Anko Mitarashi."

"Orochimaru's apprentice? Are you sure?" Koharu asked sceptically.

"Former apprentice; and she has never given us any reason to doubt her loyalties. As you remember, she was promoted to jonin two years ago and is now entitled to take pupils." Homura shot back.

Koharu gave him a sharp look before her expression grew thoughtful. "That is correct, and I know of no one else we could spare to teach a new team." Her head swiveled to the Hokage. "If you don't have another candidate she seems our best option."

After the Hokage gave his consent they went to the next item on the agenda, the assignment of the genin. Now it was time for Mizuki to give his input.

"Kakashi-san should get Sasuke Uchiha because he is the only one left who can teach the boy to properly use his sharingan once it awakens. If we stick to the tradition to group the rookie of the year with the best kunoichi and the one with the lowest score his teammates would be Sakura Haruno and Shikamaru Nara."

The Hokage leafed through some of his notes. "Hm, Kakashi has requested to teach Naruto. It goes against tradition, but we could replace Shikamaru with Naruto."

'_Shit, I can't allow that to happen. What can I do? Right, simply make something up.'_

"With all necessary respect, I don't think that a good idea, Hokage-sama. The personalities of Sasuke and Naruto don't mesh well, they detest each other. It would be detrimental to both their training if they were to be assigned to the same team. After they have learned the basics we could consider putting them on the same team to teach them to work together, but not earlier."

That was a bare-faced lie, of course. Sasuke and Naruto were perfectly content to ignore each other, but considering that Naruto had ties to all other clan heirs aside from Sasuke, it was a believable statement. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he was able to convince the Hokage judging from his expression. Luckily, help arrived from an unexpected source.

"There's another problem, Hiruzen. Kakashi will have his hands full with Sasuke and won't have time to deal with problems that could arise from the boy's… special condition. Better to assign him another sensei." Koharu said.

"I concur." Homura added.

Confronted with three dissenting opinions, the Hokage relented. "Very well, your suggestion is approved. Now to Team 8."

"I propose assigning Yakumo Kurama and Ino Yamanaka to Team 8. Both have expressed an interest in genjutsu, and Kurenai-san is the most qualified to teach them. They would make a good capture and interrogation team. Yakumo can trap the victims in a genjutsu, after which Ino would have an easy time taking them over. The last spot can be filled by one of the candidates with a more general skill set."

Koharu nodded. "A good idea, replacing a Nara with a Kurama. They should even be able to extract single targets surrounded by guards undetected."

"I agree; we can leave the third position for later. Please continue, Mizuki-san."

"Team 10 should be composed of Kiba Inuzaka and Shino Aburame. Between the two of them they have quite the tracking capability as well as enough combat potential to discourage most enemies, leaving the third position open to a candidate of your choosing."

"Lastly, Team 11 would serve as a balanced team. Choji Akimichi is predestined for heavy close-ranged combat, while Naruto's chakra capacity makes him ideal as ninjutsu-user. Additionally, the boy possesses good skills in tracking, traps and evading pursuit, as his frequent pranks have shown. Hinata Hyuuga completes the team with her ability to detect hidden enemies due to the byakugan and disable targets with the Gentle Fist."

The two elders nodded thoughtfully while the Hokage favored him with a fake smile.

"Thank you for your input, Mizuki-san. You may leave."

Mizuki breathed a sigh of relief after the doors had closed behind them. Iruka would have been invited to stay for further discussion as he was quite close to the Sandaime, but the old man neither liked nor trusted Mizuki. No matter, he had done all he could, and it looked like he had been successful. He had left them with his files about the remainder of the class, but they were all more or less equal. Mizuki wondered who the two lucky genin would be that would be assigned to the four teams that had any chance of passing. Probably those whose parents had a lot of money and influence.

Like Sakura, for example. The girl had the best results in written subjects, even if he knew that Hinata, Yakumo and Ino had been holding back. That was balanced by her utter uselessness in any physical subject. In fact, had he been allowed to Mizuki would have failed her; preferably kicking her out of the academy completely. Unfortunately, he couldn't. Not only were the standards so low that practically everybody passed, Sakura's mother sat on the civilian council and held the reigns of one of the major trading companies firmly in her hands.

Sure, the girl had potential, but she lacked the appropriate mindset to make use of that potential. The one thing Mizuki hated above all was the corruption that allowed people without real skill to advance because of money and connections while their more capable peers without these advantages were held back. Like him.

'_Oh well, it's not my problem anymore. At least I managed to make good progress on the development of my personal skills. The study group helped me as much as the children.'_

* * *

><p>Homura was quite pleased with himself when he returned to his home later that evening. He could count two victories in his favor. For one, he was finally able to give Anko the second thing she had asked of him, namely a team of fresh genin to teach. That development had been quite unexpected; he had to tell her that she had toyed with the thought of taking a vacation when nothing of the sort had actually happened. It had just been a made-up justification for his proposal.<p>

The second victory had been the placement of the Uzumaki boy. He had fully expected the boy to be assigned to Kakashi who was Hiruzen's man through and through. There was no doubt that the normally responsible academy instructor Iruka would have proposed just that because he was close to the Hokage as well. Luckily the man had been ill, and his replacement had obviously different ideas.

'_Was it just luck or did that Mizuki act on orders, perhaps from Danzo? His team composition made sense logically, but him standing up to the Hokage was certainly atypical for a chunin assistant academy instructor.'_

In any case, his resistance gave Koharu and him the opening they needed to wrest control of the boy from the Hokage. He now owed Koharu a favor for supporting the boy's placement on Anko's team, but Homura thought it was worth it. After all, a competent jinchuuriki that he had some hold over would be a powerful piece in village politics and further his long-term goals.

* * *

><p>Naruto tried to keep his urge to yawn under control while Iruka prattled on about ninja life and their new duties as genin. There was nothing new, and he would have preferred taking a nap. In the last days the circle had collected as much information as possible about their respective jonin after Mizuki brought them the news about the assignments. It was a pity that Shino would have no partner from their ranks, but Kiba was shaping up nicely. With a bit of pressure Shino should be able to transform his team into something useful. His attention returned to Iruka when the man began announcing the team assignments. The first six announced teams were of no interest to him; they were sure to be send back to the academy. Still, appearances had to be maintained, and they would be tested by a jonin.<p>

"Next, team seven: Sasuke Uchiha,.." The class was dead silent, every female besides his three friends and some boys held their breaths. "…, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara." Everything descended into cacophony as fan girls shrieked out their frustration and disappointment, but the loudest of all belonged to Sakura.

"HA! Take that, Ami-cow! True love conquers all."

Naruto ignored the girls; his attention was focused on Shikamaru. He seemed to be really awake for the first time in years. His expression was one of terror and dread as he realized with whom he would spend the next months and years, but by now it was too late to do anything about it. Naruto and his friends had tried again and again, but Shikamaru never managed to overcome his sloth. He brought it on himself, but that didn't prevent Naruto and some other people from sending him looks of pity.

After Iruka had restored order he continued announcing the teams. "Team eight: Yakumo Kurama, Ino Yamanaka, Shinji Ikari." He paused for a moment to allow for exclamations, but nothing happened. Shinji was an average student, quiet and withdrawn. He was the son of the chief of the secret imperial police who wanted to have a shinobi in the family. It was very likely that he would only spend two or three years as a Konoha shinobi before he transferred to the imperial police. Naruto saw no problems with that team, between Yakumo and Ino they should do well.

"The designation of Team nine is still in use from last term, we have to skip that. Team ten: Kiba Inuzaka, Shino Aburame, Asuka Soryu." Asuka was the daughter of a noble who wanted to get rid of her after she had repeatedly caused scandals by objecting to the grooms her father had chosen for her… violently. How the man thought an education as kunoichi would help with that Naruto had no idea. Shino would have few problems with her, but how she and Kiba would get along was an open question. Still, as soon as she lost her fascination with Sasuke she should develop into a capable kunoichi. Shino would have his hands full to get his team to shape up, though, especially because their prospective (and at this point unannounced) sensei Asuma Sarutobi was said to be very laid back.

Now it was finally time for the announcement of Naruto's team. "Team eleven: Choji Akimichi, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga." No surprises there. "This afternoon we'll introduce the jonin senseis. Take a break until then." Iruka dismissed them.

The members of the circle gave each other nods when they separated into their assigned teams. Shino as well as Yakumo and Ino would have to get to know their teammates, which left Choji, Hinata and him free to search for a nice spot to spend their time. They settled on one of the roof gardens that gave a good view of the streets below.

After they ate their lunch and made idle chit-chat for a while they got around to witnessing how Sakura tried to get Sasuke to eat with her only to be blown off. She in turn refused to go along with Shikamaru who tried to create at least a semblance of camaraderie. In the end each of the members of team seven disappeared into a different direction.

"You know, as m-much as I dislike Sakura for being a disgrace to proper kunoichi anywhere I have to say: Sasuke is an unfeeling prick." Hinata voiced her opinion.

"You won't hear me denying it. Sakura can be very annoying, but he could be at least somewhat nicer to her now that she is on his team." Naruto said.

"I only hope for their sake that they get their act together. Poor Shikamaru; saddled with the worst team and sensei." Choji added.

Naruto shrugged. "He brought it onto himself; we warned him often enough."

Soon enough it was time to return to the academy. When they entered the classroom Naruto saw that both the other teams from their circle were already there. It seemed they all had hit it off well. Yakumo and Ino were talking with Shinji about different forms of art. Apparently the boy liked music and was even playing himself in his free time, much like how Yakumo painted. Ino wasn't an artist in a strict sense, but she was very knowledgeable about fashion and appreciated other art forms. Asuka had appropriated Kiba's canine companion Akamaru and petted him constantly, a fact which the small dog seemed to enjoy greatly. In the meantime the three were engrossed in a conversation comparing taijutsu styles and other fighting methods. All in all their teams seemed to be very promising.

The first jonin to arrive was their prospective sensei, not that anyone had told them that yet. Anko's face and visible body looked pretty much unchanged from when he had talked with her three years ago, but she had traded her trench coat for a specially tailored open jonin vest that showed off her assets even more and somehow looked more respectable at the same time. Additionally, she now wore standard ninja trousers instead of her skirt. She had kept at least the upper part of her mesh suit but ditched the shin guards. Currently she was examining their class with a smirk on her face.

"Team eleven, meet me outside!" she shouted without preamble and jumped out of the window to the ground two stories below. At the same time Naruto noticed the edges of an area-genjutsu. After a quick glance to his friends Naruto ran out of the door past a surprised Iruka, followed by Hinata and Choji. There was no way he would simply jump after their sensei, and he didn't want to reveal their wall-walking ability where everyone would see it.

Their sensei seemed to be a bit disappointed when they arrived on the outside via the normal door. "Aw, you saw through it. Hey Genma, you can release your technique. Thanks for the help."

Suddenly the ground where they would have landed had they jumped out of the window rippled and transformed into a field of mud. A brown-haired man in jonin uniform stood up from a kneeling position and dusted his hands off while the mud seemed to harden back to normal ground. "Told you it wouldn't work; no one is that rash to simply jump after you. You owe me two meals."

Anko waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, as agreed." She turned back towards them. "I give you a point for circumspectness. My name is Anko Mitarashi, and you can call me sensei or Anko-sensei. Until you either make chunin or our team is dissolved your asses are mine. As of now team eleven is formally activated. Your first official mission is to find the training ground I reserved for today. The mission begins now."

With these words Anko took off at high speed. Naruto and the others followed immediately. Their pursuit ended in a back alley with no obvious signs of their sensei's presence. Only a chest that was very obviously secured by various traps sat innocently before the wall at the end of the street. A note reading 'First clue – Anko Mitarashi's mission' stuck to it. At first glance Naruto could already see that it would be complicated and time-consuming to disarm all the traps on the chest. None of them seemed lethal or even especially dangerous, but whoever triggered them would be coated in what he identified as itching powder. It really had a typical smell, and from his pranks he was very familiar with it.

Hinata broke the silence. "Sensei is about a hundred meters away from us under a henge and increasing the distance fast. She used a shunshin to clear the area beyond what my file says about the range of my byakugan, with a healthy safety margin thrown in."

Suddenly the three genin began to smirk simultaneously.

"Everything is going according to plan."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Sorry for the long delay; I simply didn't have the free time to write. Until things normalize the update schedule for this story will be random.

14 reviews for the last chaper, a new record. Yay! Over 100 review in total. Double yay! My thanks to all people who reviewed and put my story on their favorites list. To the rest of my readers, I hope you enjoyed the story so far.

If you think Hinata has manipulated the entire situation in the first two scenes... you would be right. Naruto's decision will lead to problems later on even if at first everything seems fine.

Remember Izumi Yamanaka from my chapter 2 (chapter 3 in the count of )? Well, here she is again. While the Anko-as-sensei is relatively common, I don't think I have seen many Naruto-Hinata-Choji teams. The poor guy seems always to get the short stick in favor of Shino.

So long, and a merry christmas.


	16. Chapter 15: First steps

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 15: First steps**

Anko cackled evilly as she put some distance between her prospective pupils and herself. She had spent most of the previous day and the night setting up a massive scavenger hunt for her genin. Some of the traps and challenges she had devised were positively hellish, especially considering that none of them dealt any long-term damage and she had only learnt a few days ago that she would get a team. She didn't really expect them to complete the series of obstacles and hidden clues before the evening, but it would be interesting to see how far they got. At least the fox boy's scores and reports from the academy would be completely misleading, and it was probably the same for the chubby kid and the princess considering that they were reported to have formed a study group with him. Sometimes she really wondered why nobody picked up on the fact that the academy results were almost completely useless. The boy who could conceive of the most outrageous pranks and evade capture by chunin got only an above average in stealth and traps? Preposterous. On the other hand, the decision which of the students got a personal jonin-sensei was so heavily politicized that their scores were immaterial as long as they were good enough to earn a pass. Anko knew very well that she wasn't allowed to fail her team (and didn't really want to anyway), but she would make the brats work for it.

She really hoped they were better than the standard academy education led her to suspect. In the past two years she had secretly observed academy classes from time to time and had been appalled at the standards. The threshold to pass was so low that she wondered how anyone could fail the tests. Anko herself had never completed the academy because her sensei had personally picked her out from the middle of the class, an option that no longer really existed. He had been much more demanding and a far better teacher than the normal instructors, even if she hated the son of a bitch now. At first Anko had thought that only the teachers she watched were somewhat incompetent, so she had acquired the current standard instruction manuals for academy teachers and the complete curriculum only to have her hopes shattered. Whatever unlucky bastard tried to survive purely on what he learned at the academy would undoubtedly end up very dead very soon. It had given even more credence to old man Homura's opinions about the decline of Konoha.

After a short stop to arm one of the more dangerous traps on her course she continued jumping from roof to roof. Anko would have her work cut out to bring the brats up to an acceptable level as quickly as possible, acceptable meaning capable of doing C-rank missions. She would be damned if they did one D-rank mission more than absolutely required. In that vein she had registered her team test as regular D-rank and paid for it out of her own pocket. Who the hell thought doing unskilled labor would teach them anything? Those kinds of jobs were one of the reasons why the village had a sizeable population of civilians in the first place. Sure, there was the public relations effect to be considered, but she didn't think her genin would appreciate it if someone later pointed at them and told the entire world that his child had peed on them during a babysitting mission. The scope of the effect would be further limited by the fact that D-ranks were strictly located inside of Konoha's borders. Really, the entire D-rank category was only a tool to get cheap labor. If they let academy students do them, okay, the little brats could probably use some spending money. But wasting theoretically fully trained genin on that? Pure madness. If she wanted her genin to learn teamwork or do some dry runs of real missions she would devise some nightmarish exercise, not let them paint fences.

Nonetheless, she had been extremely lucky to get to teach at all. It had been a real surprise when she had been contacted by old man Homura to take over a team instead of the badly injured jonin who had been originally assigned the spot. Her association with the councilor had once again proven very fruitful. He had already helped her to get promoted to full jonin two years ago; a rank she hadn't believed she could reach anymore. In exchange she had done a lot of missions that never officially showed up anywhere and that the Hokage didn't know about. Technically it could be considered treason, but each and every mission had been entirely reasonable. They were certainly not worse than the crap she had to do before she pledged herself to the councilor. The only reason they weren't official was that the Hokage had some strange standards about morality and international relations. Some of the scum she had eliminated had really been in need of killing and some contacts she had established would prove very useful for the village. Her association with the councilor had certainly helped her more than her earlier reliance on the Hokage ever had. Homura had used a lot of his own time to further her professional development, and she could say truthfully that her skills were a lot better and she knew a lot more about the inner workings of the political world than without that association. In fact, she saw him more as a friendly mentor than her superior. Now she even had her own team of impressionable children to tortu-… eh, teach.

'_Huh, come to think of it I have to thank Naruto for that. If the brat hadn't found me lying in the gutter and talked some sense into me I would still be running around as special jonin.' _she mused while finally approaching the training ground she had booked. It was one of the smaller ones inside the inner wall of the village. The larger training grounds where one could do more… volatile training without disturbing the rest of the populace were located outside the walls, like her favorite number 44, also known as the forest of death. Depending on her team's skills they would relocate sooner or later, but for now the small one should suffice. Anko had left special orders at the responsible office that nobody was allowed to help her genin team find the training ground earlier this day in case the kids got the idea to go there.

'_Let's see, I should be able to get a few hours of napping in before I have to find the brats and see how far they've come. After that we can have something to eat and get to know each other. In the morning I'll test their combat skills and find out what they are really able to do. I wonder if I should use some summons, but that could be considered overkill or showing off. In any case, I'll have to-…'_

Anko's thoughts came to a screeching halt as soon as she took in the sight before her. There, at the edge of the training ground her genin sat and looked at her expectantly.

"Hello Anko-sensei." they chorused.

"How did you… Why… That can't…" she stammered while trying to reengage her brain. It was impossible for the brats to be here, she herself had just followed the route at her full speed and she knew the way and the shortcuts. Finally she regained the power of coherent speech.

"Damn, how did you manage to complete the course and find this place so quickly?"

"Simple, we didn't. You ordered us to come to the training ground you had booked, following the trail you had planned wasn't necessary. We already knew you would be our sensei some days ago along with the team number, making it was really easy to search for a reservation request linked to you or the team for the current day." Naruto said.

"People like to talk to me. After Naruto had acquired the team assignments, it was easy to get someone belonging to the office to spill the number and location of the training ground." the Akamichi continued.

"I observed you y-yesterday when you placed some of the hints." the Hyuuga girl added. "The pieces of info I was able to read m-matched with the reservation."

Anko was beyond impressed. Her fresh team of genin had managed to outsmart her with foresight, preparation and a good deal of skill. It seemed she had hit the jackpot with her pupils. Still, she would have to assert her authority. It simply wouldn't do for the kids to get the impression they could walk all over her.

"Congratulations, you all pass my secret test. Starting tomorrow Team eleven will begin its duties." She waited a moment for the cheers to pass before she painted an evil smirk onto her face. "In the meantime you will have to disassemble all the traps on my trail. After all, we don't want some unsuspecting person getting hurt, do we?" The groans were music to her ears. Anko sat down besides her genin before she continued speaking. "But before that it's time for introductions. You already know that my name is Anko Mitarashi. My likes are playing mind games as well as collecting and testing various types of sharp weapons; I dislike people who wouldn't recognize loyalty if it hit them in the face, my old teacher and people who don't take their job seriously. My favorite food is dango. Conducting tea ceremonies is my hobby."

The blond boy was the first to speak up after her. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like exploring the woods, hunting, sneaking around and playing pranks. Things I dislike are arrogant fools, manipulative old men and the people who hate me without knowing me. One day I hope to found my own clan. My favorite foods are roasted bunny and all kinds of ramen. As a hobby I do some leatherworking and wood carving."

"I'm Hinata Hyuuga. My likes are w-wandering in the forest, collecting herbs, watching people and learning about medicine. I dislike my clan with the exception of m-my little sister, fan-girlish kunoichi who don't take their t-training seriously and prejudiced people. My dream is to become a k-kunoichi who is respected for her skills. Cinnamon rolls are the food I like best, and I collect and press flowers as a hobby." the pale girl said.

"I'm Choji Akimichi. I like talking with people, hanging out with my friends, cooking and learning about new foodstuffs while I dislike needlessly mean people. My dream is to become a worthy successor to my father. I like all food, but my favorite is barbecued steak. Writing poetry is my hobby." the last member of the team concluded his introduction.

Anko eyed them thoughtfully. They seemed to be a good bunch. In fact, everything was going far too smoothly. It was as if the children had expected all that. "Did you know about the second test by the sensei beforehand?" she finally voiced her suspicions.

The three genin looked at each other before Choji spoke up. "In short, yes. We paid attention to what happened with the graduating classes years ago and spied on the jonin during the last two terms. That means we knew that there would be a second test beforehand."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly. "They always said at the academy that ninja have to be sneaky and that information is a very valuable resource, so we and our friends took their words to heart. Preparation is half the battle, isn't it?"

'_Interesting, very interesting. I wouldn't have expected any children to take the lectures so seriously. At least, none of the children in the classes I observed showed such initiative. I wonder if I will get any more surprises?' _Anko thought. "You are right about that, perhaps even more than you know. Think about today. I invested a great deal of effort to prepare everything for my test, but my lack of information and your even more extensive preparation caused it all to be for naught. Never assume that your preparatory work will be sufficient. You can't plan for everything, and sometimes plain old chance invalidates all your work."

Anko thought for a moment what to say next. "A few ground rules first. You are all now full genin, meaning you will be treated as adults. Which means you should expect no leniency before the law if you do something blatantly illegal and are found out. On the positive side, you are now allowed to drink, have sex and take drugs to your heart's content in your time off as long as it doesn't affect your performance. As your sensei I can set arbitrary restrictions, but for now I will trust you to act like the responsible adults you supposedly are. Don't abuse that trust. That means I don't want to hear anything about you becoming pregnant," Hinata blushed furiously under her penetrating gaze, "nor do I want to deal with girls one of you two have knocked up." Now it was the boys' turn to blush. "If one of you becomes unfit for duty because he got carried away, turns up drunk or otherwise intoxicated I will make that someone wish he or she was never born. Am I making myself clear?" Hopefully they would take it to heart. Anko really didn't want to experience a repeat of the drama of one of last year's genin cells in her own team, which was why she was spelling things out. You never knew what bright ideas genin came up with if they suddenly found out they were now allowed to do adult stuff.

"I'm your direct superior. The Hokage can give you orders, but no other chunin or jonin is in your chain of command, except in emergencies or if it is specifically otherwise during a mission. If someone tries to give you orders seek confirmation from me, but be diplomatic about it. You can follow the orders if they appear reasonable. I expect you to be punctual, take your training seriously and refrain from goofing off. If you have any problems, questions or just want to talk I will always make time for you. Do what I say and we will get along splendidly." She stood up and grinned maliciously. "But now it's time for your afternoon work. I think you will be learning a great deal about traps."

* * *

><p>Later that evening Anko met with her friend Kurenai in their favorite bar after she had sent her team home. Tomorrow she would evaluate their skills. Anko was very curious what she would learn. Despite having to dismantle all the traps she was early; it had taken her and her team surprisingly little time. All of them knew more about traps than should have been possible, especially Naruto, and it had cut down her estimated amount of time considerably. In fact, her genin would probably have reached the training ground before she would have finished her planned nap if they had followed the trail in the first place.<p>

"Over here, Kurenai-chan." Anko waved Kurenai over to a table in a corner.

After exchanging a bit of small talk, they got to the matter of mutual interest, namely their first day as senseis.

Kurenai was full of praise for her genin. "They passed my test with ease. The two girls I got are very good for their age, take being a kunoichi seriously and are eager to learn. I'm impressed by their drive. The boy… less so."

"You got the Ikari brat, didn't you? Isn't his father some big shot in the fire daimyo's government?"

Kurenai nodded. "That's the one. He seems somewhat timid, and I got the impression that he only became a shinobi because his father wanted him to. Still, it's a bit early to judge, he might shape up." She took a sip from her cup. "Now, tell me how your test went. You said something about a complex scavenger hunt if I remember right."

Anko laughed. "My genin completely exceeded the expectations. The brats somehow managed to get information on the team assignments and were able to completely circumvent my test. Instead of following my trail they knew the ultimate target beforehand and got there ahead of me."

"Really? How did they manage that?"

"It was a team effort. Each of them got information from a different source before they pooled it. They even triple checked the information to avoid a trap. It will be fun teaching them. Have you heard anything about the other teams?" the purple-haired kunoichi asked.

"Kakashi doesn't test them until tomorrow. I saw Asuma with his team eating at a barbeque on my way here, so I assume they passed. Didn't hear about any other teams." Kurenai answered.

Anko scoffed. "Bet they've all been sent back to the academy already. Our four teams have all the clan heirs, and four passing teams are already more than usual. The entire testing process is a joke. Tell me, would you have failed yours in any case?"

Kurenai was taken aback for a moment before replying. "No, you're right. Even if they had pulled some stupid move I would still have given them another try." She eyed up Anko carefully. "Any particular reason why you bring it up now?"

"Nothing, just a few more things I learned recently. It just seems unfair towards the normal guys in their class who never had a real chance to get a sensei." Anko shrugged. "But I guess there's no sense in complaining, life is unfair and always has been." After a few moments of silence she forced a cheerful expression on her face. "By the way, what genjutsu did you use on your pupils?"

The red-eyed woman began to smirk in a decidedly sinister manner. "Well, you see…."

* * *

><p>Choji greeted his friends when he arrived at the training field. It was around ten minutes before the time Anko had given them, and they were all early. There wasn't much to do besides making some warm-up moves. If everything went as expected Anko would begin reviewing their skills today.<p>

In a whirlwind of leaves their teacher arrived. "Good morning, my faithful pupils."

"Good morning, Anko-sensei." they chorused.

"Today we will do some light sparring; I want to see where you stand taijutsu-wise." She pointed at Hinata. "You will fight me first, Naruto second, Choji last. We will start easy and slowly ramp up the difficulty until I signal you to stop. No use of chakra, no weapons and no potentially deadly or crippling blows. Do you understand?"

Hinata raised her hand. "S-Sensei, isn't it common to fight with full p-power to give an accurate impression?"

Anko raised an eyebrow. "You mean that 'come at me with the intention to kill' crap? You have spied on Kakashi, haven't you?"

"Um, m-maybe?"

Anko shook her head. "We will have to talk about your spying habits." She winked at them. "After all, it will do no good for your poor old sensei to be left out of the loop. Okay, lesson time. This is one of the most important lessons you can learn. No one is invulnerable or infallible, no matter the experience and skill. As a jonin I should be far superior to you in combat ability, but as your performance yesterday has shown the reports I have of your skills are hopelessly incorrect. That means I have no idea what you can do besides that it will be better than reported. While assessing an unknown enemy's skills in combat is a very important ability for every ninja it has its hazards. A weapon will hurt me almost the same as you without special countermeasures and a single moment of inattention or a miscalculation is enough for one of us to get seriously hurt. The way you proposed has an unfortunate tendency to produce training accidents. The life of a ninja is dangerous enough without adding unnecessary risks. Therefore we will confine ourselves to light sparring until I have a better grasp of what you can do. Understood? Good. Let's start, Hinata."

Choji and Naruto watched in silence as Anko and Hinata began their fight. It was very slow at first, but soon picked up speed. Their sensei really put Hinata through her paces. She didn't show her full potential, but her displayed prowess was markedly better than what Sasuke was capable of; just as the circle had agreed beforehand. Before long Hinata was breathing heavily, and finally she made a show of no longer being able to keep up with their sensei. Anko immediately stopped the battle.

"Good work, Hinata. I noticed you only used the style taught at the academy. Why is that?"

"I'm not especially g-good in my clan's style, sensei. The g-general academy style is much easier to a-adapt to my flexibility. Additionally, without chakra use the G-Gentle Fist hasn't that many advantages in a fight."

Anko nodded in acceptance. "Rest for a while, Hinata. Naruto, you're up."

Naruto made a good showing. Despite not using his full capabilities, he fought in the same manner he did when training in secret. Then it was Choji's turn. While he was a bit slower than everyone else in their group, he was by no means slow in absolute terms. He made up for that weakness with his strength and ability to absorb hits. His strikes might have a slightly lower chance of connecting with an especially nimble enemy, but if they did the recipient would feel it. Their sensei probably felt it too after she took a hit deliberately on her arms, probably to judge the strength behind the blow. Then it happened. Choji used a combination he had thought of himself, and Anko misinterpreted the blow as one of a very similar academy combination and reacted accordingly, opening her guard unexpectedly. It was clear to Choji that Anko noticed it immediately, but she refrained from a new countermove. Instead of being turned aside his fist made contact with Anko's stomach with a smack. Luckily he hadn't put that much force behind the blow. It would hurt, but there was no danger of it causing actual injury.

Anko let out an 'oof' before she signaled to stop fighting. "See, this is what I told you about. I miscalculated what Choji was doing, and I think he didn't expect my reaction." Choji nodded in confirmation. "I still could have deflected that hit, but the necessary force could have easily broken his arm. If he had attacked with the intent to hurt I would have been forced to do that to prevent a potentially lethal injury to myself. Remember to always consider your and the opponent's safety during training. Let's continue."

After they had finished sparring Anko sat down with them and spoke about her observations.

"You three are all very good; better than I expected in fact. I have made some preliminary observations about your fighting styles and possible future development. Hinata, your flexibility makes it very easy for you to simply circumvent an enemy's defense and get some hits in while evading the enemy's attacks. What you lack in strength you can make up by striking critical areas. We will have to explore if you can use your clan's style effectively despite your concerns. If not I can teach you several styles that make use of those qualities. My own personal fighting style is similar to your approach, and it should make an interesting endeavor to find just the right one."

"Thank you, s-sensei, I look forward to it." Hinata answered.

"Naruto, I noticed that while you fought admirably you tended to open the distance and seemed a bit uncomfortable occasionally. Tell me, do you prefer to use weapons to unarmed combat?" Anko asked.

"You're right, Anko-sensei. I'm no slouch in taijutsu and can certainly hold my own, but I prefer to use my weapons or stay out of melee range completely." his friend confirmed. "I mainly use kunai and knives, both of the melee and throwing variety. I thought about taking up fighting with a short sword later, but you need a teacher for that and it isn't taught at the academy. Other weapons I'm familiar with are throwing spears and the short bow. They aren't really practical for a shinobi though, I only used them for hunting. Oh, and I frequently use a leather sling. You can almost always find some stones as ammunition, and the sling itself is easy to transport."

Anko nodded thoughtfully before turning to Choji. "I don't have many recommendations for you, Choji. You fight and hit hard. Am I right that you want to follow your father's example and become a heavy melee fighter?"

Choji nodded. "That's right. I was always good at taijutsu and I'm very strong. It just seems the best way to make use of my abilities, but I'm always interested in learning more things."

The rest of the morning was spent with Anko testing their knowledge in various subjects and getting to know each other better. Choji had become a skillful manipulator of conversations in his own right, and he noticed that Anko learned more than they had originally willing to give up at this point in time. Like for example Hinata knowing more about medicine than she should and her opinion about her clan, or Naruto's knowledge about the inner workings of jutsu. It was nothing really compromising, but they would have to be on their guard. Their sensei was a very dangerous woman indeed. It was almost noon when Anko sent them home early. During the afternoon she would visit their families, or in Naruto's case simply turn up at his apartment.

'_It seems we have hit jackpot with our sensei.'_ Choji thought. _'I don't think any of the others we observed came close to Anko in respect to professionalism and care about the students. Well, Gai perhaps, but that man is simply insane.'_

* * *

><p>'<em>What an arrogant asshole.'<em> Anko thought while keeping the pleasant expression firmly fixed on her face. Part of her duties as a sensei was visiting the families of her pupils, and currently she was sitting in a room inside of the Hyuuga compound facing the Hyuuga clan head, Hinata's father Hiashi. Originally she had planned to visit them first and the Akimichi second, but her appointment had been postponed without explanation. Anko supposed it was a petty display of superiority on the Hyuuga's part. She had already sent a small snake summon to Naruto to tell him that she wouldn't make it to him today.

Due to two of her students belonging to a clan it was a bit more than a courtesy call; she would have to coordinate her training schedule with the clan training Choji and Hinata received. Her talk with Choza Akimichi had been pleasant. The man was visibly proud of his son and knew that the boy had been holding back in the academy. Apparently Choji already knew the principles of most clan jutsu and would be able to train in them in self study, thereby making it largely unnecessary for her to plan for his absence in the next months. After chatting for a while she had received an invitation to visit whenever she wanted, which she intended to do frequently. If only her meeting with Hiashi could be as pleasant.

Instead of getting to the point the head of the Hyuuga clan was speaking about the traditions of his clan and other crap to obfuscate his intentions. In effect, he demanded that the Hyuuga would train Hinata how and when they saw fit, and she would only be allowed to teach her some bits and pieces and otherwise stay out of it. Anko was having none of that. She was the girl's sensei, and she would teach her what she considered appropriate. Old man Homura's lessons about political negotiations were really helpful in dealing with that pompous ass without actually uttering a single derogatory remark or open insult. In light of that conversation she understood Hinata's attitude about her clan much better. Hiashi seemed to be solely concerned with Hinata's lack of aptitude for her clan's style, which was just idiotic. Not every member of a clan was good in that clan's specialization and Anko already knew that Hinata was quite gifted in other fields. It would be a complete waste of the girl's potential to focus her training on the Gentle Fist.

"Being a kunoichi is a dangerous profession, Hyuuga-san. There is always the possibility of dying on a mission."

"I do not care if Hinata lives or dies. The Hyuuga clan has no use for a weak successor." Hiashi declared.

Before Anko could really parse that statement, the door behind her opened and Hinata entered with a tray of refreshments.

'_Shit. I really hope she didn't hear that.'_

That hope proved to be futile. After Hinata had set down the tray and turned away from her father Anko saw a single tear rolling down her cheek. The unsettling thing was that Hinata's face never lost the neutrally pleasant expression she had worn when she entered. Her father couldn't see her face because of their relative position, and she signaled Anko with a slight shake of her head not to pursue that avenue of conversation before she left the room. She would have to talk with her later. Hopefully the girl would confide her in.

Anko slightly narrowed her eyes. She would do her utmost to gain complete control over her female pupil's training. Not only was it her right as sensei; these assholes certainly didn't deserve her.

"Hyuuga-san, I'm sure you are familiar with the training accords of the Nidaime Hokage and the edict concerning the authority of a jonin-sensei decreed by the great council fifteen years ago…"

* * *

><p>"… no use for a weak successor." the voice of her father declared.<p>

Hinata had heard his complete statement, but didn't let it affect her outwards appearance. Only after she had turned around did she permit herself to react. Over the years she had lost her affection for her clan completely. She was more or less indifferent to most members and actively hated a select few, her cousin among them. Still, in some deep hidden corner of her heart she had harbored the hope that her father held some amount of affection for her under his stern exterior. This hope now died, causing her to shed a single tear for the shattered dreams of a happy family her younger self once held.

When she left the room she felt another feeling blossoming in her heart. Freedom. It was extremely liberating now that there was no bond of emotional nature left to her clan. Her father had been the last one, but now he was only that man that held some authority over her. Well, she still loved her sister, but that love was completely disassociated from her clan. Little Hanabi did look up to her for her self-control and knowledge, even if her lack of prowess in the Gentle Fist would forever prevent her from gaining the respect of the rest of her clan. Not that she really wanted it anymore. Her clan was dying; the members only didn't know it. She only did enough training in the Gentle Fist style to keep them off her back. It simply wasn't an effective use of her time. Hinata had made great strides in many other disciplines; progress she couldn't have made had she concentrated on one taijutsu style that wasn't suited to her.

Unfortunately, the talk about marrying her off to another main house family had increased. There were probably only around four years of freedom left for her. In general clan ninja married very young; it was a necessity of their lifestyle. There was always the danger of dying on a mission, and the clan had to continue somehow. In the same vein, there were always fewer kunoichi than shinobi. A male could always impregnate several women, but the reverse wasn't true. The establishing of the villages had reduced that need somewhat, but most clans continued with that tradition. Hinata hoped she would be powerful enough by that point to put it off further, or that she wasn't needed anymore directly in Konoha for Naruto's plans and could fake her death. Still, if worst came to worst she would go through with the marriage. She may have to spread her legs for her potential future husband, but she would make sure that no child ever came out of that union. Considering the frighteningly large likelihood that any offspring she produced with another Hyuuga would have one or several birth defects she was doing her potential children a favor. As long as she had Naruto in the world that nobody else could reach she would be able to endure almost anything, but having children with another man was not one of those.

* * *

><p>"Finished already?" an astonished Anko asked.<p>

Naruto shrugged. "It wasn't that difficult. You only have to know how to deal with animals."

Anko's attention shifted to the feline in Choji's arms. Tora the cat was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible while pressing itself tightly against Choji's body. Occasionally the cat sent cautious glances towards Naruto and Hinata. When Hinata began to smile gently the cat seemed to shudder and make itself even smaller. A quick inspection showed no obvious injuries, so whatever her genin had done to the cat had left no physical traces.

Mentally shrugging, Anko motioned her team to depart in the direction of the mission office. Giving her genin the mission to catch Tora as their second mission after the original scavenger hunt would be considered cruel and unusual punishment by most people, but Anko had figured her team would cope. Tora was widely known as one of the most vicious animals kept as a pet, and that reputation was completely deserved. The cat belonged to Madame Shijimi, the widow of the previous daimyo of the Land of Fire. Or rather one of his widows. At the end of his life the late daimyo had kept six wives and an even larger number of concubines. Despite that huge number of females the daimyo had never produced even a single child, which had been one of the main causes for the succession struggles. Madame Shijimi had long been set aside even before his death, and she had settled in Konoha.

There was no legal upper limit to the number of woman a man could marry (or more rarely the other way around, a queen of what was now the Land of Wind had managed to collect fifteen husbands around 130 years ago), even if most men contended themselves with only one wife. Only very rich people or nobles ever took more than one spouse because only a life in luxury or high social status could compensate for the inevitable conflicts that would break out. Informal arrangements where both partners took their own lovers to make a loveless marriage more bearable were vastly more common. In her job Anko often looked behind the façade, and the things she found there were seldom pretty. Depressingly few people were able to marry for love, and even then there was no guarantee that the feelings would survive the years.

When they arrived at the mission office Madame Shijimi was already waiting there, chatting with one of the chunin on desk duty. To the surprise of everyone who had ever witnessed a 'Find Tora'-mission, the cat sent a last look towards Naruto and Hinata before it seemed to sigh, jumped to the floor and trotted over to its owner. When it rubbed itself against Madame Shijimi's leg the woman noticed the animal.

"Ohh my cute little Tora-chan! I was so worried." Astonishingly, Tora weathered the following display of animal cruelty without making the slightest fuss, causing every occupant of the room to look at the scene in bewilderment. After the noble lady had paid the fee and left, Anko approached one of the chunin to collect her team's pay. It took the woman a few seconds to shake herself out of her stupor.

"What did your genin do? I never saw Tora behave that docile before."

Anko could only shrug. "I have no idea. There were no physical marks on the cat, so whatever they did left no injuries. They are fresh from the academy; the team formed only two days ago, so I don't have a complete overview over their skills yet."

The chunin boggled at that. "It's their third day as full genin, and you requested the Tora-mission? You are a cruel woman, Mitarashi-san."

A smirk appeared on Anko's features while she accepted the money envelope. "Well, what can I say? I wanted to show the little buggers how nasty even D-ranks can get." With a wave of her hand she left the mission office in the direction of their reserved training ground, her genin behind her.

She had picked today deliberately as a mission day because she knew that the Hokage was tied up with several different tasks and had no time to appear in the mission office. It was part of his modus operandi to give the elite genin teams some missions personally to foster the impression that he cared about everything that happened in the village. In reality he was far too busy with other matters and simply entered the mission office a few minutes before the genin appeared and left immediately after them. It was a suggestion from her mentor to keep the contact between the Hokage and her pupils to the minimum she could manage without rousing suspicion.

Homura had briefed her on the importance of Naruto when he told her about her team. The jinchuuriki had been the Hokage's pet project from the beginning, and Homura thought that he was mishandling the situation completely. Naruto still wasn't supposed to know what he contained, which was pure madness. Anko knew that he knew, but she had kept that knowledge to herself. She was part of Homura's political faction now, but she would never compromise the trust of her friends or genin for that. At least, not without clear indication that doing so would do great harm to Konoha.

"This isn't much money." Naruto remarked when he counted his share.

"Well, yeah. D-rank pay is negligible. It keeps you fed with some left-over money for equipment, but the usual time investment to pay ratio means that you can't really save up much. C-ranks are much better, but you aren't cleared for that level yet. You know about the different mission grades?" Receiving nods from her genin she continued. "We will have to complete at least ten D-rank missions until you qualify for C-ranks, and you will have to pass my personal test before I allow you to accept them. The one today was the second, meaning we have eight to go. The time not spent on missions we will use to train."

Anko continued to explain the mission system in more detail. Shinobi who belonged to a division or department received basic pay simply for their membership, and their normal duties were treated as missions with some additional pay. Normally they didn't have much say in exactly what missions they received; they were simply assigned, although there were exceptions. It was different for shinobi without such an association. While they could be directly assigned missions by the Hokage's office it happened relatively rarely in times of peace. Missions that weren't directly linked to a division were put in a pool and could be accepted by these shinobi if they fulfilled the requirements stated in the mission request. It was a much freer existence, but it lacked the security of steady employment. Many shinobi were somewhere in between. They worked part-time in a department or two and took missions from the general pool the rest of the time.

"We are currently in a special spot. There is a separate pool for genin teams consisting of these basic D-rank missions to familiarize them with the system. In due time we will move to the normal pool of C-ranks. A few months down the line we will either be assigned missions directly by the Hokage, fulfill missions the various divisions give out in order to showcase the typical work of their department or continue using the general pool. By then it's very likely that some members are switched out temporally for specific missions or a chunin or jonin other than me takes command of you for a mission." Anko explained. "For the next few months you are solely mine to command and teach, but after that things will get mixed up a bit. I will remain your teacher for about two or three years."

"What about the time after that? Will we stay together?" Choji asked.

"That depends a lot on you and how our team performs. If the formation proves effective it is likely that the team will be permanently kept in service for quite some time. That was the case with your father's team, Choji. The Sannin are or better were another example. Otherwise the team will be dissolved, and you will be either assigned to another elite team or more likely you will be free to decide what you want to do. Anyway, that's still a long way off." Anko gave them a grin. "For now you have to live with me. It's time for another training session; I want to see what they taught you about ninjutsu."

After concluding today's training she sent the team home when it began to grow dark. All of her pupils had displayed a good grasp of the academy jutsu, and the speed and accuracy of their hand seals were good. They all had displayed good chakra control and no sign of running low on chakra, which said good things about their reserves. Tomorrow she would test them on their weapons skills after they did a mission, but it was already clear that her genin were far more advanced than anticipated. In fact, they were suspicously better, and Anko had already begun to make some inquiries at the academy. She had booked their current training field only until the end of the week, and while she had the right to extend the reservation it didn't seem necessary. Anko nodded to herself. Yes, next week they would migrate to one of the larger training grounds in the vicinity of the village. Hopefully number thirty-six was still free; aside from a training field it had a nice mix of forest, grassland and a bit of swampy terrain along the river.

* * *

><p>Obsidian eyes examined Naruto while he was telling of their new sensei. After a few seconds the figure raised a feminine hand to interrupt his speech.<p>

"Son, I'm sure you want to tell me about your week now, but it will have to wait a bit. My time here is severely limited. We have to conduct the test now."

Naruto winced slightly. He had once again let himself be carried away. Scratching his head sheepishly he replied "Sorry dad. Shall I proceed as planned or did you come up with any modifications?"

Hinata's body shook its head, and Naruto couldn't suppress a slightly unsettling feeling. It happened relatively rarely that his father or mother took possession of either him or Hinata when the other was still present, but it always disturbed him to a degree to see Hinata's body act completely different than normal. The changed eyes were an easy to see difference, but that didn't make the experience any less surreal. Hinata had told him that she felt largely the same about it when it happened to her.

"No, there aren't any changes. This time use your own magic to call for my power with the agreed upon words. I will stay here to observe directly, and if anything like last time happens I can immediately interfere."

The first test to use the magic power of his father in the waking world had been a failure in many regards. While his father could send him power directly, he just couldn't _do_ anything with it. In fact, he had been almost overwhelmed and was forced to emit the power in an uncontrolled fashion before it destroyed him. The clearing they had used for that experiment still hadn't recovered. Why the magic had manifested in exactly the way it had was a mystery, but an area with a diameter of exactly thirty meters was now permanently plunged into eternal winter. Naruto suspected it was because he had thought 'cool down' to himself when he struggled with the rush of power. It was quite strange to change from Konoha's normal temperate climate into an environment with a temperature far below the freezing point of water with a single step. Even more strangely the zone wasn't affecting the weather or temperature beyond its boundary in the slightest. His father could probably dispel the effect, but he wanted to study the zone's long-term behavior. On the positive side, it had enabled several very fun snowball fights between him and Hinata.

For this experiment they had chosen another small clearing in the sanctuary. It would have been far too dangerous to try it directly at the spring of magic; they didn't want to draw additional, external power for this by accident. The main difference was that Naruto would call for the power of his father with a pre-defined purpose in mind instead of Daiki simply sending him raw power. Hopefully it would make a difference.

Naruto took a deep breath and marshaled his own magic in a very specific manner to establish the desired connection. His voice reverberated with power when he began speaking. "I call upon the Master of Mysteries to enlighten me. Unveil the secrets of this sacred place and create a symbol of ownership. Oh Keeper of Secrets, suspend your watch and give us a glance of what you guard. Lord of the Starry Night, I ask you to create a living monument connected with this hallowed ground through your bond with the Mother of Life."

It felt a bit silly to call his parents by those titles, but Daiki had said it was necessary. He was invoking them in their role as gods, not as parents, and it had to be done properly. During his speech he had felt more and more power flowing through him, and now it erupted. Silvery mist appeared from nowhere and sent tendrils everywhere. The light of the sun dimmed until the clearing was immersed in twilight, and an unbelievable amount of power was still passing through him. The mist formed a rotating column before him. Power. Colorful sparks appeared and swirled in the air, unaffected by the suddenly blowing stiff breeze. He could do everything. There seemed to be ethereal music coming from every direction. So much power. Inside of the whirling mists a shape took form. The universe was his to command, he only had to touch upon the power and wield it. THERE. WAS. JUST. SO. MUCH. POWER.

With a low whooshing sound the mist exploded outwards, thereby revealing the new object in the center of the clearing. Naruto let out a gasp when the flow of power diminished and ceased. He was feeling light-headed and had to struggle to keep his attention on his surroundings. Before him stood a plant reaching higher than his head mainly composed of thick, spiraling green vines with a silvery sheen. The entire thing was littered with two kinds of hand-sized blossoms. One kind was completely black but sprinkled with tiny multi-colored spots that sometimes seemed to slowly move. The other kind was a warm yellow with orange and red highlights. Small green leaves occupied most of the rest of the space on the vines. On top of the roughly pyramidal structure a giant blossom resided. It reminded Naruto of a water lily. The petals were golden and silver, alternately. A ray of sunlight shone from overhead, and he could see a steady stream of sparkles rising from the blossom in a slow updraft. Despite the beauty of the giant flower his attention was steadily shifting inwards. Everything seemed just so simple. Each and every riddle or mystery he had ever encountered would require only a bit of thinking to solve. The secrets of the movements of the sun and stars were just beyond his grasp, he had just to contemplate things a bit and he would know everything.

'_I have to concentrate. It will be bad if I let my guard down if I'm surrounded by enemies.'_

What enemies? There was nothing that could stand against him. He had the Lord of the Starry Night on his side, the most powerful being in existence. His ultimate triumph was practically written in stone. Naruto shook his head in a vain attempt to clear it. Something was wrong with him, but he couldn't determine what it was. All he felt was a wonderful closeness to the essence of mysteries and stars.

"The experiment was a full success." The voice of his father cut through his thoughts. Thankfully he was somehow using his own voice instead of Hinata's. From somewhere a whisper entered Naruto's mind, telling him how it was done, but he couldn't quite hear the explanation.

Suddenly he was looking directly into the black orbs of his father. "It seems there are some unanticipated problems. Sleep now, we will talk later."

Naruto wanted to reply, but a familiar blackness was engulfing him as his mind was drawn towards the world at the edge of dreams.

* * *

><p>Strange dreams came and went, but they were soon replaced with normal sleep. Naruto finally woke due to something tickling his nose and sunlight trickling in at the sides of the curtain at the other side of his familiar sleeping alcove. Another familiar feeling was the sensation of a warm body in his arms. Hinata's head was resting against his shoulder, and some errant hairs had found their way into his nose. In the last few months Naruto had always found Hinata in his arms when he entered the world of his parents, not that this was the only occasion. After their initial confrontation Hinata had taken to sneaking into his bed, even if it was only for the feeling of closeness and not for sex. The idea of doing it with his parents in the house just seemed too strange to him.<p>

Not that they didn't know what was happening. When Naruto and Hinata had returned from the grove of lemon trees Youko had worn a knowing smirk, and Daiki's reactions had likewise been telling. He had looked at them seriously for a few moments before giving a nod of approval. After the first few times of Hinata finding her way into his bed a direct connection between their alcoves had appeared, and both their beds had enlarged somewhat to comfortably accommodate two bodies. After his mother had commented that they should stop being silly and just openly act like a couple they had given up on secrecy and simply went to sleep together in the same bed.

A bit of careful maneuvering later Naruto was in the right position to gently kiss Hinata awake. It didn't take her long to become awake and return the kiss.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun."

"Good morning Hinata-chan, it's time for us to get up."

Hinata sighed. "If we have to."

After stealing a few more kisses Hinata got up and left for her alcove to get ready for the day while Naruto started similar activities. A visit to the bathroom later he and Hinata joined Youko and Daiki at the breakfast table. They made only light conversation before Daiki opened the serious discussion when they were finished eating.

"Before we talk about your last week I think it best to talk about what happened immediately before I pulled you here, Naruto. I can say that our attempt at you invocating my power was a full success, but there have been some side-effects. How did it feel from your perspective?"

Naruto shook his head. "It was much better than our first attempt, but there are still enormous problems. For one, it was an unbelievable power trip. The feeling lasted even after I wasn't channeling any more of your magic, and it made it impossible to think straight. I just felt completely invincible. My thoughts just refused to focus on mundane things."

Daiki assumed a thoughtful expression. "Well, if we had priests they would probably kill for that feeling; it can be considered a religious experience. You came very close mentally to the domains of my portfolio you invoked. Still, it is extraordinary inconvenient for someone in your position. I can teach you techniques to help dissipate the effects, but it isn't an instant process. Depending on the amount of power you call forth your thinking will be impaired for several hours at least."

"Great. Once again a way to get powerful is a bust." a very frustrated Naruto said.

"I wouldn't say that. You can't use it for everything, but it is virtually the greatest power you can bring to bear in the real world. It is on the level of full nine tails of my chakra while being far more flexible. Our domains encompass practically everything, meaning you can create arbitrary effects. It is even independent from external sources of magic, but they would make things easier. You only have to weigh carefully when you use that power." Youko interjected.

"Depending on the amount of power you use it puts up a big red flag saying 'I'm here! Please try to kill me now!' to every higher being that pays attention. The sanctuary has wards to prevent it from being easily discovered, but outside of that it will be obvious. It doesn't put the same mental strain on you as the possessions, but it will screw up your magic and mind for a while. The more often you call upon this power the more protracted the recovery phase will be. Still, it is the ultimate ace in the hole. Use it only carefully planned or if you have no other choice. For most other occasions that call for the big hammer use your mother's chakra." his father added.

The blond boy grimaced. Naruto didn't like to use his mother's chakra, even if he was far too practical to refuse using it. Aside from the problem of controlling the bloodlust and assorted side-effects it just felt wrong to use something that didn't belong to him and was a very part of Youko's being. To Naruto it felt like he was hiding behind his mother's skirts like a baby who couldn't stand on his own legs.

Anyway, it had been a arduous process, but by now he could control one tail easily and two with difficulty. While his mother was giving him that chakra willingly, her mind wasn't in the seal anymore. This meant that she couldn't help him control it. Due to some peculiarity of the seal's structure he had to always draw on the demonic chakra first; and that made thinks difficult. Demonic chakra was naturally violent and destructive, and it made maintaining control and not letting it influence him too strongly unbelievable hard. It didn't help that it was quite a power-trip. Whenever he lost control he automatically started drawing more and more chakra. Fortunately for him there were only four tails worth of demonic chakra inside of the seal. If he started to draw more the next one he got was a tail of divine chakra. Uncontrolled, demonic and divine chakra didn't go well together, knocking him entirely out of Kyuubi-mode. The only downside was that he felt as if somebody had put him through the wringer when it happened.

Ever since the third year of his life when Daiki had changed the seal there were four tails of demonic and four tails of divine chakra inside of it, in addition to a single tail of neutral chakra. The last one he wouldn't be able to draw upon in any case; it kept the whole construct stable. Still, eight tails of chakra were nothing to sneeze at. Well, as soon as he managed to expand his control enough to use them that was.

"Well, enough of that for now. How is your sensei? The last time we spoke it was the day Mizuki brought you the news that Hayate had been replaced by you old acquaintance Anko."

Naruto thought for a moment, "Well, she isn't what I expected. Anko is much more serious than before. From her reputation I half expected her to pull out some snake summon to chase us around or draw and lick our blood like she did to me. Instead she's professional and, well, nice."

"That isn't so strange. We already knew that she became councilor Homura's agent. I guess she grew up a lot in that time. Additionally, while it's fine to terrorize people for a specific purpose it doesn't really work for building trust and teamwork. She certainly was right scary when she worked as an assistant proctor in the chunin exams two years ago. I think she only keeps her blood thirst and other unsavory parts of her personality in check until we know each other better. Or these traits could only be an act, but who knows? After all, we will most likely be together for several years." Hinata voiced her opinion.

"What about the other teams?"

Naruto snorted. "Shinji is a wuss. From what Yakumo told me he would probably be far happier as an unremarkable accountant or something like that. Unfortunately for him he's now along for the ride, and we have no use for deadweight. That could get the girls killed. He will shape up one way or another. As a last resort Ino can always mind-rape him into a more useful state of mind, but we really hope to avoid that. Kurenai is nice and capable, but Yakumo didn't think she would push her students enough on her own. That won't be a problem with Ino and Yakumo though. It's interesting how much Kurenai and Anko differ in their methods even it is the first time for both them to teach genin. I didn't have the opportunity to talk with Shino."

"He will probably have to kick both Kiba's and Asuka's asses to establish leadership and hound Asuma for more stringent training. I'd love to see their faces when he does that; both of them think of themselves as natural leaders." Hinata said before laughing lightly.

"How did Anko react to your skill level?" Youko asked curiously. "From what I know of her she is a woman after my own heart, and I don't think she will simply accept your prowess without making inquiries."

"She's already become very suspicious. There wasn't really any chance for us to keep things under wraps much longer. Our sensei spends most of the day with us, and it would have been impossible to play normal genin and not hamper our progress. We haven't shown her that much until now; we want to see how she reacts and whom she asks. I already instructed Mizuki to expect visits from one or all of the teams' senseis." Naruto answered.

* * *

><p>"Alright, kids. Today I'm teaching you a jutsu." After the cheering had died down and her pupils were watching her attentively, Anko made three hand seals, inhaled and spit out a small ball of fire straight up into the air. The speed of the thing was relatively slow, and after it reached a height of about a few dozen meters it began sinking back to the earth even slower. It hit the ground a dozen meters away and continued burning before guttering out after about ten seconds. "The flame arrow is a D-rank jutsu and relatively easy to learn. It has limited use in combat because it doesn't do much damage and the accuracy sucks against man-sized targets. The reason I'm teaching it to you is that it is very useful as a means of communication. The color of the flames can be set by the user, meaning we can use it to deliver a limited number of signals. Naturally, it is most useful in nighttime conditions, but the fire is bright enough to use it even in daylight and the hover time is long enough to make it worthwhile." The following few minutes were spent with an in-depth explanation about the jutsu's inner workings before she sent the three genin to train in its use towards the other end of the field.<p>

Anko meanwhile used the free time to catch up on some paperwork. Her nomination for the spot of jonin-sensei had come very late, and she still wasn't finished with completing all the necessary documents. The kids should be kept busy for the next few days with learning and mastering the jutsu, enabling her to finally get rid of the stuff. She was close enough to the children to intervene if something went wrong, but far enough that she could complete her work in peace.

It was with no small amount of astonishment that Anko learned that her pupils had all mastered the jutsu by the end of the day. Granted, it was a very easy one, but still. After complimenting them she sent them home for the day. She had them only for two weeks, but it was everything she had hoped to find in teaching a group of children. They were punctual, took the training seriously, didn't cause trouble and already knew a large number of necessary shinobi skills. Their teamwork was already very good, and they all got along splendidly on a personal level.

In short, they were the perfect team of fresh genin and every teacher's dream… which made them suspicious as hell. One child prodigy who kept his skills under wraps during their entire academy time she would have been able to accept, but her entire team? To make matters worse, they weren't the only ones. Kurenai's two girls were likewise far more capable than expected, and her friend was full of praise about the two. Anko had spied on them while her own genin were busy with a mission. The two girls displayed skills far in advance of anything their peers could normally do. She could only attribute it to Kurenai's relative inexperience as a jonin, the tendency to see the best in people and her hesitation to push her students to the fullest that her red-eyed friend hadn't become openly suspicious until now. After all, Kurenai had advanced directly from chunin to jonin only half a year ago, while Anko had been a special jonin for several years even before her promotion to full jonin two years in the past. Which meant that she had far more experience with complicated and difficult situations as well as command experience, not mentioning all the tutoring Homura had given her.

On Asuma's team it was the Aburame boy who was far more skilled than the other two. It had been quite funny to watch him knock down the dog boy and the little fireball a peg or two. Really, it had been a beautiful display of showing who should be the leader among the three. Still, his prowess was another extremely suspicious thing, especially because the Inuzaka kid wasn't a slouch like some other students. Asuma definitely had noticed something, but he seemed content to watch the development of things for quite a while before he would take any sort of action.

Kakashi's team in contrast seemed normal. Oh, there were problems, but the absence of the usual initial difficulties on her team was far more suspicious than their presence. She wasn't on especially good terms with Kakashi; the man had seemingly never forgiven her that she had switched from the Hokage's political faction to Homura's and his entire demeanor rubbed her the wrong way. That meant she had only very vague information on his team. The pink-haired girl was very good academically but seemed to lack the right mindset for being a kunoichi while the Nara was lazy. In contrast, the last Uchiha was very good for an academy graduate, and he was on the top end of what she would have expected judging from the curriculum. There were some problems on a personality level with that team, but that wasn't what interested her. No, the truly interesting thing was that all six suspicious genin were far better than the Uchiha who had earned the overall best grades in their academy class.

All three of her genin, two of Kurenai's and one of Asuma's were far better than should have been possible. They all came from different backgrounds, and their grades hadn't shown any capabilities out of the ordinary. Anko had talked with their former teacher Iruka about them, but it had been a bust. The man definitely suffered from Mother Hen-syndrome judging from how he spoke about the kids, but he couldn't tell her anything that didn't appear in the official records. Records which were definitely wrong.

That left only one avenue of investigation. Anko had only time to review their files rather superficially on her first pass; the days after she received the appointment had just been too hectic. By now she had corrected that oversight, and one little fact had caught her attention. All six genin with suspicious skill levels had been part of the same study group. She had noticed it before, but originally didn't think there was anything out of the ordinary about it. Now though she thought differently, and her current project for this evening was tracking the teacher down who had supervised the group.

She found the man occupying a secluded training ground. From the distance she couldn't spot exactly what he was doing, but it looked a lot like testing a new jutsu judging from the fact that he repeated the same motions again and again while scribbling occasionally in a small notebook. Anko decided to wait at the edge of the training ground. Jutsu creation was a very volatile process, and she didn't want to cause an accident by surprising the man. Instead she watched him with interest. The sun was already below the horizon, but there was still enough light to see clearly. Successful jutsu creators were relatively rare, even if many tried their hand at it.

Suddenly a huge number of tiny lights were covering the area before the man and she could make out a faint "Eureka!". The technique looked certainly interesting. It reminded her of a field of fireflies with how the moths of light were randomly curving around. She felt a bit of disappointment when the man ended the technique; it had been a beautiful sight. When the white-haired chunin approached the edge of the training field he spotted her and changed course towards her.

"Good evening, Mitarashi-san." he greeted her. They had met briefly when the jonin were assigned their pupils, but the Hokage and Iruka had done most of the talking.

"Good evening, Mizuki-san. If I may ask, what was that jutsu?" Anko asked curiously.

The man smiled. "That was the first successful test of one of my original techniques. Unfortunately I don't have much time to work on them during the academy term, so I have to squeeze my work into the summer and winter breaks. I call that one Field of the Dancing Fireflies, but it isn't completely finished yet. Now, what can I do for you?"

Anko phrased her request carefully. "I have a few questions about the genin of my team. Their files and Umino-san weren't especially helpful in clearing up some things I noticed; with you being the supervisor of their study group I hope you can give me a better insight."

"Ah, I wondered when the first of you would show up. Care to join me for a drink so we can discuss matters?" he asked with a smile.

Several minutes later they had retired to a quiet corner of one of Konoha's countless bars. This one was relatively expensive, but the privacy of the patrons was guaranteed.

Mizuki opened the discussion. "Naruto already told me to expect you in the next days. I take it you are aware that he hid his intelligence and skill for a long time?"

Anko nodded. It had been around three years ago that Naruto dragged a completely wasted and nearly comatose Anko out of the gutter into his apartment. When she woke up they had spoken about many things. She had learned that he was very skilled for his age, knew about the Kyuubi and hid his skills from the world at large.

"At first it was only Naruto who was bored by the normal lectures, but he had gotten his friends to follow his very demanding training schedule. At the time I was discontent with the curriculum and wanted to teach more and different things, but you know how things are. Somehow Naruto learned of my leanings and approached me for private tutoring during the third year. Starting with fourth year it developed into a study group. I don't know which of the children's parents pulled the strings, but someone assuredly did for me to supervise that group." Mizuki shook his head and smiled in fond remembrance. "Never before had I the honor of tutoring such determined and gifted students, and I don't think it will happen again. At the end we were already covering chunin-level subjects, with some forays into jonin-level material I got my hands on." He looked directly into Anko's eyes. "I know it wasn't exactly legal, but all of them had the necessary maturity. They used virtually every free moment of time to become better in one subject or the other. I simply wasn't willing to refuse the children something which might make the difference between life and death, and soon I was already up to my neck in illegal material. By that point I saw no reason not to go the whole way."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "And you managed to keep that all under wraps directly under Iruka's nose without anyone noticing? That doesn't exactly fill me with confidence regarding his aptitude as a teacher."

Mizuki hesitated for a moment. "Iruka isn't a bad teacher per se, but I don't think he has the correct mental outlook. The entire academy is treated pretty much like a normal school, but we are teaching the children to become killers and soldiers. There is too much obfuscation and teaching of non-relevant knowledge. He just can't imagine that some of his precious children can pull off such a study in secret and then deceive everyone about their learned skills. The fact that no one believes it possible helped us as much as the children's skills at deception."

She leaned back in her seat and thought about what she had heard. The point about deception was well taken. Giving people largely what they expected to see would cause them to overlook a lot of incongruent details that didn't fit their world view. It was only this part of human nature that had allowed Naruto to pull off his long-term deception.

Anko couldn't really fault Mizuki for going beyond the boundaries of the law. Hell, she herself had been appalled by the standards of education and quality of the graduates. Who was she to fault a teacher who wanted the best for his students and took steps to remedy the situation? After all, he didn't harm anybody or Konoha by giving talented students extra education.

"How good are the children really?" she finally voiced the main question.

"It's difficult to say because they haven't been in the field, but in my opinion they are better than most genin with several years of experience. Each of them knows the basics of each subject of shinobi knowledge, even the ones not normally taught at the academy. I don't want to betray their trust, but I can honestly say that they have better physical abilities and skills than some chunin of my acquaintance. What they lack is the practical experience you can only get by really working as a shinobi." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "Your students in particular have an interesting set of abilities. Naruto has acquired knowledge of jutsu creation, but until now he has limited himself to non-combat techniques. His skills at tracking, trap setting and wilderness survival are better than my own. Additionally he is very good at sneaking around. Hinata is almost as good in covert operations as he is, but her real specialty is medicine. The girl could probably pass the entrance exam for medic-nins tomorrow. It's a real shame her clan doesn't appreciate the pursuit of anything other than the Gentle Fist, so she has to keep that talent hidden for now. Choji is surprisingly adept at information gathering. He will never be able to match Hinata or Naruto in moving undetected, but he has an almost uncanny ability of picking up information by simply talking to people. I haven't taught them any specific taijutsu styles. Instead I had them working on their general combat abilities. Yakumo Kurama has taught them some low-level genjutsu, and I have shown them some simple techniques. Their chakra control is simply phenomenal for children of their age. All of them are able to use tree climbing and water walking easily. They have made some study of elemental training, but I don't think they have achieved mastery in one element. Does that answer your question?"

Anko only nodded dumbly. That was far more than she had expected. A grin was slowly spreading across her face the more she thought about it. If all the children were indeed such prodigies thanks to their determination they would become legendary under her tutelage. Heck, she probably wouldn't even have to waste time with bringing them up to a level where she could take them on C-ranks outside of the village. She would have to verify Mizuki's appraisal, but if they had indeed become that good under the instruction of the chunin there was no telling how high they might rise if they had no longer to keep things under wraps and waste time with the academy. Additionally, as a jonin-sensei she had access to much more material than Mizuki. She might have the next incarnation of the Sannin at her hands.

"Thank you for that information, Mizuki-san. I will keep that knowledge to myself."

The man accepted her thanks with a nod. "If I might ask for a favor; I would like to meet with you a few times per months to follow the kids' progress. Naruto keeps in contact with me, but I would like to hear your perspective. Without the study group I fear I will die of boredom at the academy."

Anko blinked. "Sure, why not. I'll send you a notice whenever I have time."

* * *

><p>At the first day of the third week her team finally finished the tenth D-rank mission. A glance to the sky told Anko that it was still early enough to begin with the next step she had planned. After her enlightening conversation with Mizuki and some days to think it over she had come to the conclusion to not press her genin. A healthy teacher-student relationship required trust grown over time, and the children didn't know her well enough yet. They had revealed from the beginning that they were much better than their files said and left her to figure out the rest. It could be seen as a game between them. Anko certainly appreciated that approach. She would have noticed anyway in due time, but this way she would learn to understand them better while the children saw if they could trust her.<p>

This was also the reason she didn't tell Kurenai or Asuma anything, it was something each sensei had to figure out on her own. Additionally, it had led to her stepping up her schedule. There was simply no way she would stick around doing basic training if her pupils didn't need it. Now, the question how good they really were would be answered very soon.

"Congratulations, my pupils. Today marks the completion of your tenth D-rank mission. I have something special planned. Follow me."

After that announcement she took off at high speed. Not surprisingly, the kids followed her even after she took to jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Using one of the secondary gates they left the city zone of Konoha behind them. Soon the group reached the target Anko had in mind, a fenced in dark forest with giant trees. She came to a stop after arriving at one of the gates.

Anko turned around to her genin and smiled maliciously. "Welcome to training ground number 44, commonly known as the Forest of Death."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> And another chapter finished. Thanks for the multitude of reviews, it really helps with the motivation for writing.

Next chapter team 11 will leave Konoha for their first C-rank.

So long.


	17. Chapter 16: Learning the ropes

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto. If I did the plot would be quite different and I wouldn't be writing this for free.

**Chapter 16: Learning the ropes**

Naruto looked at the forest behind the fence. It looked deceptively peaceful, but the multitude of animal sounds told a very different tale to someone with his experience. He had never personally entered this specific forest, but of course he knew of its reputation. The Forest of Death was famous, or rather infamous, for its dangerous flora and fauna. The specific creatures could be found in other places as well, but only here were all of them gathered together in one place.

After giving her genin some time to examine the Forest of Death Anko continued speaking. "This forest has a diameter of twenty kilometers and is filled with plants and animals that are a mix of gigantic and poisonous, with both traits existing in the same creature more often than not. In the center of the forest stands a tower that is currently empty, but is frequently used for the chunin exams in one way or another. The reason why we're here is that this forest will be the place for my special survival test."

"S-Suvival test?" Hinata asked.

The jonin nodded. "Yes, survival. If you decide to take the test you will have to venture around one kilometer into the forest and then circle around either clockwise or counterclockwise until you are back at the starting point. Then you may leave the forest. I will be watching you the entire time but don't provide help until asked or you are in mortal danger. Of course, there are a few conditions." Anko ticked off her fingers. "One, if you come closer than two hundred meters to the edge of the forest you fail the test. Two, if you venture further than two kilometers into the forest you will fail the test. Three, if any of you are incapacitated you fail the test. Four, if you ask for my help you fail the test. Five, if I'm forced to help you fail the test. The objective is for me to see that you can survive on your own in unfamiliar territory and remain in fighting condition."

"I guess we aren't allowed to return to the village to retrieve more gear?" Naruto asked.

Anko shook her head. "Nope. I want to see how you deal with a hostile environment when you weren't able to specifically prepare for it. If you pass this test I will allow you to take C-rank missions. Should you fail or refuse to take the test today we will continue training for another week. Of course, I will make your tasks more difficult each time."

Naruto shared a look with Choji and Hinata. Both nodded, and he turned back to facing their teacher. "We want to take the test today."

"Good. I have a few recommendations for you. You don't have to heed my advice; that's your own decision. While it makes the way you have to go significantly shorter the deeper you go into the forest it makes an encounter with the more dangerous inhabitants that prefer to keep to the deep forest more likely. There is no time limit, and some dangers can pop up unexpectedly. It might not be the best solution to use the usual shinobi travel lane. The path starting at this entrance leads to an optimal starting point." Anko waved her hand. "Now go."

She didn't need to say it twice; Naruto and his teammates immediately started into the forest. When he looked back for a moment their sensei was gone. Immediately behind the gate a winding path began, leading deeper into the forest. It was surprisingly free of vegetation, but that didn't say much about its security.

"I'll take the lead for this. We go in slow and careful. Hinata, do a sweep of our vicinity in regular intervals. Choji, be prepared for engaging threats at every time." Naruto commanded. Despite her byakugan it wouldn't be easy for Hinata to keep up a sufficiently tight surveillance zone. At least, not without revealing her improved byakugan, and they weren't ready for that. Due to the dense vegetation she would have to steadily shift her viewpoint, making it difficult to cover every possible avenue of attack. Her 360 degree view simply didn't have the range and detail resolution necessary for this. If she would only have been looking for humans it would have been easy, but there were too many possible shapes to consider.

They advanced at a brisk walking pace until a scent brought by a shift of the wind caught Naruto's attention. "Careful now, something has been killed recently in front of us."

A few steps later the source of the now pungent stench came into view. In life it had been a giant bear with a shoulder height of approximately four meters, but now it was only an empty, fur-covered carcass acting as a large roadblock. Most of its flesh had been eaten from the inside out; starting from what Naruto surmised was a wound from a predator attack. It must have disemboweled the bear judging from the trail of blood and intestine pieces leading into the woods to the right side of the road. His hearing picked up some faint noises.

"Keep your distance. Something is still in there." he informed his friends.

Carefully stepping around, the group caught a glimpse of something like a leech the size of their forearms feasting on the remaining scraps of flesh. Nothing else happened until the path ended abruptly in a small clearing.

Naruto held up his hand. "Okay, we stop here for a moment to plan things out, but stay vigilant."

The three huddled together, but each of them carefully watched a section of the surrounding woods for threats.

"Okay, first priority are supplies. We don't know which of the plants here are poisonous, making it unwise to simply forage. Whose emergency supplies are the oldest? I just recently replaced mine." Naruto asked.

"Mine are a-about three months old; I planned on replacing them soon." Hinata answered.

"I have created my scroll and sealed the supplies about one month ago." Choji said.

It was an unfortunate fact that the storage seals created by them broke down after a few months, and the times you could use them to seal and unseal something was strictly limited, which each use shortening the remaining time span considerably. Not that most purchasable storage scrolls were better, in fact many were worse. The few scrolls of higher quality created by more advanced seal specialists were so expensive it simply wasn't justifiable for them to use their limited budget to buy them. All of them could make storage seals of their own, and while the special supplies for creating seals weren't cheap it was vastly cheaper than purchasing finished scrolls of lower quality than they made themselves every few months. All members of the circle carried a small scroll in a watertight container with some emergency supplies on their persons at all times.

"Which way do we go?"

Naruto shrugged. "It doesn't matter. One way is as good as the other. I think it best we keep our current distance to the center of the forest. If we go in deeper it shortens the distance we have to cover by a few kilometers, but if what Anko-sensei said is correct the increased danger would slow us down and make the journey more strenuous overall."

Choji nodded. "You're right. I don't want for us to accidentally get to close to the center of the forest and fail the test."

"I v-vote for keeping to the middle distance; it is a c-compromise between distance and danger." Hinata voiced her opinion.

Choji looked thoughtful for a moment. "The usual travel mode for shinobi in woods is tree hopping, but Anko-sensei specifically warned us against that. What do you think, Naruto?"

"We should keep to the ground in my opinion. The trees look like habitats of their own, and we might not notice a danger early enough to be able to stop in time if we simply jump from tree to tree. I say we walk on the ground."

"Standard procedures for m-moving in hostile territory?" Hinata asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, we're doing this slow and careful. Any other questions?" Nobody spoke up. "Then off we go."

It was quite an interesting experience for Naruto. In the world of his parents he had explored very different environments, but it was a whole new experience to venture into new territory in the real world. While his parents had created a whole slew of different terrains they didn't know much about the actual flora and fauna of the Elemental Nations outside of Konoha's vicinity. That was understandable for his father; after all he was a stranger to this world. He had wondered about his mother's lack of knowledge until she told him the answer directly. It had been obvious in hindsight. Youko had been the Kyuubi, and for a mountain sized demon fox most plants and animals were only 'crunchy or squishy things under my paws'. Oh, it had gathered bits and pieces of observations and knowledge, but they weren't especially helpful if one wanted to know if this plant or that animal was poisonous, harmless, useful or otherwise dangerous to humans. This journey was an interesting challenge for Naruto's adaptability and skills as a ranger.

An hour and a few kilometers later Hinata suddenly spoke up. "We have a t-tiger quickly approaching from behind. It has our scent."

Naruto had only a moment to make a decision. _'If we run there is no telling into what other dangers we will run into. Better to face the threat we know.'_

"Battle positions, we fight it here!" he yelled while drawing one of his throwing knives.

A few seconds later the largest tiger any of them had ever seen broke through the foliage. It stopped a moment to get its bearings, but that moment was enough for Naruto to plant his knife directly into the tigers left eye. Roaring in pain, the beast decided on Naruto as his first victim and bounded towards him. A second knife was launched, but an unexpected movement caused it to only scrape the tiger's skull without doing much damage.

Hinata used the now blinded side of the tiger to quickly dart in and disable a hind leg with a few Juuken strikes before darting away again. When the tiger was about to make the next bound towards Naruto its leg gave way and it crashed to the ground. Before it could regain its bearings Naruto threw his third knife at the now largely immobile target. This time his aim was spot on, and the now completely blinded tiger trashed wildly.

Choji came from behind and threw a kunai with an exploding tag at the animal. It impacted close to the spine directly behind the tiger's skull. A small boom later the beast was dead with its head almost completely severed.

"The pelt isn't worth much, and I don't know if the flesh is poisonous. Considering that most of the things here are and that the tiger has to eat something I would guess yes." Naruto announced the results of his examination. "These are nasty buggers. With their thick hide and large body mass almost all our weapons are useless, and I don't want to get close to these things' claws or teeth. I don't want to risk injury to any of us. If we encounter another one exploding tags are our best bet."

Choji looked mournfully at the dented remains of the kunai he had used to deliver the tag to the target. "That will be hard on our kunai and tag reserves."

Naruto shrugged. "It can't be helped. I can take out the eyes, but they make a damned small target and it doesn't kill them. Now, let's go before the smell of blood attracts more predators."

The next few kilometers of their journey were largely uneventful. Occasionally they climbed a tree via tree walking to make sure they were on the right path, but Naruto's sense of direction proved sufficient. Several times they had to take detours to avoid animals or plants that Naruto considered suspicious, but all in all it was a walk in the park. The afternoon turned into evening, and they began to look for a place to spend the night. Something was bothering Naruto when they entered a more heavily vegetated stretch of the forest, but he wasn't able to tell what. Suddenly his eyes widened in realization. _'The time of the year, color and size are wrong but these plants look just like…'_

"STOP!" Naruto yelled. He and Hinata managed to stop immediately, but Choji was already committed to another step. It was one too many. With a dull thud several of the plants that had belatedly roused Naruto's suspicion burst, sending thorns everywhere. He and Choji took some hits, but both of them managed to protect their faces. Hinata was standing on the opposite side and was covered by their bodies. Immediately a burning sensation started where the thorns had managed to penetrate his clothing.

'_That's it. Enough with fitting in. I'll never again go on a mission without my leather clothing; the thorns would never have managed to penetrate that.'_

Backtracking carefully they managed to clear the field without triggering any further bursts. They stopped at a small rivulet they had crossed just moments before.

"What was that?" Choji asked while plucking thorns out of his arms and legs. He wore several normally not visible additional layers of clothing acting as a form of armor, and it had protected his torso. Naruto wasn't so lucky.

"Exploding mushrooms. The normal variant is much smaller and only spreads clouds of spores when they become ripe. Sorry about not warning you earlier. Not only is the color and size different, but they normally don't become dangerous for another two months." Naruto explained, frowning as he examined one of the small wounds. The burning sensation had faded and was being replaced by a numb feeling. It had stopped spreading, but he wasn't exactly a typical boy. "Hinata, better examine Choji's wounds. I think the thorns are poisonous. I'm fine for now and will keep watch."

Hinata nodded and approached Choji. Naruto sent them occasional glances while watching for threats. All members of their circle could use a basic healing technique and apply first aid, but Hinata was much better. First she ran a diagnostic jutsu before she switched to a poison extraction technique. It was one of the most advanced she had managed to learn and was normally considered a mid-level technique for chunin medics. After she had removed the poison she closed the small wounds with a more basic healing technique.

Five minutes later she was finished with patching Choji up and used the diagnostic jutsu on Naruto. "The p-poison is already fading; I don't need to do anything further than heal the f-flesh wounds."

A few minutes later they were on their way again. It was already growing dark when they found a place acceptable as a camping site. The ground was rocky and dry, but a small stream was only two dozen meters away. Overhanging rocks created a sheltered place. Sleeping on the hard ground would be uncomfortable, but it was better than the alternatives. They didn't have camping gear with them, after all. After gathering some firewood Hinata unsealed her supplies. They consisted of a large canteen filled with water, enough provisions to last them three days and some medical supplies. It wasn't much, but even so it was at the limit of the storage seal used.

Naruto examined his teammates. Hinata was relatively fresh, but Choji had obviously trouble staying awake. _'That isn't surprising. The poison weakened him, and the technique Hinata used is quick but taxing on the patient's body. Additionally, Hinata got to train with mom and dad in wilderness survival. Choji knows the essentials from the academy and our studies, but he doesn't have the practical experience.'_

"Okay, Choji, you will get to sleep the entire night." Naruto raised a hand to forestall the boy's protest. "No, don't argue. I can see the day was taxing on you, and you need to be fresh tomorrow. Hinata, you can have either first or third watch. I don't need much sleep and will cover the other two."

Hinata nodded. "I take the third. How far have w-we come today?"

"A little more than a third of the way by my estimate. Tomorrow it will become easier because we have become familiar with the environment and can move more quickly. I think we will be finished by tomorrow afternoon."

Sometime later Naruto was sitting with his back to the fire and watching their surroundings. Hinata and Choji were fast asleep, and he hoped the night would be peaceful. He wondered what their sensei was doing. One thing was certain, she was somewhere nearby. During the entire day and even now he would occasionally detect faint traces of her scent. It wasn't enough for him to determine her position, but it was certainly enough to assure him that they were watched.

'_We've certainly shown her enough skills to become curious. I see a discussion about our skills approaching.'_

Mizuki had reported their conversation, after which it had only been a matter of time. This survival exercise would show her quite a lot, meaning the time for secrecy was coming to an end, at least in regards to their sensei.

* * *

><p>Anko watched her pupils attentively while hidden under an advanced concealment jutsu. It had cost her a pretty penny and several large favors to obtain, but it was definitely worth the cost. Before today she hadn't been sure, but apparently it was even able to deceive Hinata's byakugan to a degree, especially with all the additional cover available. Interestingly, Naruto seemed to be able to detect her presence somehow from time to time, even if he obviously wasn't sure of her hiding spot. She had learned a great deal about her pupils in the past day and the last few hours, even if she had to refrain from sleeping to keep her watch over her genin. Two or three days without sleep were manageable.<p>

They all had carried emergency packages in hidden sealing scrolls, which hadn't really surprised Anko. Preparation was emphasized at the academy, even if most young genin had to learn it the hard way. What had surprised her despite Mizuki's information was how proficient Naruto was as a ranger. It was clear to her that the boy wasn't familiar with this specific environment, but he took to it like a natural. Hinata and Choji were clearly following his lead. Hinata seemed to have some experience of her own, but Choji was another matter. It seemed as if he knew the theory, but lacked some practical experience.

'_Hinata did say she liked wandering in the woods. That would explain her greater proficiency, and if I were in her shoes I would try to get away from the Hyuuga compound as often as I could, too. With two competent teammates Choji will learn quickly.'_

The tiger yesterday had been a surprise, normally they didn't stray that far out of the deep woods, but the kids handled him masterfully. At first Anko had thought she would have to intervene with the paralyzing exploding mushrooms; after all the boys had been hit by enough thorns to be paralyzed for a day or two, thereby failing the test. Hinata's knowledge of medical jutsu proved to be sufficient for the task, though. If she wasn't mistaken that had been a chunin-level technique. Anko wasn't a medic-nin herself, but she had learned quite a lot of medical knowledge to help with her work in the Torture & Interrogation department. It made torturing people much easier and safer, after all. The information that Naruto was naturally resistant against poisons had been carefully filed away, too.

Currently the kids were fighting a group of giant ants that they hadn't been able to evade without either stirring up a large colony of giant tree leeches or walking into a den of several giant bears. The ants reached waist-high and were relatively nasty to fight because of their immunity against sharp weapons, but Choji was just the right genin to deal with that problem. After using one of his family's jutsu to enlarge his feet and legs he was simply stomping the insects into the ground while Naruto and Hinata followed him closely and guarded against attacks from behind and the sides.

It would likely be the last fight; her genin had almost completed their journey and were angling towards the path out of the forest. Anko cocked her head thoughtfully when she saw Naruto and Hinata making hand seals after launching several exploding tags. The ants had mustered one last massive assault from all directions, and obviously the genin thought that simple taijutsu and the tags wouldn't be enough.

"Earth Release: Sticky Mud Trap"

That was Naruto using a D-rank earth technique to turn a semicircle of the ground behind them into extraordinarily sticky mud. It was devastatingly effective against their insect opponents. The affected area wasn't especially large or the mud especially deep or sticky. That would have required one of the higher-ranked, more powerful versions of the technique, but for their current situation it was perfectly sufficient.

"Fire Release: Small Fire Stream"

Anko eyes widened when she saw Hinata using a D-rank fire technique to torch the trapped enemies. Hyuuga never used elemental techniques to her knowledge because 'it was against the tradition of the clan'. Come to think of it, neither did they use medical techniques.

'_It seems little Hinata-chan is even more un-Hyuuga-like than anyone in her clan suspects. It's such a pity she has to keep her talents secret; all her father can think of is Juuken, Juuken, Juuken.'_

With a resounding boom the exploding tags ignited, taking neatly care of most of the creatures not trapped in the burning mud. When the smoke cleared Anko could see that Choji had squashed all enemies in front of the group. There were a few survivors behind and to the sides, but they scurried away as quickly as they could.

A few minutes later her genin reached the forest path, but they kept their guard up the entire time. It was a very good behavior to learn; there had been more than one group of shinobi which had been taken down shortly before they reached safety because they thought nothing could happen to them now.

Anko dropped her concealment technique and used a shunshin to clear the rest of the forest and await her genin outside the gate. While astoundingly low-cost in upkeep for what it did, raising her concealment technique in the first place was very expensive, and the costs added up over time. She was on the high end for jonin if one considered chakra reserves, but after more than twenty-four hours she was running low. If it had become necessary she could have taken a soldier pill, but she rather tried to avoid that. If you became too dependent on them it could easily lead to overestimating one's available chakra, and that would be quite bad if no pills were left.

A few minutes later her three genin left the forest and she waved them towards her. "Welcome back, my students. You have passed my test, and have a right to be proud of your performance. Normally genin are only allowed in there without oversight when they try to become chunin."

After cheering for a moment Naruto spoke up. "I thought I caught your scent several times in the forest, sensei. Did you observe us continuously?"

"We will speak about that later, among other things. You have the rest of today and tomorrow morning free. Meet me for lunch at our usual restaurant; we will handle the mission report and my critique of your performance then. The day after tomorrow we will begin your first C-rank mission. For now you can relax."

Team 11 stayed together until they entered Konoha. After she saw her genin off Anko returned to her home. Twenty minutes later she had showered and was holding a cup of hot tea in her hands. There were still a few things to do before she could turn in to catch some well deserved rest. Namely working on her team's profile so she could choose appropriate C-rank missions.

'_They are just as good as Mizuki told me; all they lack is some practical experience until they can be considered fully competent genin. Originally I expected to need two or three months to get them ready for C-ranks, but they are already much further along. Their performance in the woods was better than most of the chunin wannabes in the exams two years ago. That means I can add traversing difficult terrain and tracking to the team's skills. Funny, I expected them to be primarily a balanced combat squad.'_

The children could probably take most challenges she could throw at them, but their first C-rank should be something easy. It was better to err on the side of caution, after all.

'_I have to check what is available, but I can think of several possibilities. Not an escort mission though, I always hated these. Perhaps a delivery mission.'_

Anko nodded to herself. Yes, a low-end delivery mission through difficult, uninhabited terrain sounded good. Perhaps she could get one of the major problems of their professional development out of the way at the same time.

* * *

><p>"Well, how was it? I've always wondered if the name Forest of Death was really justified." Yakumo asked the blond boy whose head currently rested in her lap.<p>

"Surprisingly difficult. I doubt anyone else from our class could have made it so soon after graduation. I'm really good at wilderness survival, and even I had some nasty surprises. You, Ino or Shino would have succeeded, but with more difficulty. It's no wonder that normally only chunin and above are allowed in there. We really need more real-life practice of our skills; our knowledge of the principals and theory is far in advance of that." Naruto answered without opening his eyes. He continued with giving her the high points of their journey into the forest before falling into silence.

Yakumo had to agree with her boyfriend. Now that she was on a team with Shinji she could really see how far they had advanced. On the other hand, the comparison with Kurenai showed how far they still had to go. Their distribution of skills was really abnormal for fresh genin, with some of their abilities already on the level of chunin while they weren't much better than other graduates in other fields. There had simply been no way for them to gain the necessary practical experience before their graduation.

She let out a small sigh. It had been far easier to coordinate their schedules when they were still academy students. Now they never really knew what their senseis planned for the day. Team 11's little sojourn in the Forest of Death was a prime example. Normally Naruto visited her house each evening, but yesterday he hadn't turned up because of their sensei's little surprise exercise. The coordinated work of the circle rested for the moment until they became more used to things, but she still didn't appreciate that her quality time with Naruto was cut short. It would probably become worse before it got better, though.

Naruto broke the comfortable silence that had enveloped them. "We will in all likelihood leave the village for our first C-rank the day after tomorrow. I don't know how long we will be gone."

Yakumo sighed again. "I wish it would be the same for us, but it will probably still be weeks until we are ready for that. Shinji really is a typical product of the academy, in other words completely unprepared."

"How does he hold up anyway? You hadn't much good to say about him."

A third sigh emerged from her lips. "It isn't like he isn't a relatively nice guy, but I have to wonder sometimes if he is short a spine. Still, he has improved a great deal already with Kurenai-sensei's and our help. Although I worry if he has what it takes to be a successful shinobi. When we were allowed to use jutsu in a recent spar he simply curled up for almost half an hour after I used one of my genjutsu on him. Kurenai-sensei was not amused."

Naruto's eyes snapped open. "How bad was it? Nothing permanent, I hope."

Yakumo rolled her eyes. "What do you take me for? It was a simple String Bean Binding technique. All of you could take that without batting an eye. Even Kurenai-sensei had to concede that it was well within the scope of the rules and Shinji's reaction was simply extreme. I don't want to know what would have happened if I had used something truly disturbing. Today he tried to keep Ino between us the entire time even after I apologized. The funny thing is she could probably do worse things to him than I could."

Hinata had once joked that with her combat-applied medical skills she would rape their enemies' bodies while Ino raped their minds and Yakumo raped their senses. It was true in most ways. Her genjutsu mostly affected the victim's senses and only indirectly the mind while Ino could have direct access if she wanted. Yakumo was reasonably sure that all three of them could break most people's sanity in their own personal ways if they really tried. Yakumo knew the others of their circle thought she had a scary mind, but she herself sometimes thought that Hinata could be worse. Ino had been relatively harmless at first, but ever after she had met some old Yamanaka willing to teach her she had steadily caught up. The blond girl was tight-lipped about it, but recently she had confided Yakumo and Hinata in. To think that she now had the complete memories of one of the most famous Yamanaka kunoichi of the last two hundred years in her head…

A yawn from her boyfriend interrupted her thoughts. "Sorry, Yakumo-chan. The day was more stressful than I thought. It's very different to be responsible for two other people's safety instead of simply my own. I don't think I will be good company until I get to sleep in my own bed."

"It's okay; I'm sure it will be the same for me at some point in the future."

When Naruto left her house she gave him a kiss on the cheek as a goodbye. Recently she had begun considering taking things a bit farther. Naruto had made it clear that it was solely she who would set the pace of their relationship. Her face colored slightly when she imaged kissing him on the lips. Perhaps she would do it when he returned from his C-rank mission.

* * *

><p>The meal had been pleasant, Anko decided. She really liked that restaurant run by some non-shinobi members of the Akimichi clan, not the least because two of her three genin could out-eat her by a large margin. Thanks to Choji they got a not inconsiderable discount, and the variety and quality of the dishes was very good. The Akimichi simply loved their food.<p>

They had just returned to training ground number thirty-six after their meal. Anko had now booked the training ground permanently for her team. While the Forest of Death was ideal for training in a hostile environment, it didn't lend itself well to other types of training. As soon as they had made themselves comfortable, Anko began speaking.

"It is time for us to talk seriously about our little survival exercise and some other things. Specifically, I…"

Naruto held up his hand and interrupted her. "Sorry Anko-sensei, could we go about how to set up a camp in swampy terrain again? I think I've forgotten what you told us yesterday."

Anko was taken aback for a second. None of her genin normally interrupted her, and especially not with such an inane request. Naruto knew how to properly set a camp, and she most certainly had not spoken to him about that topic yesterday. A suspicion bloomed inside of her, and she noticed how his facial expression had shifted into a happy smile with some dumb and confused undertones. That meant something was afoot.

'_Okay, I can play along for a while. He has earned that much trust.'_

She began explaining the topic on a level of detail she felt appropriate for a reminder, with her genin faking attention. After about five minutes the blond boy interrupted her a second time. "Sorry about that, sensei, but the Hokage was spying on us. I would prefer to keep him in the dark about some things."

"The Hokage spied on us? How do you know that?" Anko asked incredulously.

Before he answered he sent a glance to Hinata who nodded and activated her byakugan for a moment and seemed to scan the surrounding area. Only after she gave the all-clear Naruto continued speaking.

"I've kept it secret, but I can feel my own chakra very precisely. In the same vein, if foreign chakra interacts with mine I notice it immediately. The crystal orb the Hokage uses for his spying technique establishes a chakra connection to its target. There is no sound, but I know the old man can read lips. Oh, I'm not a sensor. If it is not interacting with me I have serious problems with detecting even powerful techniques at any sort of distance."

It took Anko a moment to parse everything, but she had experienced stranger stuff. That was quite an interesting ability Naruto had there, she had to admit. She really didn't like the Hokage spying on her, though. On the positive side the time for secrets was apparently over.

Anko took a deep breath. "Okay, I accept that for now. I can guess that you are now ready to let me in on your secrets. From talking with your teacher Mizuki I know some things, but I would appreciate hearing it from you. I don't give you any promises if I can keep things secrets, especially if it veers into illegal territory. What I can promise you that I will try to act in your best interest."

Naruto nodded. "Fair enough. It's best if I start at the beginning. You already know I know about my tenant. It led to a whole lot of discrimination earlier in my life, but I managed to cope. My first year at the academy was especially bad; no one wanted to talk to me, my education was outright sabotaged and I had to learn most things in self-study." He gestured to the Akimichi boy. "One day I met Choji in the park and befriended him. I deliberately failed the advancement tests to change class. There I met Yakumo-chan, and together we began training in earnest. Her uncle wanted her to give her best, and other than me nobody took their training really seriously. After Choji joined the academy half a year later we included him as good as we could. When Yakumo's uncle fell ill she stopped attending the academy, and I didn't want to be alone in the class so I failed the tests a second time, landing me in Choji's class at the beginning of second year. Shino and later Hinata joined the ranks of my friends during that time, and we continued following my own demanding training schedule and studied ahead. Well, I just found the entire academy education lacking. Someday in third year I overheard Mizuki-sensei talking to himself and approached him, and from there things took on a life of their own. Ino joined us somewhere along the way. Before I explain anything further I have a question for you. Please answer it truthfully. What do you think of Konoha's status, and what of the Hokage?"

That was a difficult question. Anko was tempted at first to answer with the usual drivel, but thought better of it. Homura and she had the long-term goal of making her team into the nucleus of Konoha's renaissance. If she answered honestly this might be the first step in that direction. Or it could bring everything crashing down. She decided to take the risk.

"Konoha is in decline. My mentor Homura Mitokado is well aware of that, but it seems as if no one else is. During the last years I have seen ample evidence of it, but it's almost impossible to convince people of that. The idea that Konoha is the strongest village and that it will remain so is firmly rooted in everybody's mind. I have been working on my friend Kurenai for more than a year and only now is she slowly coming around. I suspect the skill difference between your two friends and Shinji plays no small part in it." She sighed before continuing. "As for the Hokage, he is directly or indirectly responsible for a lot of the problems and doesn't do anything to correct them. I don't think that he truly recognizes the situation for what it is, and he closes his eyes to anything that indicates otherwise. He has lost my respect and trust."

Her pupils didn't seem surprised. Choji was the one to break the silence. "That is close to our view as well. Before our fourth year we collected all the information about Konoha we could. We were appalled with what we found out."

He continued with giving her an overview about their findings and their decision to do something about it. Sometimes Naruto or Hinata took over parts of the explanation, but most things Anko already knew. She hadn't known the details about Konoha's erstwhile external defenses, but it fit into the overall picture. The one truly shocking thing was the Hyuuga situation. They had always believed that the Hyuuga clan would be a main factor in any possible recovery.

"How certain are you about that?" she asked.

Hinata answered that question. "Completely. My m-medical skills are good enough to recognize the symptoms. I've studied h-historical medical t-texts, and once a clan reaches the Hyuuga's current state there are p-perhaps two to four generations left. They only close their eyes to it and w-will continue to do so no matter what."

After a few seconds of silence Naruto brought up the next point. "Then there is the behavior of the Hokage regarding me and my tenant. I have no proof, but my entire upbringing reeks of manipulation with the goal of me developing an emotional dependency towards the Old Man. When we talked last after the graduation he played the friendly grandfather type as always, but he didn't do anything to truly help me earlier. How much trouble would it have been to ask someone to tutor me? Keeping me ignorant about the Kyuubi is simply criminally negligent, if I hadn't found out on my own I would still wonder why so many people don't like me. Not to mention what could have happened had I unconsciously tapped into its chakra. I think I could control it to a degree, but I haven't been able to experiment and don't really want to outside of an emergency. Lastly, there is the matter of my parents."

"Your parents?"

"Kushina Uzumaki, the previous jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko and Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage."

Anko sent a glance towards the distant mountain with the stone faces before looking back at Naruto. At first the claim seemed ridiculous, but now that she knew what to look for she saw the resemblance. She remembered the Yondaime, her teacher Orochimaru had often ranted about him, but Kushina was more of an unknown. Anko had some vague memories of a pretty red-headed kunoichi of some repute who was often seen with the Yondaime, but nothing more. Her other two genin hadn't reacted in any way, meaning they already knew and accepted that as the truth.

"Naturally, I'm not especially happy with dear old daddy for what he did to me, but he is beyond my reach. If the village knew it might have defused some of the hate, but the Sandaime decided to keep my heritage secret. There is more, but I'm not quite ready to share it with you." Naruto said before lapsing into silence.

The silence stretched for minutes while Anko contemplated her further course of action. It all seemed logical so far, and she was inclined to believe Naruto about his parentage. She wondered how he found out about that and that his mother had been a demon container as well, but it certainly explained how the Kyuubi had been able to appear so abruptly inside of Konoha's walls. It was pretty much what she expected to happen if a demon containment seal ever failed completely. There had been a similar incident in Suna a few years ago when the Ichibi took over its host, but somehow the Kazekage had managed to subdue the rampaging bijuu while keeping the container intact. All that certainly explained his desire to keep things secret and his dislike of the Sandaime. That the children were aware of many of Konoha's problems was an unexpected boon, but it would factor wonderfully into her plans. She really wished she could talk with Homura about it, but the old man was currently in the capital to negotiate the mission quota for next year.

'_We're really lucky Naruto didn't decide to hate Konoha, with his skills that could have led to a catastrophe.'_

"For now I will accept that and keep everything you told me secret. Where exactly does that leave us?" Anko finally asked.

"We would appreciate you kept our exact skill level under wraps and stretch our progress over time in your reports. That way you can take the full credit for training us to such heights. We still have much to learn that you can teach us." Naruto shrugged. "Honestly, we can't do anything besides train, become stronger and perhaps make some connections in the next few years. We are at the top end of what genin probably should be after graduation. Well, with the exception of our chakra reserves; I developed some training techniques with Hinata-chan's help that give us an extreme advantage."

"Just continue what you have been doing, sensei. As far as we can tell you are doing an excellent job teaching us." Choji assured her. "We need practical experience; there is only so much we could do while at the academy even with Mizuki-sensei's help."

Anko laughed. "Thanks for the compliment. Now, are you ready to tell me what your true skills are?"

"Well, you see…"

* * *

><p>Hinata allowed herself to slowly relax. Anko seemed to reacting well to their revelations. Hinata had been prepared to call forth the power of Naruto's father if she had reacted poorly despite the danger such a venture posed. It had been a gamble on their part, but it was simply impossible to keep things secret with an attentive and inquisitive sensei like Anko. Better to bring things into the open under circumstances they could control.<p>

It had been a surprise to her that one of the village leaders actually recognized the existence of the problems, but it promised to be very helpful in the long run. On her last visit Youko had deemed her finally ready and showed her their reconstructed vision of the other timelines, and she couldn't help but dread the day that Akatsuki would appear. Not that there wouldn't be any other dangers, after all even a stone thrown by some hapless child could end a human life if it hit in the right spot.

The thing that had truly appalled her was what Naruto and she would have become without Daiki's intervention. That orange, childish and dumb idiot bore hardly any resemblance to the man she loved with all her heart. Should she ever get her hands on the souls of Naruto's biological parents she would make them suffer for a long, long time in retribution for that abominable mind-altering seal. Not that her own life would have turned out much better. The other Hinata had been a pathetic little girl whose only redeeming quality had been her willingness to die for her Naruto. In most timelines there wasn't much additional information, but in truth she was happier with not knowing to which lows she could sink. The truly frightening thing was how close she had been to becoming that travesty. If either Youko, Daiki or Naruto had decided to simply not bother with helping her… it didn't even bore thinking about.

Their teacher's voice interrupted her thought. "Okay, I think I have a good overview over your skills. What jutsu do you know? Mizuki didn't go into details."

"Every member of our group has learned five D-rank ninjutsu: the Sticky Mud Trap, Slippery Mud Field, Stone Shuriken, Small Fire Stream and Blazing Embers. We've been only able to learn three C-ranks, namely the Small Fireball, Underground Move and the basic Healing Palm technique." Choji explained. "Mizuki-sensei didn't know that many techniques, and those were the best for our situation. I'm working on mastering my clan's techniques."

"Yakumo-chan taught us a few unnamed genjutsu that serve mainly as distractions." Naruto took over. "I created personally a technique to overhear distant conversations and some other supplementary techniques concerning the senses of smell and hearing, but no one I tried to teach was able to learn them. My own senses are much better than normal, which might be a factor. I haven't tried my hand at combat techniques; it would have required a suitable testing ground and I wouldn't have been able to hide the property damage."

Now it was her turn. "B-Besides basic Juuken I'm proficient in several healing t-techniques. The one you saw me use in the forest w-was the most advanced one, but I also can treat most other kinds of w-wounds. I'm almost c-completely self-taught, and my c-clan must never l-learn I use anything other than the G-Gentle Fist."

Their sensei let out a low whistle. "That is certainly impressive. I would have expected you to become this good only a few months down the line, or even only after more than a year in other fields." Suddenly Anko began to smile maliciously. "That means I can update my teaching schedule. I have just the right thing for you if you want real-life experience." She reached into the bag she had carried with her to extract a stack of papers. "Today I will introduce you to the joys of paperwork and after-action reports. We'll start with verbal reports; then I will show you how to properly write it down. There are some points you have to pay attention to if you leave out some facts you don't want your superiors to know about and don't want to make it obvious. Now get to work."

* * *

><p>"… and then he dared them to become better than him if they wanted the position of genin team leader. You should have seen their faces, even Kiba's dog couldn't decide between frustration and awe. Since then the two have taken to training much better than before." Asuma concluded his tale.<p>

Kurenai chuckled at this. Shino Aburame had become the genin leader of Team 10, a fact which irked the other two genin Asuka Soryu and Kiba Inuzaka to no end. Apparently both had expected to take over leadership of whichever team they were assigned to, but Shino had thwarted all their attempts by being much more skilled and mature. According to Asuma he even showed genuine leadership qualities by using their ambition to get the other two to train more.

On her own team Yakumo had taken over the leadership position. It had been no question in her mind that either of the girls could fill the spot, but they were evenly matched in most fields. Apparently the girls knew it too because they had asked her to decide the matter with a coin toss after they brought it to her attention. Ino had made no fuss about it, and Yakumo had suggested to rotate them every month or so. It had made Kurenai proud of her two girls; they really were what aspiring kunoichi should be.

Anko's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Okay, that's enough. I have better things to do than wait on that lazy ass. I vote we begin our meeting now and don't wait in the future."

Kurena sighed. "I agree." The jonin-senseis were supposed to meet every week in the first month in case insoluble problems with their genin popped up. Kakashi had been more than forty minutes late to the first meeting and almost an hour to the second. This was the third meeting, and they were already about twenty minutes over their agreed upon starting time. Such behavior served only to further fan the mutual dislike between Kakashi and Anko.

She herself hadn't much contact with Kakashi before she took over a genin team, but she was rapidly growing to dislike the man. His habit of constantly reading porn in public she was able to overlook, but his constant unpunctuality and ridiculous excuses grated on her nerves. Sometimes it was hard to believe that the man was one of the most well-liked and respected jonin in Konoha.

"If you two ladies are of the same mind I have to accept that." Asuma had tried to play peacemaker in the past, but apparently even his patience had limits. "The meeting is now opened. There's nothing especially noteworthy going on with my team that I didn't already tell you. Shino is simply the best academy graduate I've ever seen, and he is doing the best he can to bring the other two to his level. There is some friction between them, but it is developing more in the direction of a friendly competition."

"My two girls are thick as thieves, but I have some problems with Shinji. Apparently he feels somewhat inadequate because the girls are so much better than him, and there was a nasty incident with Yakumo using a genjutsu on him during a spar." Kurenai raised her hands in defense. "I can't really blame her; I had specifically allowed the use of jutsu and it was rather harmless, but Shinji reacted poorly to it. She apologized, but some problems still persist. I hope to be able to work them out in time."

"I've nothing much to report other than that my teams progresses at an astounding rate. They have chosen Naruto as a leader, and he does a good job. I plan to take them out of the village on a C-rank mission tomorrow."

Kurenai stared at her friend. "You already want to take them on a C-rank? They have been in our care only a little more than two weeks."

Anko shrugged. "Sure. I had them perform a two-day journey into the Forest of Death without my help or prior warning. They should have no problems with C-ranks if they can do that."

The red-eyed jonin stared openmouthed at her friend. It was the same for Asuma, but in his case even his unlit cigarette fell out of his mouth. The bearded man was the first to recover his voice. "You… you sent them into the Forest of Death? Are you out of your mind? Even some chunin don't go there unless ordered."

"Hey, I gave them a choice, and I watched over them closely the entire time. They were better than most of the idiots I watched taking the chunin exam two years ago." Anko defended herself. "If anything the mission should be easier. Apparently Hinata likes to get away from her clan and wanders the forests and Naruto is an avid hunter."

Asuma shook his head. "I can't believe it, fresh genin surviving in the Forest of Death. This year is full of prodigies. And here I hoped for some relaxing duty, but with how Shino is pushing me I foresee hardly any quiet days."

"I rather like the challenge myself." a smirking Anko responded.

"You do know that this will set a new record?" a recovered Kurenai asked.

At this Anko grew serious. "Yes, I know. I'm not especially happy about that; it will probably cause some amount of envy. If I could ask for a favor, I would like you two to keep it secret for now. When Kakashi gets wind of it he will take his team on a C-rank simply to one-up me even if his team isn't ready."

Asuma put a new cigarette into his mouth. "I don't believe he would be that irresponsible, but I will honor your request. Each of us is responsible for his or her team, not for the others, and that includes information about their prowess or missions. Remember, you may not like what the others are doing, but it is not your responsibility. In fact, you aren't allowed to interfere in any way with another sensei's training."

Kurenai nodded. "I agree to not mentioning it anywhere, but my team will probably know anyway. Yakumo is Naruto's girlfriend, and they visit each other daily."

"Really? Dang, that boy moves fast. How far along are they?" Asuma asked.

"Holding hands, kissing on the cheeks and some cuddling." Anko answered. "I watched them several times, and they are awfully cute. They've known each other for over five years. I don't think we have to worry about them doing something irresponsible."

Kurenai laughed. "I wish there were still some cameras around."

"I think we're finished for today." Asuma stated. When no objections were raised, he stood up. "Good luck on your mission, Anko. See you in a week."

* * *

><p>Choji checked out his backpack and assorted supplies one last time before he left his room. Today would mark his first C-rank mission, and he was excited. Their sensei hadn't given them the details yet, but she had commanded them to prepare for an absence of one and a half weeks. His mother engulfed him in a hug when he said goodbye to her.<p>

"Oh my little Choji, all grown up now. I wish your father could be here to see it; he will be so proud. We will have to tell him afterward. Stay safe, listen to your sensei and don't get into any trouble you can't handle."

"Sure mom. Don't worry, we are as prepared as we can get."

His father had to leave on a mission four days ago and probably wouldn't be back until Choji returned from his own mission. After enduring a few more hugs and words of advice Choji finally managed to extricate himself and head to the gates of the village. Hinata and Naruto already awaited him there, even if their appearance was very different from their everyday clothing. Naruto wore a mix of leather and cloth in brown and green, which made him look like a professional woodsman. Only his hitai-ate marked him as a shinobi, all his weapon pouches and knives were either disguised or displayed in such a fashion to emphasize the image he tried to project.

Hinata didn't dress for a specific role and wore her usual shinobi trousers and a dark sleeveless leather vest over a long-sleeved mesh shirt. Choji himself had chosen various clothes in shades of green, but he had plates of armor at his front and back hidden between the layers. He was strong enough that their weight wouldn't slow him down noticeably.

None of them wore any clan symbols or anything that would make it obvious what their specialization was. They didn't expect to encounter enemies, but there was no reason to paint a target upon their backs by making it obvious that Hinata was a Hyuuga or warn anyone of Choji's clan jutsu beforehand. Hinata's eyes were a problem, but Choji knew that she was working on a disguise technique together with Yakumo and Naruto.

"Morning, guys. Are you ready?"

Naruto nodded. "As ready as I can be."

"It will be nice to be away from my clan for awhile." Hinata added with a smile.

Choji had to agree silently. He had visited the Hyuuga compound a few times and found the atmosphere exceedingly unpleasant. Setting his backpack besides his friends', they continued talking and enjoying the fresh air of the early morning. Shortly before the agreed upon time their sensei appeared by hopping down from a nearby roof with a backpack of her own. Anko stopped for a moment to take in their new appearances.

"Good morning, you three. I see you have prepared for the journey."

"Good morning, sensei. Well, this time we could prepare." Naruto answered.

Anko carefully inspected what each of them carried before announcing her approval. They had packed everything they needed for a journey of about two weeks, even if they expected to be back before that. Most of it was easily reachable, but they had additional supplies in some sealing scrolls.

"Very good. I didn't find anything amiss. Today you will begin your first C-rank mission. For this purpose I chose a regular delivery mission." Anko unfolded a map of the Land of Fire and pointed to a region to the southeast of Konoha. "You see this region? That's where we're headed. Three provinces border each other, with two of them having a sizable garrison of the imperial army in that area. The third has a small post in a village that has been deliberately established there. It isn't a large distance separating them, but the country is very rough and uninhabited. Normal people would need weeks to get through the woods, hills and swamps. The quickest way is around, but even that takes more than two weeks."

She paused for a moment to ascertain their reaction. Choji could already see where this was going. "Important messages are sent by messenger bird, but more detailed correspondence is too heavy and bulky for that. Instead of sending them the long way there is weekly mission for our village to collect the official correspondence for the other two provinces in the first town, stop at the second one to deliver part of it and pick up the local mail, continue to the outpost and finally return to the first city. Normally that is done by a single experienced genin, but I thought it a good start for our team. You'll get to see some cities other than Konoha, and the country is mostly nice with no opposition expected. Any questions?"

"How much time do you expect we will need for each leg of the journey?" Naruto asked.

"It depends a bit on the weather, but I estimate three days for us to reach our first goal, one and a half day for the first leg of the round tour, the same for the second one and a bit more than two for the last one, followed by three days for our return trip to Konoha. Eleven days all in all. Anything else? Good, let's get underway."

After checking out at the main gates they took to the trees. Hopping from tree to tree they made good speed and soon left the belt of training grounds surrounding Konoha behind. From this point on it was unfamiliar territory.

At first it wasn't really much different. The woods looked mostly the same and they didn't encounter any other humans. Shortly before noon Anko suddenly threw several senbon in mid-jump. When they stopped to investigate they found that their sensei had nailed three hares directly through their hearts.

"If it appears feasible you should always forage instead of using the long-lasting rations. You never know when a mission takes longer than expected, and if you run out of rations you have to spend time to forage even if you're in a hurry. We can run all day, but is easier on our bodies if we take a break around midday." Anko lectured.

He and Anko built a fire and Naruto took it upon himself to skin and prepare the animals while Hinata searched for some herbs. A tasty meal later they were underway again. Naruto frowned at the sky when they made camp for the night.

"I think it likely it will rain tomorrow." he announced. "Better keep your cloaks close at hand when we continue on the next day."

Naruto's prediction proved true, and a heavy rain came pouring down an hour after they set out. Despite their water-proof cloaks it made traveling rather uncomfortable, but luckily the rain ceased shortly after noon. It was late afternoon when the woods became lighter and fields and lumber camps began appearing with increasing frequency. That evening they found accommodation in the inn of a small village. The village youth eyed them curiously, but no one approached them.

Choji voiced his observations when they were in the privacy of the single room of the inn. There were no guests other than them. "They look poor."

Anko sighed. "Almost everyone will look poor to you, Choji. Konoha is an exceptionally rich city because the shinobi business is very lucrative despite the dangers. Some other towns are in a similar position for a variety of reasons, but the same isn't true for the vast majority of villages and cities. Look around. This village has only farming and some limited hunting and woodworking industry as sources of income. The few travelers only suffice to support this tiny inn. Even so, this village is in a good shape. There aren't any beggars, the children don't run around in rags and everyone seems relatively well-fed. You will see much worse in the future."

"What about their c-clothing, sensei?" Hinata asked.

"Ah, you noticed that. In the past almost everyone had access to cheap clothing, but it has been close to ten years now since no new supplies have appeared. The remaining stored amount was large but is slowly running out. Because of the higher quality such things have become unaffordable to the majority of the population, meaning the people have to make their own clothes. Once again it is a sign of Konoha's wealth that they are still freely available there." Anko explained. "As shinobi we are a bit outside of the established social order, but generally we are considered to fit in somewhere between very minor nobles, well-off merchants, high-quality soldiers and master craftsmen. In general you can expect reactions ranging from awe to respect to fear from most people."

"Why don't become more people shinobi if it is such a profitable job?" Naruto wondered.

"Several reasons, actually. Most importantly, only very few people are able to utilize chakra to any meaningful degree. Fewer than one in hundred, and not all of those have the necessary physical resilience. Then you need a qualified teacher. There are still a few independents, but the Hidden Villages have done their utmost to either include them or stamp them out. Even if you find a teacher he or she doesn't have the support structure a village provides, meaning that the training will be much likely much less effective. There are still a few independent shinobi clans, but they generally don't train outsiders. Many families would do nearly everything to have one of their children accepted at a shinobi academy, but the places are limited and the bribes are high." Anko sighed again. "Never forget that the world is unfair, but it isn't our place to change that. We would have to rule the land to do that, and if you consider Konoha's state that might not be the best idea."

The next day they left the small village early in the morning. After about two hours traveling through the woods they reached a large and well-traveled road, but they kept to the trees instead of intermingling with the much slower traffic. During the afternoon they spotted a large unit of soldiers marching in the opposite direction they were going, but otherwise it was mostly an assortment of merchants and peasants with some wandering craftsmen thrown in. They passed several towns without entering until they finally arrived at their destination just before it grew dark.

The town was relatively large but still much smaller than Konoha, with a fortified army camp the most unusual sight. When they made their way through the alleyways Choji noted the differences to the small village. Many people were apparently better off, but some seemed even poorer. It was an interesting dichotomy. When people caught sight of their headbands they generally made way for them. Apparently nobody wanted to trifle with them and somehow earn their wrath. The inn they spend the night in was much nicer than the one before; it had even water pipes in the washrooms. Never before had he recognized the value of Konoha's seal-based water infrastructure so much.

On the next morning they made their way to the garrison.

"The shops here are much different from home; I don't think I've seen a single weapons store since we arrived here." Naruto remarked.

"There are some, but not many. You have to remember that shops need a customer base. The army buys the weapons from some other place, ships them in and provides maintenance for them, meaning that only a few private guards and mercenaries buy weapons here, and it is just equally likely that they commission them directly from a weapon smith. Most normal people only carry a small knife or something like that." Anko explained.

When they approached the army garrison they could see that it was mostly a cluster of wooden buildings surrounded by a wooden palisade, but the wall and some barracks were in the process of being rebuilt with bricks. The guards at the gate simply waved them through when they saw their headbands. Choji looked around curiously; he had never seen any professional soldiers up close. The garrison wasn't that large, the buildings sufficed for between two and three hundred people. Some soldiers were doing drills, but even more seemed to simply laze around. Some civilian craftsmen and other people were likewise milling around or doing various tasks. Apparently Anko knew where she was going because they soon arrived at some tables stacked with documents under a canopy. The building behind them were they most likely normally resided was currently getting a new roof. Some people Choji recognized as officers were having some sort of argument, and their sensei decided to wait a short distance away and study a wall plastered with wanted posters until they were finished. Choji couldn't help but overhear a conversation some nearby soldiers were having, especially because it involved them.

"What are children doing here?"

"Sh! They can hear you. See the headbands? That means they are shinobi."

"Never antagonize them, no matter how harmless they look. They start their training before they can walk, and some of them can kill you simply by looking at you in the right way."

"Really? That's impossible."

"Better believe us. On my last deployment near the border to River Country a year ago we worked with a pair of them to track down some really nasty bandits. Both were woman, one had some red tattoos on her cheeks and three dogs with her. Apparently she could understand them, and they led us directly to the hideout we had been searching for months. When some of the bandits tried to attack us from the side she tore them to pieces with her bare hands. The other one was even scarier; she was a real raven-haired beauty that one. When we faced off against the main bandit force she simply looked at them and made some strange movements with her hands. One moment twenty bandits are about to attack us, the next moment they are waving their weapons around randomly. The poor sods couldn't even see us anymore and attacked each other. We had only to mop up the rest; easiest bandit hunt of my life."

Choji's attention was diverted when Anko approached the now cleared desk.

"Morning, sergeant. We are here to collect your mail."

The man behind the desk gave them a short look before retrieving two large, sealed pouches.

"Here you go; it's a pretty standard load this week." He sent them another glance. "Breaking in the next generation, are you? Normally there's only a single one of you."

Anko laughed. "You can say that. They're my pupils, and delivering mail is a nice break from what I usually do."

"I think it is better I don't know what you do normally if you think of wandering through pathless wilderness as relaxation. Have a nice day."

A few minutes later they had securely stored the pouches, left the garrison and shortly thereafter the town and headed towards the hills to the east. At first there were still farms and obvious signs of woodcutters, but soon they were traveling through untouched forests. The ground rose steadily and it became obvious why nobody wanted to travel this route other than shinobi. Deep chasms and sheer rock walls were simply everywhere and it made covering any sort of distance very cumbersome despite them being able to jump over most chasms and simply walk straight up the walls. It was difficult to be exactly sure with all the climbing and descending, but Choji thought they crossed the largest hills during the late afternoon. The weather was cloudy, but thankfully it didn't rain.

Naruto and Hinata to a lesser degree obviously were in their element and found the journey very interesting. Choji could have done without it, but he had to admit it did a lot of good for his wilderness survival skills. After they spent the night in a natural rock shelter they continued the journey on the next day in a more southeastern direction.

"There are a lot of b-brooks here." Hinata remarked.

"There are, and they all are feeding the big river that runs all the way to the southern ocean. Our next stop is on the east bank of the river where it becomes navigable." Anko explained.

They arrived shortly before noon, and the city almost rivaled Konoha in size. There was a lot of traffic going in and out of the city, and it was clearly wealthier than the town on the other side of the hills. Carts heavily loaded with different trade goods were coming from and going to the north and east. The reason became obvious when they entered the city. It had a large harbor were boats from the south were unloaded only to be reloaded with the freight the carts brought. After eating in one of the restaurants that served fish dishes the group sought out the garrison. The soldiers were stationed in a stone fortress overlooking the harbor, with the fortress being a part of the stone walls surrounding the city.

Exchanging one of the mail pouches for another was even quicker than in the first town, and five minutes later they were already headed out of the city. They crossed the river one kilometer downstream from the city via water walking. It was quite funny to see the crews of various ships goggling at them when they passed nearby. Apparently they seldom saw shinobi so blatantly displaying their powers.

Once they arrived at the west bank of the river Choji found out another reason why shinobi were hired to act as mail carriers. There was only swampland as far as he could see in all directions . By the evening Choji had developed a hearty dislike for that particular type of terrain. Anko left it mostly to Naruto to lead them through and provided only general directions, but she observed them all closely. They kept to bodies of water as often as they could because they could use water walking there, but there were far too many occasions when they had to trek through the mud. Mud was nasty because water walking didn't really work on it, the high content of earth made it impossible. Choji now understood much better why Naruto preferred closed leather boots that were mostly watertight. Hinata too, come to think of it. Luckily Naruto was able to find a dry spot for them to spend the night.

When they huddled around the small fire they managed to get going Anko explained a bit more about the travel route. "The hills we crossed earlier are part of chain of hills that range quite a distance into the north, but they curve to the west here. The first town we visited was in the northwest of that arc; the second town was to the east and slightly to the south on the other side of the hills. We are now going into the southwest, and after our next stop we'll return to the north. The entire south side of the hills is covered by these swamps, and they reach far into the west and south along the river. Two days left in these miserable swamps before we return to the hills."

During the night a cold drizzle started, and it did nothing to improve Choji's mood. The entire next day was very uncomfortable, and they decided to forego their usual midday-stop. It was already growing dark when they reached a dingy little village sitting on a spot of dry land. The military outpost was a small wooden fort manned by perhaps twenty grumpy soldiers, and they spent the night in a corner of the general sleeping hall. It seemed that only the commanding officer had a room of his own.

The next morning dawned sunny and clear, and Choji was able to examine the village better. It was by far the poorest he had ever seen. A corduroy road to the southwest was the only street leading out of the village, which consisted mostly of ramshackle wooden huts. The villagers were a sullen lot, and they stared at them in a mix of fear, envy and dislike. After their mail exchange a rider left with their delivery, and Team 11 headed into the swamps again.

As soon as they had put some distance between themselves and the village their sensei offered an explanation. "Most of the villagers are either serfs or criminals who got a chance to work off their sentence, and it shows. It was originally established to reclaim additional farmable land, but as you can see it is almost impossible to grow any food here and the project failed. Now they support themselves by peat digging. The outpost came later to suppress bandits and act as a mail station. Two kilometers to the southwest the road forks to the west and south, and it is only a small detour to here, especially with the village already built."

This day was almost as uncomfortable as the last, but thankfully the rain had stopped. Once again they eschewed taking a break at noon, and when the sky began to darken they left the swamps for good. They even found a nice dry cave with a hot spring, but the last fact led to some embarrassment. Anko insisted on them getting used to the sight of naked bodies of the opposite gender, and they had to take a joint bath.

Choji's and Naruto's heads were beet red when they finally sat down in the hot water. Anko was very much a woman, and Hinata was developing quite nicely.

"You might think this needlessly embarrassing, but I can assure you it is necessary. I've seen it happen more than once that an enemy kunoichi deliberately used her body as a distraction, and when your clothing is accidentally or deliberately damaged you have to keep your concentration." Anko explained her reasoning. "For that matter, would you like to explain to me why you aren't perturbed in the slightest, Hinata?"

A completely unflappable Hinata pointed to her eyes. "Don't you know, sensei? These eyes see everything."

Anko looked at her dumbly for a moment before she began to laugh uproariously, which did something very interesting to certain parts of her anatomy. The next morning was clear once again and they made good time until Anko stopped them at midday.

"We're almost there, but before we return to town I want to introduce you to a side aspect of the shinobi business, namely bounty hunting. Despite the army there are a lot of bandits all over the place and law enforcement is spotty at best. That means if the opportunity presents itself we will pick off targets of opportunity. I suspect some of them are hiding in this area, so keep your eyes open." she commanded.

It was during the afternoon that Naruto found some indications of humans in the area and they began to carefully track them down. In comparison to their tracking exercises and the Forest of Death it was very easy. Finally they found them. Four brutal looking men were milling around in a camp going about their business.

Anko took them a short distance back into the woods. "Okay, I got a good look at all of their faces and they match with the description I got. This group of outlaws is wanted dead for robbery, murder and rape. They are only a local problem, so the bounties aren't that high, but I say we take them out. Do you think you can do that?"

Naruto nodded immediately, but Choji wasn't completely sure if he could kill a human. Sure, he had talked about it with his father, his friends and various shinobi relations and was relatively confident, but only the actual attempt would show if he could go through with it. Hesitantly he gave his consent.

Hinata had kept her byakugan active the entire time and now spoke up. "Sensei, there is a dead body lying behind one of the trees. I think it belonged to a woman, but it is rather heavily mutilated. I'm ready to take them out."

After explaining her plan Anko sent them to their spots. When the agreed upon signal came Choji left his hiding place and sprinted towards his assigned target. The man had apparently heard something and was in the process of turning around when Choji reached him. It was the easiest thing in the world to take a kunai and ram it into the man's back, piercing his heart from behind. For a moment the man went rigid before falling to the ground.

Breathing heavily Choji stood above the corpse and tried to get his racing heart under control. All the others had successfully eliminated their targets without problems and were now searching the campsite. Suddenly his stomach lurched, and he had to run to the edge of the woods to relieve himself of his lunch. Anko was immediately by his side, giving him support.

After a few minutes of heaving he regained his mental balance.

'_That was not as bad as it could have been.'_ he thought. _'From what Uncle Hiroki told me he had more problems with his first kill.'_

It didn't take long for them to examine the remains of the camp. They found a few trinkets but nothing really valuable. More disturbing was the corpse of the woman Hinata had spied at the edge of the camp. She had clearly been raped and her corpse was very torn up. Apparently at least one of the outlaws they had just killed had possessed very sick sexual preferences. It made Choji feel considerable better about killing them. Still, he had to occasionally avert his eyes when Anko cut off the heads of the corpses and showed them how to properly transport them when they had no sealing scrolls available. By the time they left the camp after burying the corpse of the woman he had completely regained his composure.

A few hours later they had delivered the mail and the heads. The bounty wasn't much, but Choji thought they had made the world a slightly better place by killing those bandits. They retired to the same inn they had visited before, but this time each of them got a single room instead of double rooms. Choji was lying on his bed when a knock on the door interrupted his musings.

"Enter, the door is open." he called.

It was Anko-sensei, and she sat down on a chair with her arms on the backrest, watching him.

"I'm here to talk to you about your first kill, Choji, if you want to that is."

Choji hesitated a moment. "I think I will be fine, but talking can't hurt. The thing that disturbed me most was how easy it was. It took hardly any effort to kill that man. I don't know why I threw up, but I think I could do it again."

Anko nodded. "You're right; it's incredibly easy to hurt or kill humans. These were unskilled bandits, but even the Hokage would die if you managed to get a kunai into his heart. Still, the realization that you killed deliberately for the first time is always a shock."

They continued talking for a while until Anko was convinced that he was indeed in good mental shape and not only putting on a brave façade. He didn't especially like killing, but he didn't think he would hesitate if it became necessary again.

"What about Naruto and Hinata?"

"I already talked with Naruto; Hinata is next. They are dealing with things in their own way. When we make camp tomorrow you can talk about it with them." She stood up and patted his head. "Don't worry, you all are doing fine. If you want to talk about it further I'm always there for you."

"Thanks, sensei."

Choji slept surprisingly well this night. The journey home was uneventful aside from some talks with Anko-sensei about his first kill and they arrived at Konoha's gate in the early evening. Their sensei sent them home, but not before ordering them to meet up with her early next morning at the mission office. Choji said goodbye to his friends before heading to the Akimichi clan compound. The guards at the entrance gave him a respectful nod, and not even five minutes later his mother had engulfed him in a hug and was fussing over his return and first successful C-rank mission.

It was good to be home again.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Thanks for all the reviews. This C-rank went completely as planned, but that won't last. Stay tuned.


	18. Chapter 17: Informative conversations

Disclaimer: No documents of ownership have mysteriously turned up in my possession. Meaning I still don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 17: Informative conversations**

Homura sighed contentedly. Finally he was back in Konoha. At his age traveling was becoming very tiresome and stressful, but somebody had to head the negotiations about the mission quota and payment with the Fire daimyo's government each year. Half the time that somebody was him. For the last few years he had taken turns with Koharu, and this year it had been his turn again. The timing had been rather unfortunate; he had been forced to leave a day before Anko was meeting her team; but he hadn't wanted to ask Koharu to take over for him. One large favor owed was enough, after all. All in all, the result of the negotiations had been acceptable for all sides and after a good night's sleep in his own bed he was ready to catch up on the events that had happened in his absence.

"Here are the reports you requested, Mitokado-sama."

Nodding his thanks to his secretary he began reading the reports. Aside from a few interesting backroom deals it seemed everything was business as usual. It was already evening when he found the time to look through the mission reports of the new elite teams. The usual D-ranks weren't very interesting, although he raised his eyebrow when he read that Tora the cat now refused to leave Madame Shijimi's immediate vicinity after she had been recaptured by Team 8 a week ago. Normally the cat escaped every few days, but it had stayed put for almost two weeks after Team 11 took the mission on their second day and brought it back. Suddenly he choked on his tea. After clearing his throat he had to read the paragraph twice to make sure he had understood it correctly.

Anko had taken her team on a C-rank mission two and a half weeks after they had passed her test and had only returned three days ago. That was completely unprecedented.

'_Either we have a team of prodigies on our hands or Anko grossly overestimated their skills and dragged unprepared genin into dangerous territory. I can't really imagine the latter possibility.'_

He would have to talk with her at the next opportunity.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Hinata were taking a day off in the world at the edge of dreams. For both of them this world was literally the only place in existence where they could be truly themselves without fear. That was especially important for Hinata; with her clan's bloodline it was extremely hard to be sure that she was truly unobserved. It wasn't like she was under constant surveillance, but the danger of some Hyuuga spying on her existed the entire time. During the past years her clan had mostly ignored her, and her choice of friends had been deemed acceptable. They were all clan heirs, after all, and she never mentioned Naruto. Still, that didn't rule out the occasional observer. The C-rank delivery mission had been outright relaxing for her. Currently they were lying in the grass of the meadows some kilometers from the cottage and simply watching the clouds.<p>

"That cloud to the right looks like a rabbit." Hinata remarked.

Naruto squinted. "Really? I would have taken it for a chair."

"Don't be silly, that's clearly a rabbit."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes dear."

"Don't roll your eyes and dear me. That makes you sound like you just humor me without actually agreeing." Thanks to her byakugan she could see him without actually looking in his direction. Normally she didn't keep it active here, but she had used it to take a closer look at the clouds.

The corners of his mouth twitching in a suppressed grin, Naruto answered. "Yes dear."

"Okay, that's it." Hinata said before she jumped at him and started tickling. Naruto weathered her first assault and gave back as good as he got. After a few minutes of playful wrestling both of them were out of breath from all the laughing. "Now, have you learned your lesson?"

Naruto barely suppressed another smirk and said "Yes dear." Before Hinata could react he kissed her and after a few seconds nothing besides the kiss mattered any longer. The following kissing session lasted quite a bit longer than the wrestling. When they finally finished the sun was already nearing the horizon.

Naruto sighed. "It seems our day off is coming to an end."

Hinata stood up. "Let's go back to the cottage."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, but finally Hinata couldn't keep her curiosity in check any longer. Yesterday she had seen some very peculiar weather patterns in the direction of the zone Naruto used as magical testing ground, but he had only returned when she was already asleep and today they hadn't talked about anything work- or real world-related due to their mutual agreement. But now that the day was practically over she could ask.

"How is your weather control spell coming along? I thought I saw some strange cloud formations yesterday." she asked.

"I'm making progress, but it is slow work. Dad and I are pretty much finished with hammering out the spell's structure after the original transcription. Now I'm mainly trying to figure out how to use it correctly. There are just so many factors to consider. Temperature, cloudiness, precipitation and wind are the main ones I have to pay attention to, but there are a lot of details. It's easily the most complex and most powerful spell we have ever worked on. When I finally get it to work I will be able to control the weather in a zone with a diameter of several dozen kilometers." Naruto answered.

"Why do you do it in the first place? I can only guess, but considering the area of effect the power requirements have to be massive. You will only be able to cast it by tapping directly into the spring of magic if even that." Hinata wondered.

Naruto shook his head. "Actually no, and that is what makes this spell such an interesting project. We've pretty much established that using spells in battle is unworkable for us two. Even in a magic-rich environment like this world or the inner sanctuary true battle magic like fireballs or your paralysis-spell is completely inefficient in terms of concentration and time requirement. Outside of these places the amount of magic power required makes it completely unfeasible. Chakra techniques of all kinds rule the battlefield; there is no way around that. We already knew that magic is very good at relatively subtle effects like the memorization spell or long-term things like enchanting my leather boots for increased durability. What this spell proves is that for really large-scale effects magic becomes efficient again. Outside of very specific circumstances I know of no techniques that can control the weather without bijuu-level chakra usage or massive seal use, and that isn't the only powerful effect I can think of. The power requirements aren't as high as one would suspect from our earlier experiments. Oh, I will need to be in the sanctuary to cast it and I need about half an hour casting time, but I will be able to arbitrarily manipulate the weather. It will even stay that way for up to two or three days depending on the normal weather conditions in the surrounding area. Dad even thinks that we might find the key to ritual magic with really long-term effects."

Hinata had listened attentively and nodded in understanding. "That would be a breakthrough. I don't like that we have to call upon your parent's power for the more ambitious tasks or leave it to them completely like the elemental goblets. If we can do it ourselves it would be much better."

Once again silence descended, but after five minutes Naruto voiced a question. "How are things going with your clan?"

Hinata sighed. She really didn't want to talk about it. She had made the mistake of telling Naruto about the eventual marriage prospects the clan elders were considering for her and he had made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't tolerate it if she sacrificed herself in such a manner. Unfortunately they needed the Hyuuga in fighting shape and couldn't risk antagonizing them in any fashion. That meant Hinata would have to stay with them for the foreseeable future without rousing suspicion. If she appeared genuinely threatened by either marriage or the caged bird seal Naruto wouldn't hesitate to use his mother's chakra and his parents' divine power to bail her out and annihilate the Hyuuga if need be or die trying. And his parents would back him up, consequences be damned. Hinata shuddered when she recalled the conversation with Youko about her 'unhealthy desire for suicidal and unnecessary self-sacrifice'. It reminded her that there was still work to do on her weaknesses.

"As well as expected. No concrete marriage proposals have materialized. Neither have any plans of sealing either me or Hanabi. I'm still working on the preliminary stages of several possible escape plans like faking my own death or going nuke-nin if they leave me enough time."

"When do you plan on giving up the fake stutter?" Naruto asked.

Hinata hummed thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. If I reduce it deliberately when we are away on a mission and increase it as soon as I'm back with my clan it might cause Anko-sensei to take actions to further shield me from my clan. The chances that it will be successful are rather low, but even a low chance is better than zero. Besides, my stutter gives the lip-readers among my clansmen fits."

That earned her a chuckle from Naruto. "I think it is time we ask Anko for elemental training. We both are much further along than our friends and I would like to begin working on combat jutsu in earnest. With mom's secret help Mizuki and I have come up with a few new ideas for shape and elemental transformation I'd like to use in practice." he said.

"I would like that as well. Currently I can control small amounts of water with chakra alone, but it isn't really combat-applicable for the foreseeable future. If I had appropriate techniques things would go much smoother." Hinata agreed.

"It would be nice if I could do with air what you do with water, but the volume I would have to control to generate any noticeable effects is simply prohibitive." Naruto responded.

Hinata smirked in a playful manner. "Well, sucks to be you. Race you to the house!"

"Hey!"

Naruto caught up to her shortly before she reached the cottage, and after a short time to catch their breath they entered.

"Welcome back, you two. You're just on time." Youko greeted them.

The evening meal was pleasant and the conversation light. Strictly speaking Naruto's parents didn't actually need to eat and they could have made it so for Naruto and her, but all sides had agreed that it was better to retain a semblance of normal life. The transition between here and the waking world would have been even more jarring otherwise.

After they had finished eating the conversation turned serious. "There is something very important that we have to tell you, kit." Youko said.

Daiki nodded. "Son, we think we have isolated the specters your biological parents left in the seal in a sufficient manner to take the risk of waking them up. It will be a one-time occurrence, but we can let you speak with them whenever you are ready."

Hinata watched Naruto with worry. His entire body had gone very stiff after the announcement and his expression had become stony. Scooting out of her chair she went over to him and began to gently rub his back. He smiled in thanks before he turned back to his parents.

"Are there any things I should know about that beforehand?" Naruto asked.

"We can do it whenever you want. Think carefully what you want to say and ask; the time they can stay is very limited. We don't expect it to be more than a quarter of an hour, perhaps even less. Mind you, they aren't fully there, so they probably won't have their full abilities and skills. They might even lie to you, there is no way we can compel them to speak the truth. Oh, Hinata won't be able to accompany us. The place I have set up is somewhere between your mind, the seal and this world; she can't enter it without endangering a carefully maintained balance." Daiki explained.

Naruto nodded. "I'll think about it. There isn't any sort of rush, is there?"

Youko shook her head. "No, there isn't. You can take all the time you need. Last week during your C-rank we confirmed that your location in the waking world doesn't matter for your visits here, even if it makes accessing magic in general impossible and the possessions harder if you aren't near Konoha."

"I don't think I'm ready to face Minato and Kushina now; perhaps on the next visit." Naruto said after a few moments of thought.

"As you wish. If and when you want to go to see them is your decision and yours alone."

Much later that night Hinata lay awake with a sleeping Naruto in her arms. They had talked for quite a while after they had retired to their alcove, but there was no counsel she could give him. While her own father didn't care about her and most of her clan didn't like her it wasn't like they actively sought to harm her or take her free will away. The Yondaime was a monster in her opinion for using that seal on Naruto. Even the caged bird seal her clan used didn't actually take the freedom of choice away. If things grew unbearable there was always the option of either choosing death willingly or even striking directly at the main house, not that anyone in the last decades had done that to her knowledge. They already knew that there had been other options, invalidating the argument that the Yondaime had done it to save Konoha.

No, the problem was Kushina. Had she been a willing party to the demented plan of turning her son into some sort of savior or had she been deceived? Naruto feared the answer to that question. Deep down he apparently still hoped that at least his biological mother had cared more for him than his father. But was not knowing better than having a definite answer even if you didn't like the answer? Hinata honestly had no answer to that question. The only thing she could do was to support Naruto in whatever decision he made.

* * *

><p>Having tea with Anko was always pleasant in Homura's opinion. After making light conversation for a while they finally got to the interesting part.<p>

"So, how does being a sensei become you, Anko? You've had them for a month." Homura asked.

For a moment there was a faraway look in Anko's eyes. "Better than I ever imagined, Homura-sama." She shook herself out of her stupor and made some small movements with her fingers. It was a code just the two of them knew. While it was very limited in comparison to the different brands of sign languages that were in use it sufficed for conveying short messages.

_Are we secure?_

"We are. I specifically secured this room with seals of my own design and carefully checked again after I came back. Nobody can see or hear what happens here."

Anko nodded and seemed to collect her thoughts. Then she dropped the first bombshell. "Naruto already knows what he contains."

Homura froze. Dozens of different scenarios whirled in his mind before he forcefully calmed himself down. "How?"

"Apparently Naruto has been able to feel his own chakra very precisely for a long time and noticed the Kyuubi's chakra in his body. The seal becomes visible if he channels enough chakra; a fact he discovered when he tried to fake a tattoo with a henge and posed bare-chested before a mirror. Additionally, his mind enters the seal sometimes when he sleeps. According to him the Kyuubi is comatose or sleeping very deeply. He thinks he can draw on its power, but prefers to reserve that for emergencies or until he had time to train with it away from the village. I agree with him; it will probably be very noticeable."

The old man sat back in his cushioned chair. He hadn't expected that development, but it nicely circumvented the problem of the Hokage's order that no one was allowed to tell Naruto. Anko's next question surprised him.

"Do you know who Naruto's parents are?"

Shaking his head, he answered "No, I don't know, although I suspect. Why do you ask?"

"Because Naruto knows that it was his father, the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze, who sealed the Kyuubi into him. He also knows that his mother Kushina Uzumaki was the previous jinchuuriki. I don't know how he found out about that, but there is quite a similarity to both of them. Naruto showed me an old yearbook of the academy. I assume this information is correct?" Anko asked while watching him intently.

Homura sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. The revelations just kept coming. "Most likely, yes. I was one of the very few people who knew Kushina was a jinchuuriki and pregnant. She specifically went into hiding because her seal would destabilize temporarily while giving birth. The Yondaime was to accompany her to help keep it stable along with a heavy ANBU guard, Hiruzen's wife Biwako and another medic. I have no conclusive proof that Minato was the father of her child but I consider it very likely. Especially how young Naruto looks like a mix between him and Kushina. Anyway, absolutely no one has any clue what happened between her going into hiding and the Kyuubi appearing in the midst of the village. None of the accompanying persons were ever seen again alive. I don't even know where their hiding place was supposed to be. Judging from the location the Kyuubi appeared it was inside Konoha, but I'm not sure. How does Naruto deal with that knowledge?"

Anko chuckled darkly. "He resents his father, maybe even hates him. Who wouldn't? But as Minato is beyond his reach he has accepted the fact that he is a jinchuuriki and that he can't do anything about it." She clasped her hands. "One person he definitely hates is the Sandaime. Naruto deceived the whole village about his intelligence with his acting like a dumb, clueless kid. In truth he is exceptionally intelligent, and he has come to the conclusion that the Hokage is manipulating him and largely responsible for his less than stellar upbringing. From the available evidence it seems as if he was supposed to form an emotional dependency on the old man. As far as I can tell he is still loyal to the village as a whole."

After a moment of silence he barked out a short laugh. "It seems Hiruzen's scheme has backfired on him. I never understood what he was truly planning with his neglect of Naruto. Either you form him into a capable weapon or you give him a normal childhood by finding a foster family. There were enough shinobi families who would have accepted him for the power he has access to alone. In the worst case he could simply have ordered some ANBU to act as parents. They are picked primarily for their loyalty to the Hokage, after all. Considering that Minato had hardly the time in office to make any changes they were and are all loyal to Hiruzen. What are the boy's true skills?"

Anko's answer blew his expectations completely out of the water. "He is a prodigy. Some of his skills are already low chunin level. More importantly he has created a circle of friends who are all much more capable than should be possible. I recently discovered that there was an academy instructor who didn't think highly about the quality of the instruction and took matters into his own hands after Naruto sought him out." She continued by giving him a detailed description of her team's skills and some less detailed information on the other three friends of Naruto. Homura honestly hadn't expected such a thing. Granted, they were all clan heirs, but their skill level was simply unprecedented. It filled him with hope for Konoha's future. "There is more. The group of them is aware of many of Konoha's problems. They have far-reaching plans of their own. Luckily they are compatible with our designs, Homura-sama, and they have shown a willingness to work together with us in the future." She continued with giving him an overview what Naruto's group had found out about Konoha's true status.

'_It gets better and better.'_ Homura thought. He had expected a long, arduous process of convincing the genin that something was wrong with the village. With six of this year's twelve elite genin already holding the same general opinion as him and Naruto free of the Hokage's influence their prospects of bringing about genuine change looked much better. It wasn't all sunshine, though. Homura felt like someone had punched him in the gut when Anko told him Hinata's opinion about her clan and her assessment of its future prospects. The Hyuuga had always been one of the primary pillars of Konoha and he had factored them into his plans of the future. Well, it seemed he had to adjust these plans once again.

They sat in silence for a while after Anko had finished her report. "The Hyuuga situation won't become really critical for around twenty or thirty years, and I don't think we can influence it one way or another." he mused. "Do you think your female pupil can do something about it?"

The purple-haired kunoichi shrugged. "I'm not sure. Hinata has hardly any influence in the clan. She is very talented in medical techniques and has no problems with elemental jutsu, but she doesn't excel in the Gentle Fist style. Unfortunately it seems that the Hyuuga value only the prowess in their clan's style; in fact Hinata has asked me to keep her other skills secret for the time being. She has the potential to become truly great, but I'm not optimistic that it will change much in regards to her political influence."

"This complicates matters. With so many clans either already destroyed or weakened it would perhaps be wise to look for free clans we can recruit."

Anko looked skeptical. "Will the other clans or the Hokage allow that? He has done all he could in the past to weaken the clans; I don't believe he would be willing to include a new one."

He shook his head. "No, Hiruzen won't allow it. But he won't live forever. I'm already old enough that I'm wondering every night if I will wake up on the next morning, and Hiruzen is the same age as me. Granted, he is in much better physical shape, but we have to prepare for the time after him. Another thing, I learned you took your pupils out on a C-rank mission."

"They were ready. I made them do a two-day journey into the Forest of Death before I decided and they passed with flying colors. Frankly, they were better than a lot of the people in the chunin exams two years ago. I'm currently focusing on giving them practical experience; they are already beyond what most genin know after several years of service. That means missions, both real and mock-up, as well as drilling of tactics. During our last mission I managed to arrange for them to kill for the first time. That's always a major problem." Anko answered.

"I see. It's certainly unusual, but after your report on their skills I agree with your reasoning." Homura hesitated a moment. "How did their first kills go?"

His protégé shrugged. "Good. Hinata and Naruto are natural cold-blooded killers. I watched carefully, but they didn't hide any problems. Nor do they show any kind of violent or psychopathic behavior when it is uncalled for. Choji was able to kill without hesitation but had some relatively mild problems afterwards. I picked some real scum as their first targets; they were even worse than expected. Hopefully the kids won't have to deal with killing hard targets like civilian children for several years, but the first hurdle is overcome."

Homura nodded thoughtfully. First kills were always difficult despite all the shinobi families and the academy did to ease the students into the mindset that killing wasn't wrong. In his opinion it was best to get it out of the way quickly with targets that deserved it. If a genin was unable to kill it was better to learn that as early as possible, both for the genin's sake and to prevent spending more valuable resources training someone who wouldn't be useful as an active shinobi. With two of the genin from great clans he hadn't expected any difficulties, but it was nice to have confirmation.

"Should I set up a meeting between my pupils and you?" Anko asked suddenly.

After a moment of thought Homura shook his head. "No, it's too early for that. Hiruzen's people are probably watching me. There is no harmless pretence I can think of. I have simply no reason to meet up with a group of fresh genin. Train them as good and as hard as you can for the next months. After about half a year a meeting should be acceptable. Perhaps I can act as a tutor for the sealing arts and determine if any of them have an aptitude for seals; I am a seal master after all and we desperately need more sealing specialists. Let them gain experience first. "

"When do you think will be the time to promote them? Their skills are already better than those of some chunin. I wonder if I should enlist them in a chunin exam or aim for a regular promotion."

"They should be genin for at least one and a half year; two would be better. Too many are promoted far too early, and it shows in the quality of the chunin. They need to learn coping with shinobi life on a genin level before they are saddled with the limited leadership responsibility chunin have." He pondered the problem for a moment. "I don't like the chunin exams. They are pretty much gladiatorial games that don't say much about the suitability for a higher rank. I'm still wondering what Hiruzen thought when he introduced them after the third shinobi war. It opens our village for all sorts of espionage without giving us much insight into the other more security-conscious villages. The new Fire daimyo doesn't bother to show up, and with travelling becoming difficult there aren't that many potential clients there. Still, it might be out of your hands if the Hokage demands for your team to participate. It's a shame the next exam held in Konoha is already coming up in a few months; it's far too early for your genin to participate in that. I would recommend you begin seriously considering ways to promotion in about a year."

They continued talking for a while about Anko's planned training regime and the sort of missions she should accept. In general Homura found that Anko's plans were well-conceived and she needed only a few insights his greater experience could provide. He had done well in taking her under his wings three years ago. After she had left him it was back to reading reports and doing some research about a puzzling seal that a member of the maintenance division had brought him. It was late in the evening when he finally figured out that it somehow created a field to prevent grime taking hold inside of stone water pipes.

It was really a pity so few shinobi showed a genuine interest in and aptitude for the sealing arts. Even most professionals' skills ended with different kinds of exploding tags and storage scrolls with some isolated advanced stuff thrown in. Many departments had their own sealing specialists, but aside from the basics they often specialized solely in that department's needs. Medical seal specialists or the Torture & Interrogation department with their need of chakra suppression seals and the like came to mind. Some of the clans had their own narrow field of seal knowledge, but genuine seal masters who actually had a fundamental understanding of the art instead of simply recreating well-known seals were very rare. It didn't help that they had been a prime target in the three shinobi wars, the hostilities that were not counted as wars and the clan wars before that. Additionally Konoha had outsourced most of its fuinjutsu needs to the Uzumaki since its foundation. After the clan's destruction they were very hard pressed to keep everything working let alone begin new large-scale projects. It was a losing battle. Due to Homura's age his ability to mould chakra had already declined a great deal. What he could spare was most often spend in creating spare parts for and doing mid- to high-level maintenance on Konoha's water infrastructure. He had neither the time nor the chakra to do much else. Considering they didn't have enough natural springs or rivers to support a city the size of Konoha at this location without the seal-powered deep water wells he had given it the highest priority. Generally the maintenance division only bothered him when they couldn't solve a problem themselves, but it still happened often enough that he could pay hardly any attention to other seal projects. Homura dreaded the day when a problem would crop up he wouldn't be able to solve. One seal master was simply not enough for a hidden village their size, but there wasn't anyone else left.

The Yondaime had been a true genius with seals while Kushina had been on the verge to becoming a seal mistress, but after their deaths almost no true seal masters remained in Konoha. Jiraiya was one, but because of his constant traveling he might not have existed for all the good his skills did for the village. The Hokage and his protégé Kakashi as well as a few dozen other people possessed mid-level skills. Unfortunately they were no seal masters by any stretch of the imagination. They had the ability to produce rather crude new seal designs with some effort though they used this skill rarely. That left only him and some of his pupils, none of whom had the necessary talent to understand the work of the Uzumaki seal masters or advance from reproducing old works to creating new ones. The only other remaining seal master in Konoha besides him had suffered a debilitating accident nine years ago during the great storm. A loose roofing tile had hit the man in the head and fractured his skull, and while he had lived most of his mind and his ability of speech were gone. He still created the most high-quality storage scrolls in all of Konoha, but he wasn't able to teach his skills or do anything besides sitting in his room and create new storage scrolls like an automaton whenever his addled mind told him to.

There were two unofficial criteria for being a seal master. The first one was the ability to develop genuinely new seal designs of a rather advanced complexity. The second and much more difficult one was completely understanding the inner workings of a complex seal design of another recognized seal master. For the most part you were a seal master if other seal masters recognized you as one. Unfortunately with the general rarity of seal masters many people without the necessary skill level got away with calling themselves seal masters because there was no one knowledgeable around to refute their claims.

Anko's report had brought the situation of the great outer wall back to the forefront of his mind. The thing had gone without maintenance by a seal master since several years before the third shinobi war when some Uzumaki seal masters had visited for the contractual maintenance and repair cycle. Homura was well aware that the lack of external seal-based defenses left the village wide open to attack, but luckily the idea of simply attacking a great village directly seemed too absurd to most people to even consider it seriously. Unfortunately 'most people' seemed to include all of Konoha's leadership besides him. They all thought the patrols and detection barrier team were enough and didn't want to assign funds to create new defenses. It would make him sleep far better if there were others who could shoulder the responsibility of creating new defenses for Konoha, even if it had to be unofficial.

'_Perhaps some of the genin will have the necessary aptitude to become seal masters in a few years' time. I can only hope, after all.'_

* * *

><p>"I'm ready to face Minato and Kushina. I guess there is no way I can talk to them separately?" Naruto asked.<p>

Youko shook her head. "Unfortunately there isn't. It would be preferable for us to be able to check if their stories are different, but as things are you will have to face them together."

Naruto sighed. "Okay. How do we get there?"

"Just walk between us. We will create a way." his father said.

"I hope it goes well, Naruto-kun." Hinata added. She would have to stay behind. He gave her a hug before he started walking with his parents.

They hadn't even taken five steps when the world directly ahead of them seemed to rip open. It looked like the very fabric of reality had come apart, revealing a completely featureless blackness. Naruto was tempted to stay a bit and observe the phenomenon, but his parents kept on walking with their hands on his shoulders, forcing him to keep their pace. When they entered the rift the feeling of air on his face ceased, but he still could continue breathing. Turning his head, he saw the opening behind them for a moment before it closed itself.

After a short time of walking through the blackness they appeared on the edge of a seemingly endless plain made of bluish glass that emitted a soft glow. Overhead and to all sided it was bordered by the same blackness they had just traversed. In the center of the plain two figures stood frozen in pillars of clear crystal. The blond man Naruto immediately recognized as the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze, his father. The red-headed woman was Kushina Uzumaki, his mother.

"These are the specters which your parents bound into the seal. They each hold a small part of the originals' souls and chakra. In fact, they are similar to shadow clones, but in this place they act like they were normal humans. Hopefully they will carry your conversation back to them wherever they are." Daiki explained. "We will be invisible to them at first, but if you want our support you just have to give us a sign. I'm sorry for the lack of privacy, but I have to consciously keep them separated from the rest of the seal, making me aware of all things that happen in this room."

"It's okay, dad, I want you here for this conversation anyway. I think I'm as ready as I'm going to get."

Naruto took up a position a short distance away from the crystal prison and braced himself. The conversation would be difficult and he didn't want to lose his self-control. He nodded to his parents. Their images seemed to waver for a moment before becoming completely invisible. With a slight popping sound the crystal prisons dispelled, depositing a disoriented couple on the ground.

The Yondaime was the first to regain his bearings. "Kushina? What happened? You aren't supposed to be here at the same time as me."

"Minato? I think I died… and now I am here. But where is here?"

"It was supposed to be the seal, but this looks different." the man answered.

Only now they began to look around and spotted Naruto. The blond boy noted the shock that showed for a moment on the Yondaime's face before it disappeared behind a friendly mask.

"Hello mother, father."

The red-haired woman stared at him for a moment before she ran towards him and engulfed him in a hug. It felt similar and different to Youko's hugs at the same time. "Naruto!"

"Naruto, how old are you now? And where is the seal?" Minato asked.

"I'm twelve. Don't worry about the fox, I have everything under control. I just need to talk with you; there's no need to involve the seal." Naruto answered.

Kushina loosened the hug to look at him. "What do you mean? Minato used my chakra to form the seal to help you take control of the Kyuubi's chakra someday. We wanted to aid you however we could."

Naruto shrugged. "Apparently things went a bit differently than expected. The thing inside the seal is pretty much mindless ever since I have laid eyes on it and I can draw on its chakra without it resisting. I have to talk with you about some things, though. It was quite difficult even learning you were my parents; the Sandaime didn't tell me anything about you or the Kyuubi. I had to find out everything on my own."

Was there a panicked expression at the back of the Yondaime's eyes? Naruto wasn't sure. While he was very good at reading people, Minato seemed to be an even greater expert at hiding his true thoughts. "Well, the Sandaime probably didn't tell you anything because he wanted to keep everything about the fox a secret. If people knew you were my son there might be trouble."

'_What a load of bullshit. If I had been fostered by one of the great clans I wouldn't have been in much danger. That makes it very likely that the Sandaime is in on the plan.'_

"I need answers to a few questions. Why did you seal the fox inside your own son?" Naruto asked calmly.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. The reason I sealed half the fox's chakra inside you is because I believed you could use it because you're my son. And there's another reason, too. When the fox attacked sixteen years ago I realized something. There was someone controlling the fox when it attacked the village, a very powerful ninja. Without some sort of special power there would be no way to fight him. I believe he'll attack the village again." Minato explained.

Naruto nodded. "Okay. Did you perchance tell anybody about that man?"

"There simply wasn't time, son. Everything went so quickly, we died before we could talk with anybody." the Yondaime answered.

'_Liar. I know you didn't have to die; you could have made preparations if you hadn't involved the Shinigami.'_

"I heard some things about a prophecy. Do you know anything about it? I would talk with Jiraiya about it, but I haven't seen him in several years." All of that was completely true. Naruto had seen Jiraiya spying on the hot springs a few years ago, but he hadn't approached the man.

Kushina laughed. "He didn't tell you about it? The great Toad Sage told your godfather that a student of his would bring a great revolution to the shinobi world. It would either bring the world's salvation or destruction. He already promised to take you as his student before your birth."

"Wait, he is my godfather?" Naruto asked. He hadn't known that fact. It was really disheartening to learn that his father was willing to sacrifice him and his future because of the vague words of a senile amphibian.

"Well, we named you after the main character of his first book, and he accepted the honor." his mother explained.

'_Nice to know that there was somebody who was supposed to look after me. One more reason not to trust the man if I ever meet him.'_

Minato seemed somehow distracted, but before Naruto could address him Kushina resumed speaking "If you don't need my help in subduing the Kyuubi there is one last thing I need to tell you. Naruto, I want you to know the truth behind the incident twelve years ago, the year you were born."

"I know what happened twelve years ago." Naruto interrupted her. A window opened in the air, showing the events of the night of Naruto's birth and the subsequent freeing and sealing of the Kyuubi. "Does that show the true facts?"

His father still seemed distracted and trying to concentrate, but a slightly bewildered Kushina answered for him. "Yes, that's all true. We made you into the Kyuubi's vessel and left you with such a heavy burden. I wasn't there to raise you; I wasn't there to love you. I'm deeply sorry."

"Why did you let father seal the Kyuubi into me when you could have taken it down with you? At first you objected, but then you went along with it. He could have raised me. Why?"

"In the end I trusted Minato. I never wanted to give you that burden, but after Minato began with his sealing I didn't want his sacrifice to be in vain. I'm sorry." Kushina answered sadly.

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement before posing the question most important to him. "What I would really like to know is why there are lots of mind-control functions integrated into the seal. Functions that would have made me into an emotional cripple who would take the abuse of the world and simply smile."

It was only a very brief flash, but for the tiniest moment the mask of the Yondaime slipped. Naruto recognized surprise, recognition and the onset of panic before Minato molded his facial expression into a mask of confusion. Kushina seemed genuinely confused.

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" he asked.

"Don't play the fool. I know what you tried to do to me. The seal was intended to suppress negative emotions and make me too stupid to recognize that there would have been something wrong with me. You wanted me to become some sort of saint." Naruto spat out while struggling with his temper.

"All I did was to protect you from the fox's hatred, nothing more. As long as the ninja system exists there can be no peace or order. Trying to save the things you love breeds war. As long as love exists there will be hatred, and ninja will be used by that hatred. As long as the ninja system exists the hatred will create another creature like the man who attacked Konoha. All ninja fight that hatred, and I entrusted you with the answer to end this hatred. I believe in you. You can find a way to give the world peace." Minato declared.

Naruto had listened quietly, but now it was time for an answer. "You are a fool. As long as there are humans there can never be lasting peace. Before the shinobi there were samurai, and when the shinobi system ends something else will take our place. Without hate there is no love and without love there is no hate, if you remove one of them you remove both; you would take away what makes us human. What makes you think I care about world peace in the first place?" Naruto turned towards Kushina. "Mother, who do you believe? I'm telling you that he tried to brainwash me into some savior. He deceived you."

"That is nonsense, son. You can't be a seal master at your age; somebody else must have lied to you. Let me have access to the seal, I'll show you proof." Minato interjected.

Naruto ignored the man. "Well, mother?"

Kushina was looking back and forth between Naruto and Minato, her indecision clearly visible on her face. It seemed to take an eternity, but finally she addressed Naruto. "I'm sorry, but I believe Minato. I don't know who told you such lies, but he would never do something like that to our child."

"You are sorry, but if you were in the same situation you would let him seal the Kyuubi into me again?"

The following silence was answer enough.

"I see." Naruto seemed to deflate for a moment. "So it was all true. You were and still are willing to throw your child away for some hare-brained scheme that would make me into some savior of the world." His eyes hardened and he looked at them with utter loathing. "I despise you both more than you can imagine. I am ashamed to have to call you my parents. Kushina, I may have been able to forgive you in time if you broke with Minato, but even now you trust him to know best. This is something I simply can't forgive. But let me tell you, you're cozy little plan has come somewhat off its tracks."

Both Minato and Kushina looked as if he had just slapped them in the face. Their expressions changed into terrified surprise as Youko and Daiki became visible to them, both with nine furry tails clearly in view.

"Hello my dears, surprised to see me?" Youko purred.

"K-K-Kyuubi?" Kushina stammered.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I am so much more than the rage-filled thing that was helplessly imprisoned in your body."

"How is it possible for you to walk around? The seal can't have failed or Naruto would have died." Minato asked.

Youko put an arm around the man on her side. "You can thank my mate here for that. He disabled all your little fail-safes that were designed to keep Naruto on the path you chose for him. By the way, we have raised Naruto together for these past years. He is such a delightful child, ever eager to learn."

"They have been the parents to me that you never were." Naruto simply stated.

"Son, please believe us, we only wanted what is best for you. It is important for you to not to be influenced by the Kyuubi's hatred. Let me explain again…." Minato begged while Kushina seemed to be in shock.

"No, you had your chance." Naruto stood ramrod straight with an expression harder than stone and the words seemed simply to flow to him. An otherworldly timbre resonated in his voice as he began to speak.

"Before gods and men I declare the ties of fate that connected us dissolved. Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki are no longer my parents, nor am I their son. Through their own actions they severed the bonds of trust and care between parent and child by willingly and needlessly sacrificing their child to be the host of a demon. The Lady of Light and the Lord of the Starry Night shall be henceforth known as my parents, though I may deceive others for my own advantage. So shall it be and hold true for all eternity."

After a short breather he continued in his normal voice. "You are no longer my parents. I don't ever want to see you again and hope you burn in hell." With these words spoken, he turned his back to his former parents and walked away, his true parents beside him. He didn't react when Kushina and Minato called after him. As soon as they couldn't see his face anymore the tears broke and started running in two silent streams. It wasn't until the blackness engulfed them that his resolve broke and he threw himself into Youko's arms, sobbing loudly. Daiki joined them in their embrace. Naruto didn't know how long it took him to regain his composure.

"That was harder than I thought. Kushina said she was sorry, but would do it again. Why would she be so cruel to her own child if there was another way to stave off the immediate danger?"

"I've seen such things happen more times than you can count. Everyone had their own reasons that often made no sense to people other than themselves. The Yondaime was so caught up in his vision for the world that he would have sacrificed nearly anything. Think of the seal. Even a genius like Minato would be unable to come up with it in the short time between the release of the Kyuubi and the sealing. He must have developed it beforehand. Now, don't misunderstand me, Madara's attack was completely unexpected for him, but he must have planned to use such a thing at some point in the future to make his vision a reality and fulfill that ludicrous prophecy. Perhaps he planned to use a future sibling of yours and was simply forced to act earlier than he was completely ready. I don't believe we will ever know. Kushina loved and trusted Minato to such a degree that she would simply go along with whatever he proposed after some arguing." Daiki explained.

Youko shrugged. "Who can say? They made their own fate. It should no longer bother you; you are free from them forever. Another thing, what was that with you transferring parenthood to us? Not that I mind, but what did you give the idea that it would work? To your information, it actually did. In the magical sense we are now your parents."

A small smile appeared on Naruto's face. "It just seemed the right thing to do and the words simply came to me. You have been there for me during all this time; I guess I wanted to make it official. What happens now with the two of them? They didn't dispel."

"Well, we plan on extracting every single bit of knowledge from them that we can get until they fade away. Is that a problem?" Daiki asked.

"You could torture them forever and I wouldn't care. They had their second chance and threw it away, that's everything I need to know. I don't give third chances." It was true. Now that the matter was decided he would be able to lay it to rest. The emotional pain about his mother trusting his father more than him would last for a while, but it was better than the uncertainty from before. He was finally rid of the shadow his former parents had cast on his life.

* * *

><p>'<em>Time to rub it in.' <em>the entity known as the Lady of Light, Kyuubi, Youko or mom decided and manifested a new avatar while another part of her walked at her son's side. Minato and Kushina made to follow him, but were stopped by an invisible force her mate projected. It seemed he had likewise decided to be present with a corporeal representation as a second version of the black-haired man materialized.

'_I will take care of Minato, get as many memories from Kushina as you can.' _her mate sent silently over their connection.

"Naruto!" Kushina yelled in vain.

"My, my, that wasn't exactly a happy family reunion, was it?" Youko taunted when Naruto and her other avatar disappeared into the blackness.

"You! You have filled my son's head with these lies!" In the blink of an eye chains of solid chakra materialized and shot at Youko. Once upon a time they might have posed a temporary threat to the Kyuubi, but against what she was now and in their current location it was nothing. It was the easiest thing in the world to take control of the chains from the human, reverse their direction and bind Kushina with her own power. The woman let out a grunt of pain when the chains snapped taut, lifting her into the air. Youko used the distraction to send invisible tendrils into her erstwhile container's mind to grab as many memories as she could.

She stepped close to the bound woman and traced one of the chains with her finger. "Now, how does that feel, Kushina? Being helplessly bound, your own power turned against you? Twice you took my freedom from me; the first time when you let them willingly transfer me into you; the second time when you bound me and went along with your husband's scheme."

"I did… I did the right thing."

Youko chuckled darkly. "The right thing you say? The first time might be excused because of your youth, but not the second one. You knew that the Yondaime's new seal would allow the container to steal my power while the old one only contained, so don't give me any crap about having a grudging respect for me. No, the tailed beasts have been nothing to you but sources of power you can exploit. I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise, even the oh so noble Sage of the Six Paths tried to steal the power of the Juubi. But your greatest crime is what you did to my Naruto."

Kushina grew angry. "Naruto is my son. I love him."

"Not any longer." Youko disagreed. "He renounced you. I have to thank you for that; if you hadn't displayed such exquisite stubbornness and blind faith in your husband he might have forgiven you. My hate for you knows no bounds, and this is my revenge. In exchange for all that you did to me I have taken your most precious thing: the love of your only child."

Tears began spilling from Kushina's eyes. "You are a monster."

The goddess shrugged. "Perhaps. I'm certainly not human. But one thing I can say: I would never saddle my son with such a vile abomination of a seal like you and your brave husband did. Had we not interfered his mind would have been twisted and bent into a travesty. All in the name of creating a savior for a world that doesn't need saving. I ask you, who of us is the greater monster?"

"More lies, Minato would never do such a thing." the red-headed woman spat out defiantly, but Youko sensed the sliver of doubt that had crept into her voice.

Youko arched a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Is that so? Why don't we ask him again?"

Both their gazes turned to Minato who looked to be in a lot of pain. Her mate hadn't been gentle. Spikes of silvery crystal had been driven through his body and tentacles of shadow held him in place. Youko had been aware of it, but no sound of the torture had reached Kushina's ears.

"The child of prophecy… he must be… free of hatred. No choice… couldn't leave… the fate of the world… to chance."

Kushina's eyes widened. "No, it can't be. Please, Minato-kun, tell me you didn't do that."

"I did… what I had to… for the village… the country… the world."

Daiki's voice was deceptively soft. "You mortal fool, all you would have achieved is the world's destruction. Even now your enemy from twelve years ago, the enemy you told no one about, is gathering power and followers unchecked. Soon he will try to bring all the tailed beasts together in an attempt to reform the Juubi. Should he succeed it will spell destruction for all mankind. Thanks to you nobody knows about him and his schemes. You may have doomed the world."

The Yondaime had only time for his eyes to widen in horrible understanding before his form turned to nothingness. Youko could easily track the fragment of his soul as it was yanked towards its final destiny in the stomach of the being known as the shinigami. She considered getting his soul slowly dissolved for power by the being a fitting punishment for the Yondaime. Turning back towards Kushina she saw that the woman appeared to be in shock once again.

Snapping her fingers directly before her face brought Kushina back to reality. "Do you believe it now? Your precious husband sacrificed your beloved child needlessly in pursuit of an insane prophecy. I wonder what he would have done if I hadn't been conveniently freed? Would he have killed you to extract the Kyuubi? Would he have used Naruto or another child? What do you think, Kushina?"

Kushina shook her head violently. "No, it can't be. No, no, no, no."

Youko's voice was full of glee. "Oh yes, it not only can be, but it is. You threw your son away even when he told you the truth."

"No, I'm sorry. Please tell him I'm sorry, I beg you." Anguish and despair were now clearly written on Kushina's face.

She laughed. "And why should I do that, hm? I hate you, and this is my revenge. Naruto is mine forever. It's far too late for you now. As my son said, you had your chance." Youko pointed towards the struggling woman. "I fear your time is up. Rest well, Kushina."

"No, please." It was only then that Kushina noticed that her form was dissolving rapidly. "NOOOOOOO…."

Youko made sure her mocking laughter accompanied Kushina's soul fragment as long as possible during its journey into the regions she recognized as the general afterlife for unclaimed souls. A warm feeling spread through her and filled her with contentment. Her revenge was finally complete.

"Was that really necessary?" her mate asked.

"Yes. Yes, it was." Youko smiled. "That torture of Minato was really exquisite."

Daiki shrugged. "I had to do something. Minato tried the entire time very hard to mentally access the seal, and I didn't want to take the risk of him succeeding. Physical pain was the most efficient way of distracting him. Unfortunately I got only bits and pieces from his memories. There wasn't enough time and I couldn't properly mind-rape him in here. Did you have any more luck with Kushina?"

She quickly reviewed the memories she had gathered. "It doesn't seem so. I got a lot, but I'm not sure how helpful it will be." She transmitted her newly gained knowledge to her mate while receiving what he had learned.

Daiki's voice was thoughtful. "It is no immediate solution, but a few more pieces for the puzzle. Some of these hints will come in useful when our son learns more about the sealing arts and starts to study the seal. We are finished here."

With a last nod to each other the two dispelled their avatars before the entire plain dissolved into darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for the long time without updates, but writing this chapter was very hard. I think I completely rewrote the Minato/Kushina part six or seven times and I'm still not completely satisfied. I hope you like it.

Kushina didn't know, but she chose to believe her husband over her son. My apologies to all the people who hoped for a reconciliation. And yes, Youko isn't a very nice person.

Oh, and I'm ignoring parts of canon like the tailed beasts having names and the like. I really don't like were Kishi is taking the story, but for that we have fanfiction, right? Right.

Hopefully the next chapter will be easier to write.


	19. Chapter 18: First encounters

Disclaimer: See my pockets? They are still empty, which wouldn't be the case if I owned Naruto.

**Chapter 18: First encounters**

Under a late morning sun Team 11 was walking at a leisurely pace on the mountain road. The last patch of broken country had been rough to traverse even for shinobi and they were taking it easy for the moment. Choji had opened a new bag of chips, Naruto was observing the unfamiliar terrain with interest and Anko and Hinata were talking about the merits of different infiltration methods. Plant life was somewhat sparse, but they were still below the tree line.

It was their third C-rank mission in their career as genin. The second one had barely rated C-rank; it had been a simple case of a missing person and had only taken two days to solve. The son of the elder of a village in the vicinity of Konoha had disappeared while hunting in the woods and the elder had cashed in a voucher some Konoha shinobi had given him for services rendered in the past. Choji had gathered all the information about the young man who was incidentally the best hunter of the village. After that Naruto had tracked him with occasional help from Hinata starting in his favorite hunting grounds. It hadn't taken long for them to find him. While the man wasn't a bad hunter and had covered his tracks well his skills were simply no match for Naruto and Hinata's byakugan. A few hours after their arrival they found him in a hidden shack in the woods. That he wasn't alone had been expected, after all it was possible he had been abducted. That his company consisted of a beautiful young woman and the two were so engaged in certain activities that they had completely lost track of time came as a surprise though.

As it turned the girl was the daughter of the headman of another, neighboring village and the two lovebirds had an affair going for quite some time without the approval of their families. After a short discussion the team had decided to try reaching an official accord. Their mission clearly stated they had to bring the young man back, but they didn't really want to drag him the entire way. The rest of the first day and most of the second was spent with going back and forth between the two villages and the couple and acting as mediators. It involved a whole lot of haggling and screaming, but in the end they managed to hammer out an agreement that was acceptable to all sides. The couple got a marriage arrangement and received some fields that had been a point of contention between the two villages for years, thereby defusing the conflict. When they left the village during the late afternoon everyone was more or less happy with the entire thing. All in all it had been a valuable lesson in diplomacy.

Naruto listened with half an ear to Anko-sensei's explanations while keeping in front of the rest of the team.

"… and that is why you only use a henge for short durations and stick to conventional disguises otherwise. Many shinobi can detect the chakra emissions and it takes only one slip in attention for the entire thing to dispel."

"Then why is it taught at the academy if it has so f-few true applications?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Because it teaches you several valuable lessons while you master it. You need to able to concentrate intently and hold that concentration; it requires a fine eye for details and good memory to copy someone else convincingly; acting like the person you copy teaches again observation and acting skills, and so on." their sensei explained. "Pretty much the same is true for the bunshin. Additionally it enables the instructors to estimate the student's ninjutsu aptitude, chakra reserves and control. Once you're out in the field the kawarimi is the only one of the academy three you use regularly, and that one has its own problems. Sometimes there isn't just an object of the right mass in the vicinity, and a capable opponent won't give you the time anyway. Some people thought to chain several kawarimi in a row to either cover long distances or to continually change position in battle, but..."

"Yes?" Choji prodded.

"Well, let's just say the human body doesn't like being subjected to that jutsu at short intervals." Anko answered with a shudder.

"It messes with your sense of balance. One is harmless; two gives you some slight problems. Five makes you want to puke your guts out." Naruto inserted himself into the conversation.

Anko nodded. "That's correct. How do you know that? They don't write that effect down."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly. "I tried it out. It seemed a good idea at the time."

They all laughed for a moment before Anko continued speaking. "Back to the original topic. In the best case no one will ever know you were there after an infiltration. That often means you can't use chakra for some critical parts like convincing other people that you belong there and similar things. This is where your skills of burglary, acting, mummery and forgery come in. Seduction is also sometimes a part of that, unfortunately."

"Did you have to do that often, sensei?" Hinata asked.

The purple-haired woman shrugged. "A few times, but luckily I got good enough quickly enough that it was a relatively rare occurrence. Mostly I used other means to get to my targets. "

Hinata seemed to think for a moment. "What about genjutsu? I d-didn't think we kunoichi had to actually seduce people."

Anko sighed. "Hinata, how many people of your graduation cycle do you think can produce a convincing henge under stress, let alone use genjutsu to a degree that the victim doesn't realize he was affected by one?"

"Well, all our classmates could use the henge successfully. I'm not sure if they could maintain it in a very stressful situation." Hinata thought for a moment. "Yakumo and Ino could certainly do it with genjutsu or clan techniques, but n-nobody else out of our class."

Their sensei nodded. "And that's what, two out of more than thirty people? They all belonged to the elite class, meaning they are the cream of the crop of your cycle's student population. Sure, there are always some students almost as good in the rest, but the overwhelming majority will never reach such a level. Hence the need for actual seduction. I give you a few numbers to illustrate the situation. Konoha currently has over ten thousand active shinobi, which seems an enormous number, but it includes barely combat capable specialists. If they live that long without crippling injuries most people retire permanently in their early forties, their bodies simply can't keep up with the strain any longer. Thirty years of service means that each year around 330 new genin are needed theoretically just to replace retiring shinobi. The actual number is closer to five hundred because of factors like early retirement, crippling injuries or premature death."

Naruto nodded. "That means around two hundred fifty genin graduated along with us, but aside from the four teams they all have around two years more academy time."

"I'm not sure how much you know, but relatively few of these other graduates will ever reach your current level. All shinobi need to be able to mould chakra in useful quantities, for jutsu as well as physical improvement. Many of them will never achieve anything better than genin level reserves even with more than a decade of training after they graduated. That means they can get perhaps up to a dozen D-rank jutsu off or one or two C-rank jutsu before their general performance begins to suffer due to low chakra levels. Clan shinobi are generally better off, but even their reserves stop growing at the nebulously defined chunin level more often than not." She paused for a moment. "It's a bit unfortunate that rank and actual skill level are mixed together; it only makes things more confusing. Anyway, most shinobi aren't all that skill- or powerful. Think of our first C-rank. It was a job shinobi could do much better than anyone else, but it needed only very basic skills. The majority of missions are like that. The truly skilled shinobi are reserved for the high-profile missions and their numbers are never enough. There are far too few genjutsu specialists or Yamanaka mind walkers to cover all the occasions that call for unobtrusive infiltration or information gathering. That means its back to the good old seduction without aid. It isn't an especially nice job, but it has to be done."

"Still, ten thousand seems to be a large number." Choji remarked after a while. "I didn't think there were that many shinobi in the village. The numbers are highly classified and we had to guess most of the time."

"That's right, even I don't have official access to exact figures. It makes assessing the true situation of the village more difficult, but it is really sensitive information. Many shinobi are actually tied up in administrative work or other duties, Choji. For example, your father only leaves for high-profile missions that require his specific skill set or diplomatic negotiations due to his fame. The rest of his time is spent in village politics and clan matters. The same is true for Hinata's father or the other clan heads. Others are more or less on standby. Less than half of all active shinobi are actually in the village at any point in time. Many are away on missions and Konoha maintains several hubs in different large cities with a small contingent of shinobi on call if relaying a mission request to the village would take too long."

After that the conversation turned to the logistics of the village and mission system. During the entire time Naruto kept an eye on the surrounding landscape looking for signs of trouble as unlikely as that may seem here in the wilderness.

One of the nobles of the Land of Fire had hired them to bring his aunt notice of his son's impending marriage and ask her to visit. Normally it wouldn't have been necessary to involve shinobi, but the normal route to the noble lady's retreat in the mountains near the northern border of the Land of Fire had been hopelessly blocked by several mountain slides and there weren't any messenger birds with that destination. There was another route, but it was much longer and required going around the entire mountain range through dangerous bandit-ridden territory. The noble had sent an envoy with a large armed escort, but he had hired them to inform his aunt so that she could set out earlier and make it in time for the wedding. Additionally they were to provide security until they met the escort on the way back.

The mission request had just arrived via messenger bird when they visited the mission office, and Anko took it after a moment of consideration. Their sensei didn't like escort or bodyguard missions, but unfortunately they had to take some of them in the interest of becoming familiar with that type of shinobi duties.

Until now the mission wasn't much different than their first one. Well, aside from the mountainous terrain. Naruto estimated the road would be impassable for normal traffic for several months, if they ever got around to clearing it. From what they had heard in the last town before venturing into the mountains traffic on that route had become steadily less in the last years and it probably wouldn't be economically justifiable to invest the money and labor necessary to restore the road.

'_I wonder how things are in Konoha?'_ he idly mused.

* * *

><p>Mizuki was in a bad mood. The next academy term had started and it was back to teaching idiot children for him. With the study group disbanded his pay had been reduced to the standard level, but due to some paperwork that had been creatively and carefully lost he still only had to work reduced hours. He was bored to death and stressed out beyond belief at the same time. The only saving graces were the development of his own jutsu, his regular contact with his master and the now bi-weekly meetings with Anko when she was in Konoha. He liked spending time with the woman; a feeling which seemed to be mutual.<p>

He was currently overseeing the kunai throwing exercises of his new academy class together with Iruka. Most of the children's skills were nonexistent, but that was nothing unexpected from a first year academy class. He was about to correct the grip of the child before him when a shout drew his attention to the other end of the yard.

"I don't need your help! I will become Hokage in no time; then everyone will acknowledge me!" Konohamaru Sarutobi shouted before disappearing over the fence, leaving a startled Iruka behind.

Shaking his head Mizuki turned back to his current pupil and continued the lesson for the rest of the children. Konohamaru was one of this year's problem children and he quite often disturbed the lecture.

'_What did that idiot Ebisu do to the kid? He's almost completely out of control.'_

Konohamaru had joined the academy after being tutored by the special jonin for more than a year. In Mizuki's opinion that special treatment had done no favors for the boy. Ebisu was a highly capable if quite arrogant shinobi and renowned private trainer, but in this case he seemed to have done more harm than good. Instead of training the boy constantly bragged about becoming Hokage, played juvenile pranks and ineffectively attacked his grandfather at every opportunity. The saddest thing was that Mizuki saw a lot of potential in Konohamaru that the boy was about to squander away in his quest for attention.

'_Perhaps I can do something about the kid. If this behavior continues it will drive me spare. Even worse, he seems to drag Udon and Moegi down.'_

His eyes fell on the second and quite different problem child of this class. Hanabi Hyuuga was everything Konohamaru wasn't: Skilled, self-controlled and sure of her place in the world. Unfortunately Mizuki had already learned that the girl was developing an astonishing amount of arrogance and the typical superior attitude of the Hyuuga. Hinata had spoken with him at length about the topic of her younger sister and asked him to do all he could to keep her from becoming another Hyuuga ice princess. With Hinata often busy with training or out on missions she feared that the influence of the Hyuuga elders and her father would undo years of work on Hanabi.

Suddenly an idea came to Mizuki and it was all he could do to suppress an evil smirk. He would pair Hanabi with Konohamaru whenever possible and make the girl responsible for keeping him in line. If he couched it in terms of taking over more leadership duties as reward for her excellent performance the girl would jump at the opportunity to prove her superiority. He wondered which of them would break first. It would be fun to watch in any case.

* * *

><p>Kiba winced slightly when Akamaru touched one of the larger bruises on his body when they settled down to sleep, but his canine partner was too tired to notice. In fact the small dog had already begun to snore softly. Since graduation Kiba had gone to bed covered in bruises more often than not; their murderous training regime saw to that. Asuma-sensei was very laid back, but Shino was a slave driver.<p>

'_I never even suspected how good he is.'_

The gap between his and Asuka's skills in comparison to Shino's could have been disheartening, but after demonstrating his superiority by completely trashing Kiba, Asuka and Akamura simultaneously in several spars Shino had begun helping them to get stronger. The training was grueling, but Kiba's pride wouldn't allow him to give up. The physical training while hard he could have taken in stride. That Shino forced him to study up on chakra exercises and other theoretical subjects was a completely different kettle of fish. Kiba hated studying academic stuff, but he couldn't argue with the necessity or the results after Shino demonstrated what could be done with advanced knowledge.

It was during one of their three-to-one spars that he had spied an opening in Shino's defenses. He had jumped at the Aburame's seemingly unprotected back… only to collide face first with a solid chakra barrier that sprung up in empty air. It was only later that he learned of Shino's knowledge of barrier jutsu… and that he could use his kikaichu to create these barriers quite a distance away from his body even if they were short-lived. Asuma-sensei had been impressed.

Practically since the first day Kiba and Asuka had been forced to play catch up. It had hurt both their egos that they weren't as good as they always believed themselves to be, but he couldn't dismiss Shino's hard work. Their female teammate didn't take it as gracefully and Shino had to literally beat her down each time she threw a tantrum. It was a leader's duty to keep his pack in line, after all. Kiba wouldn't have wanted to be in his shoes; Asuka packed a mean punch when she was angry. Thankfully her uncontrolled violent behavior was largely a thing of the past by now. Not that her controlled violence was less scary. She was one girl he would never consider dating despite her beauty; what she had done to that pervert who had pinched her ass four days ago had looked extraordinarily painful. Kiba idly wondered how long it would take for the man to be able to walk normally again or when he would regain the use of his hand. Luckily, as long as he didn't do anything perverted and paid Asuka the respect she felt she was entitled to due to her skills she was easy to get along with.

'_How is it possible that Shino got so good? It must have been that study group of his.'_

It had to be; what other explanation was there that the one team solely composed of members of that study group was already on their third C-rank mission and the team with two members was beginning their first C-rank? His only consolation was that the Uchiha was likewise still stuck in Konoha. It caused him to wish he had taken his academy time more seriously and paid more attention to what Naruto, Shino and Choji were doing. Besides, with Hinata, Ino and Yakumo they hung out with the cutest girls. When he had asked Shino why they didn't invite him to the study group the answer had been devastating. They hadn't believed that he would have been able to keep their activities to himself and resist the urge to show off.

Kiba hadn't been able to argue with that; he knew he was very impulsive and tended to blurt out things that would have been better left unsaid. Well, being around Asuka was teaching him to think before he spoke and lately Shino had taken to deliberately provoking him during their spars in an effort to curb his temper. It was almost scary how Shino seemed to have a detailed plan for their training and everything else. Heck, he had even drawn up a training schedule for Akamaru. Even most Konoha shinobi without long, direct contact with an Inuzaka didn't treat the canine companions as full persons.

He sighed. He had made a lot of progress since their graduation, but his teammate was keeping the gap open by steadily becoming stronger. Shino was currently in the finishing stages of training his elemental manipulation of the lightning element and working with Asuma-sensei to incorporate it in his fighting style while learning kenjutsu and other high-level skills. Kiba had originally thought to rely on his clan's jutsu, but Shino had made the point that their opponents would expect that. There wasn't any sort of rush, but sometime in the near future he should begin learning another specialization. The only problem was that he couldn't decide what he wanted to do.

'_Well, perhaps something will come to mind during our first C-rank mission in a few days.'_ A grin appeared on the features of the already half-asleep boy. '_We still have Sasuke's team beat in getting a C-rank. Take that, rookie of the year.'_

* * *

><p>'<em>Anko-sensei has it right; escort missions suck.'<em>

It wasn't as if their client wasn't cooperative, the elderly Lady Haruka was in fact very nice and personable, but the caravan was just moving so _slowly_. Upon hearing the happy news of her nephew's impending marriage Lady Haruka had immediately ordered her household to pack up and get ready for travel, but even that had taken almost two days of frantic activity by the woman's servants. Her estate was quite large and one of the major employers of an otherwise economically downtrodden area. The Lady's late husband had built the estate at this completely out-of-the-way spot ostensibly because he enjoyed the fresh mountain air. Naruto was more of the opinion that something had required the man to vacate the capital very quickly and permanently with the option to leave the country entirely if need be. The border to the Land of Hot Springs wasn't that far away, after all.

Anyway, after two days of boredom for the shinobi they had finally departed. The caravan consisting of Lady Haruka in her palanquin, five armed retainers, thirty servants of different varieties and several pack animals was now creeping through the valleys into a roughly southeastern direction, following one of the two routes negotiable for non-shinobi. Team 11 mostly scouted ahead, but at least two of them always stayed by the noble lady's side in case something unexpected happened. Today it was Naruto's turn to take point.

The first sign that something was very wrong was the smell of burned wood and pork, and it wasn't the sort of smell one would associate with a feast. Naruto slowed his pace, but aside from the faint smell he found nothing suspicious. A mountain pass blocked his view forward. When Naruto reached the apex of the road he took care to stay hidden while hazarding a look. His caution proved unnecessary; there was no one in the vicinity who could have spotted him. That wasn't to say everything was fine. No, it appeared they had a large problem.

The source of the smell was situated on the floor of the next valley. Originally it had been a village consisting of several dozen houses. It was still quite a distance away, but Naruto could clearly see that at least half the houses were on fire. The wind was blowing the smoke in his direction, but the distance was large enough that it didn't hamper his breathing. Small figures were moving in the remains of the village, but he couldn't make out any sort of details.

'_That's not good. It looks like a full-blown raid with several dozen attackers. I need to report back to the others.'_

Turning around he quickly made his way back to the slowly approaching caravan. It only took a few minutes for him to reach them. One of the guards was walking at the point position with several servants behind him. Naruto took the time to address the man. "In about two hundred meters there is a good place for a stop. We might have a problem in the next valley. I don't think it's safe to continue onwards, but I have to talk with the others."

The man gave him a nod. All of the guards treated them with a wary respect. They were retainers instead of mercenaries and had been sworn to the lady's service for years. Naruto thought them competent but no match for shinobi. Finally he arrived at the noble lady's palanquin. The curtains were drawn closed so the woman was probably taking a nap. Not that it mattered, the persons he wanted to talk to were Anko-sensei and the captain of the guards, both of whom were walking besides the palanquin.

"Sensei, we have a problem. The village in the next valley is under attack. I couldn't make out details, but there are likely several dozen attackers. Half the buildings were aflame when I watched. I asked the guard at the front to stop at the next suitable spot until we know what to do." he reported.

Anko seemed as if she wanted to curse for a moment, but considering their company she kept her tongue in check. "There goes the afternoon. Okay, I will have to take a look. Hinata, you will accompany us. Choji, stay here and stay on guard. Do you have any objections to my pupil's proposal to stop the caravan?" she asked the captain.

The grizzled man shook his head. "No, I agree with the young man. Bandits are common here, but if they are ransacking the town they have to be one of the larger groups. We don't want to run into them. I will await your return."

The three sped back to the mountain pass as quickly as the road allowed. The village was still burning, but there were several new smoke columns originating from the isolated farmhouses in the vicinity of the village. A shift of the wind drove the smoke into a different direction, enabling them to see more clearly. In the distance another large column of smoke rose, indicating a previously sacked village.

This time Anko did curse. "Hinata, can you tell us more about what is going on down there?"

"The v-village is beyond my actual range, but I should be able to make out more details." Hinata answered.

"Do that." Anko commanded.

Hinata simply seemed to stare into the distance for a minute with her byakugan visibly activated. "The attackers seem to herd the villagers together on the village square. They are all armed with an assortment of different weapons and they seem much more disciplined than normal bandits. No drinking, wild looting or rape as far as I can see. I can't make out enough details to see if they are wearing an identifying symbol. They don't seem to be soldiers, though. Numbers are hard to guess, but I estimate around forty or fifty attackers in the village proper alone." She began to frown. "About twenty more persons that are escorting more than a hundred people are approaching from the far side. It looks like they are coming from the other destroyed village. There is something that looks like a baggage train. That's all I'm going to get at this distance."

Anko cursed again. "Damn, that doesn't look good. Naruto, you told me about your listening jutsu. Does it work here?"

"I'm already at it, sensei."

It was difficult. The distance was too large, there were too many other sound sources, the villagers didn't know what was happening and most of the attackers didn't say anything relevant, but after a few minutes of trying Naruto managed to get some snippets of a conversation.

"… make good sacrifices… this night… Jashin-sama… divine gifts… scour this valley clean of heathens… meet up… Hot Springs Country…"

'_Jashinists. Shit, shit, shit. Of all the things it had to be them.'_

"They are followers of Jashin, sensei. It seems they are on their way to the Country of Hot Springs and want to sacrifice everyone in their path." he announced after ending his technique.

Hinata's features froze for a moment and she exchanged a meaningful look with him, but Anko was too busy with swearing to notice. After a few seconds their sensei caught herself. "Okay, back to the caravan. We need to include the others in this discussion."

Ten minutes later all four shinobi, the captain of the guards, the chief servant and Lady Haruka gathered a short distance from the main camp of the caravan. They had made camp on a meadow to the side of the road. There were enough trees and boulders to keep the worst of the wind away, but it was a far cry from an ideal resting place. Anko was just finishing her explanation of the situation.

"… We won't be able to protect you against this number of enemies, especially because we don't know if there are any shinobi among them. They are obviously coming towards us and there aren't any lateral valleys we can duck into to avoid them. The valley we are currently in is wide enough that creating a chokepoint is impossible, but too small to hide this number of people. The pass is too broad to defend; there aren't any suitable locations to cause a mountain slide either."

The chief servant spoke up next. "We can't outrun them. The caravan is too slow, and from the description it appears as if they always send a lightly loaded fighting force first."

"We are prepared to make a stand, but I fear the only option is for the shinobi to carry you to safety, Haruka-sama." the captain of the guard added.

The noble lady was having none of that. "That is completely out of the question. I will not leave my household to be slaughtered. Mitarashi-san, is there anything else you can do?"

Anko seemed to think for a moment, and Naruto could make some educated guesses what her thoughts were about. The threat level clearly exceeded the mission parameters, but Lady Haruka was from a very rich and influential family. Letting her die or rescuing her alone against her wishes would do immeasurable damage to the village's reputation. Besides, with their enemies' skill level unknown it was far from certain that they could get away successfully. Or that the elderly lady would survive being carried on their backs in the relatively harsh conditions of the mountains.

"There may be something we can do. It seems the cultists haven't noticed us until now, but they will soon leave in this direction. Your caravan will immediately turn around and try to reach the next village. If you can recruit the villagers and barricade yourself you may survive. In the meanwhile my pupils and I will enter the next valley and attack them. In contrast to this one the next valley is large enough for us to conduct hit-and-run attacks. In the worst case we will buy you time. Most likely we will whittle down their numbers so they become more manageable for you until we have to disengage. In the optimal turn of events we may be able to defeat them in detail." Anko explained.

The captain of the guard nodded hesitantly. "That course of action is the next best after bringing her ladyship to safety directly."

Naruto could feel the noble lady's gaze wander over him and his two teammates. He wondered what she was thinking. Child soldiers weren't uncommon, even if the gaggle of children following the mercenary units around usually didn't fight until their bodies had developed more. No shinobi no matter how young expected mercy because of his age. Well, at least no one with a realistic view of the world.

Finally the old woman spoke up. "I agree with your plan, Mitarashi-san. Is there anything you need from me before leaving?"

"I would like our orders in writing. Otherwise it might be seen as abandoning you. Immediately after this meeting I will send a message to Konoha and the nearest military outpost. Unfortunately any response will come too late to do us any good. I assume you are aware that the village will bill your family drastically more even if we won't survive?"

Haruka nodded gracefully. "Naturally. I wish you the best of luck, Mitarashi-san."

* * *

><p>'<em>And here I thought the curse of C-ranks was a myth.' <em>Anko thought.

It was a common rumor that on one of the first three C-rank missions a new genin team did something would go catastrophically wrong. As far as Anko knew nothing had happened to last year's teams (the one were the two young female team members got pregnant didn't count because that didn't have anything to do with the missions), but the originally assigned jonin of Team 9 from last term had died due to a very unfortunate chain of events on their second C-rank mission. Now it seemed it was her team's turn.

Anko had seriously considered ordering her genin to retreat. If they had been the normal crop she would have done that without a second thought, but her genin were far from normal. They could be a real help, and she would take all the help she could get against this many enemies. There didn't seem to be any obvious shinobi, but fighting against large numbers was tricky business. A single enemy below jonin-level was hardly a serious threat for a kunoichi of her skill when she fought to kill. Fighting against several enemies at the same time was another matter entirely. Her attention capacity was ultimately limited, and it would only need one mistake on her part for an attack to slip through and wound or kill her. An injury would slow her down, making it easier for another attacker to succeed. The risk was simply too high.

Unfortunately Anko's abilities weren't well suited for dealing with a large number of targets at once. She had specialized in infiltration, assassination and taking down small numbers of strong enemies. Sure, she had some wide-area techniques, but they all did take time to perform. Time she wouldn't necessarily have when the buddies of the people she had killed with her first attack charged her and charge they would. Anko had dealt with Jashinists two or three times in the past. They had always been fanatical and didn't care if they died if they could only take some of their enemies with them.

The proper course of action for engaging a mass of enemies with unknown skills was to lure them into ambushes, killing a few of them each time before disappearing and striking again from the shadows. Unfortunately they didn't have enough time or materials for setting things up properly and the available space wasn't large enough to properly shake off pursuit. They had done what they could and build at least some traps, but it would likely come down to their direct battle skills. It had already grown dark during their efforts and now they were lying in wait until Anko chose to begin the attack. The timing had to be just right.

There were slightly less than one hundred enemies gathered on the central square of the now destroyed village together with easily thrice their number of villagers, but the number of the latter was dropping rapidly. Occasionally small parties of cultists with additional prisoners arrived. The Jashinists had begun killing their prisoners earlier in the day. Unfortunately there had been nothing Team 11 could do about that without running the risk of premature discovery. If they failed not only would the current prisoners die, but all the villages on the way to the border would be destroyed, too.

On occasions like this she wished that she were on better terms with her summons. A giant snake or two would be very helpful, but any snake larger than about man-sized refused to work with her more often than not. Given the current situation she didn't want to expend the chakra to summon something of dubious loyalty. Perhaps they were angry that she used the snake techniques her sensei had taught her less and less, but there was no way that she would make skills integral to her fighting style that relied on her remaining a signatory to the snake contract. Orochimaru could remove her name from the snake contract anytime he wanted to, and she was sure her hated teacher would choose a moment when she could least afford it. Being a cadet summoner sucked if you didn't get along with the master summoner.

Another look towards the fire-lit village showed her that it was time. _'It seems the cultists are more or less gathered together. Shame about the villagers caught in the splash damage, but I have to take out as many enemies as possible in the initial strike or they will all die anyway.'_

Anko inhaled deeply while carefully performing a long string of hand seals.

'Fire Release: Flight of the Grand Phoenix'

Then she exhaled. A mass of flames burst from her mouth, forming a giant bird made out of whirling fire. She immediately directed it towards the center of the square. A few seconds later three small fireballs erupted from different locations and likewise converged on the village square. Anko tensed her muscles. Depending on the results of her attack she would either disappear into the darkness or attack. Just a few seconds more before a large percentage of their enemies would be incinerated. If they were lucky the A-rank technique might even get them all.

Then everything went completely wrong.

* * *

><p>Hinata watched anxiously as her small fireball streaked towards one of the clustered groups of guards at the edge of the square. Thanks to her improved byakugan she had been able to observe the cultists during the last hours. It had been sickening. Old, infirm, man, child, mother, baby; it made no difference to these people. All were mercilessly and very painfully sacrificed. Each time one of them died Hinata felt… something. The best she could describe it was a faint echo of a sucking sensation, like something disappeared to somewhere and something different came back in exchange. Her best guess was that it was the chakra of the sacrifices that was sent to Jashin. She dearly hoped that it didn't include the souls of the victims.<p>

Sacrificing the soul of another, unwilling person wasn't easy and required either special circumstances like a major consecrated temple, specifically prepared artifacts or ceremonies or the direct, corporeal intervention of a being of some power. She doubted the makeshift sacrificial altar that had been erected in the center of the village square sufficed for that. Some villagers had tried to escape, but they had been brutally beaten down. The cultists were competent with their weapons, but luckily none of them seemed to be shinobi.

Still, Hinata would take considerable pleasure in seeing these cultists burn, which was why she kept her gaze directly on the head priest. He was an elderly man with silvery hair and a goatee clad in flowing red-black robes. If he hadn't been so busy sacrificing people he would have looked like everyone's favorite grandfather.

When Anko-sensei's fire technique had traveled half the distance the man turned around. Hinata could see his eyes widen for a split second before he hurriedly grabbed the large single-bladed battle scythe one cultist nearby had been holding. He raised the weapon above his head and shouted something. Suddenly Hinata could feel it. The sensation was similar to when she was nearby when Naruto called upon the divine power of his parents and entirely different at the same time. All the shadows seemed to darken and the light of the fires dimmed.

The giant bird of fire was almost there when _something_ appeared directly in its path. It was a black hole in the already dark night. The moment the fiery inferno reached it, it came to an abrupt halt. For almost a second it stood frozen in the air before the flames were sucked into themselves in a fiery vortex. When Hinata tried to take a closer look her eyes _hurt_ and she hurriedly shifted back to her former perspective. With a flicker the last flames died and the unnatural darkness disappeared.

The small fireballs she and her teammates had launched arrived unimpeded, but unfortunately didn't do much damage. After launch they were unguided and it showed. Naruto's fireball had missed its intended target completely while Choji had hit two people. Her own fireball had been spot-on and set three people on fire.

Hinata almost jumped when the voice of the obvious cult leader reached her ears. It shouldn't have been possible, but it sounded as if he was speaking directly besides her. The voice was a deep baritone and ideally suited for speaking to large gatherings. "We are being attacked by infidels! Find and kill them all, my children! No heathen can be allowed to live!"

The crowd shrieked in bloodlust, but Hinata wasn't especially worried about them finding her. She would observe for a few moments longer before making her escape and meeting up with Choji at the preplanned location.

In the meantime the leader had knelt down. "JASHIN-SAMA! Your humble servant implores you! Set free the power you bestowed on your followers and lead them to their prey!"

Again Hinata felt a surge of power, but this time it wasn't localized to a single source. Instead the whole crowd was involved. For a short moment their skin turned pitch black and white bone markings appeared on their bodies only to disappear in the blink of an eye. One of the people raised a blood-thirsty scream only to be joined by the others a moment later. The part of the crowd nearest to her position suddenly turned directly towards Hinata, making her feel very exposed.

'_Time to make my retreat.'_

Abandoning her hiding place in a treetop at the edge of the village Hinata jumped down and started to run away through the fields while still keeping her gaze fixed on the village. The moon was three quarters-full and there weren't many clouds, enabling her to see the surroundings good enough to run and fight. More than a dozen enemies were running in her direction and they were _fast_. In fact, they were faster than her. That should have been impossible for non-shinobi.

A third surge of power pulled her attention back to the leader. The man had finished another invocation and now started to slaughter the prisoners with powerful swings of his scythe. There wouldn't be any villagers left to save. When he finished the last survivors he took off in the direction of Anko-sensei, but Hinata wasn't able to observe further. She had her own problems to deal with for the first of the people chasing her had almost caught up.

"There is the bitch! Kill her!"

Hinata stopped for a moment to throw several shuriken in the direction of her enemies before she continued to run. Several meaty thunks indicated that at least some of the projectiles had hit flesh. Then she frowned. There hadn't been any cries of pain and the number of pursuers was still the same, but due to the moon being in her back she couldn't make out anything besides chakra-filled silhouettes.

The fastest of them were about to catch up to her when she reached the edge of the fields. Hinata abruptly changed the direction of her sprint and charged directly at the five closest to her. Others were not far behind, but she had half a minute to deal with them before she would have to run again. In the first few seconds of the fight she learned several valuable facts about her enemies. They were fast. They were strong. They were nimble. They didn't have any training to make optimal use of these physical traits.

She ducked under the sword strike of a man with a scar running the entire length of his face and sent a devastating Juuken strike directly into the man's chest before using his ribcage as a springboard, launching herself backwards in a somersault over the others coming from behind. Quickly adjusting her trajectory she used her right hand to push herself off the head of a blond woman while frying her brain with another Juuken strike in the same moment. While still in the air she pulled a kunai from her pouch and sliced open the carotid artery of the man who tried to intercept her landing.

'_Three down, two to go. Fifteen seconds left._'

Hinata threw the kunai into the throat of the uninjured man nearest to her before rushing through hand seals.

'Fire Release: Small Fire Stream'

The flames spewing from her mouth hit the fifth attacker front-on, but contrary to Hinata's expectations the burning man continued to run at her instead of collapsing in pain. Hinata dove out of the way not a moment too soon.

Suddenly her eyes widened. The four attackers she had disabled earlier were standing up again and encircling her. That wasn't possible. All her hits had been killing blows.

"You are dead!" she shouted.

Scarface spit out some blood. "Jashin-sama has graced us with his power."

The man she had set on fire stood up again, burn wounds covering his body. Hinata could actually see how the burned flesh flaked off, leaving unblemished skin behind. "We are Jashin-sama's chosen. We cannot die."

"Give up now and we might only stretch your death for an hour. Resist and you will be screaming for days." the woman among them announced.

In that moment the reinforcements arrived. Hinata was now encircled by nine enemies instead of five and still more were approaching. She had to escape somehow. Before she could settle on a plan half of her enemies attacked while the others kept their distance and a chaotic melee ensued.

Normally Hinata could have defeated them with some effort. It was impossible to surprise her thanks to her 360 degree vision and her flexibility and fighting style were ideal for close-range engagements. Discounting bad luck she would have been able to evade her enemies' attacks long enough to kill them all by striking critical areas. Unfortunately that didn't work against enemies who couldn't die and healed almost immediately. Her Gentle Fist was almost useless. Oh, it did damage, but it fixed itself in seconds. Shuriken simply annoyed the cultists and her kunai didn't do enough raw damage to put them down. She supposed cutting off limbs or heads would work, but if one cultist went down the others covered him against her. Her ninjutsu techniques didn't yield better results, and the disorientation genjutsu she attempted broke almost immediately.

Three times Hinata had to use kawarimi to save herself, but that didn't give her more than a short breather before the cultists were once again upon her and she began feeling dizzy from the technique. Then it happened. Several attacks were coming at the same time and there was no way she could avoid them all. She bent around a spear strike, deflected an axe with her kunai and jumped above a club, but the final attack connected. Something cold struck her left arm and she could see a sword continuing its arc with drops of blood trailing behind it. She gritted her teeth when the pain struck. The wound was deep and she would shortly lose the use of her arm if she didn't do something about it.

Once again she used on of the cultists as a spring board to jump high into the air. She would land on a currently free spot, but her avenues of escape were already being blocked. Despite the burning pain she willed her hand to go through the necessary hand seals for what she planned.

'Earth Release: Underground Move'

Hinata threw herself flat on the ground the moment she completed the jutsu to evade the attacks. The next moment she was safely below the surface. Then she encountered a problem. The version of the technique Mizuki had been able to teach them had only limited functionality. Most importantly in her situation it only worked on soil, not massive rock. Unfortunately she was currently in the mountains, and while the soil layer was about three meters thick in her current location at the edge of the mountain forest it wasn't deep enough to make her escape. There were rock formations everywhere, making a clean getaway impossible. If she had been just two meters to the left she wouldn't have been able to phase into the ground at all.

Concentrating on a medical technique while keeping the earth jutsu active was difficult, but she couldn't wait. Her arm had been cut to the bone. Any longer and she might bleed out. Luckily she had lost almost no flesh; the sword had been very sharp. Under her expert ministrations her flesh knit back together, leaving no trace of the injury. A resounding boom shook the ground and Hinata began to smile maliciously. The exploding tags she had left behind had done their work. Her eyes narrowed when she observed the aftermath. Her vision was somewhat degraded because of the earth above her, but she could still make out the generalities.

'_The two closest to the blast have been ripped to pieces and their chakra is fading rapidly. The one I killed ten times seems to take longer to recover. It seems either massive damage in one go or killing them repeatedly will do the trick.'_

Unfortunately she had used most of her supplies to create the traps in the forest and she didn't believe she could reach them in time. Then she felt it. Her pursuers had begun digging. She had to move.

Hinata silently cursed. She was moving far too slowly, and somehow the cultists seemed to be able to track her. The underground move jutsu was designed for sneaking and hiding, not rapid movement. Then she saw it. Originally it had been a cave on ground level, but a long time ago it must have been blocked by trees or something else. Over the decades soil created by decomposing plant life had slowly filled the valley. Now it was filled with earth and not visible from the surface. If she used it for her escape the cultists wouldn't be able to follow her directly.

A few minutes later Hinata emerged from the ground some distance away. The cultists would need some time to reach her to get around a ridge. Time to take stock of the situation.

'_Escape is impossible. We have to kill them all. I need something that can cause massive damage, after that I have to find Choji. Naruto is closer to sensei's position than us. The two can probably survive on their own for now.'_

She had only four exploding tags on her and luring the cultists into the prepared traps would probably not work. They were too fast. A small brook to the side caught her attention. Hinata knelt beside it and channeled chakra into the water. She wasn't really ready to try that idea in combat, but it seemed she had no choice. After she had woven her chakra tightly through several liters she activated the next stage of her idea. A mass of water rose weightlessly from the brook into the air, forming something like a cross between a sword and a club. One end of the construct was still connected to her hand.

Hinata swung the water blade several times back and forth. Keeping it in the necessary shape was difficult and chakra intensive but possible. She would have to invest more training and research as soon as she found the time. When she brought the blade down hard the stone under it shattered. Some drops left the main mass but returned immediately. The blade wasn't especially sharp, but she could twist it around whenever needed and her chakra made the improvised weapon much more dangerous than any captured weapons from the cultists. It was more an extension of her body she had full control over.

'_This will do. We shouldn't have separated, but it seemed a good idea to leave the cultists in the dark about our forces and the direction of the attack. Now to find Choji.'_

* * *

><p>Choji was fighting for his life. He hadn't stuck around after launching the fireball, but he had heard the cult leader's voice despite his distance. The following blood-curdling screams had sent shivers through his body. It hadn't taken long for his pursuers to catch up to him.<p>

'_This is a nightmare.'_

Another cultist jumped at him. "DEATH FOR THE DEATH GOD!"

His enlarged fist swiped the man out of the air and hammered him into a tree with all the strength he could muster. Choji could feel bones breaking under his fist, but that wouldn't be enough to put the man down permanently. He wouldn't repeat the mistake that had cost him already several injuries. Plucking the body out of the impression it had left in the tree he threw the cultist to the ground and didn't stop trampling him with his increased weight until only fleshy paste and an unidentifiable mess of bone fragments were left.

After returning to his normal size Choji tried to catch his breath for a moment before retreating further into the forest with a pronounced limp. His frontal armor plate had been shattered when he relied on it to take a hit from a cultist armed with an axe and he was bleeding from several deep wounds. He had totally underestimated the strength of these guys, and he had paid dearly for it. While he was the right kind of fighter to deal sufficient damage to them to put them down permanently he couldn't take their hits in return, at least not for long. They had strength, speed and unnatural resilience. The only reason he wasn't dead was that they had hardly any skill.

The fights had been like a bear against a pack of wolves. Individually he could kill them easily, but while he was busy with one several others attacked his flanks. Even the ones he smashed tried to wound him without showing the slightest regard for their own survival. He had killed around twenty of them, but there always seemed to be more and by now he was seriously wounded. His eyes desperately searched for some location he could use for an ambush to whittle their numbers down.

'_There!'_

A deep but narrow ravine that was only visible when you were almost falling into it lay before him. A careful look showed him that it was filled with sharp rocky spires. If anyone fell down there he wouldn't walk away. Choji bent down while suppressing a grunt of pain and pressed his hands on the ground.

'Earth Release: Slippery Mud Field'

He pushed more chakra than normal into the technique. That would cause it to last several minutes longer without requiring him to maintain contact. The forest was dark enough that nobody should be able to see that something was wrong with the ground before it was too late. Carefully sidestepping his trap and the ravine he continued on his way, silently cursing his limited repertoire of techniques.

The mud trap had proven insufficient to hold the freaks, the fire stream and fire ball didn't put them down permanently while the blazing embers was intended for arson, not direct combat. The sloping underground made using his human boulder technique too risky; he wouldn't be able to build good enough momentum to hit the cultists before they jumped out of his path and he didn't want to fall into some chasm.

"There he is!"

'_Great, another pack of cultists. At least I have time for one or two attacks until they are in melee range.'_

'Earth Release: Stone Shuriken'

Choji used his good leg to stamp hard on the ground while overpowering the technique, causing a chunk of earth half the size of his torso to rise up into the air, shaping itself into a giant shuriken and hardening to a stone-like substance. With another burst of chakra he caused it to begin spinning before launching it at the approaching gaggle of cultists. There were too many people in the room between several large boulders. If they had been normal people he would have gotten them all, but with one exception they used their unnatural strength to jump high into the air, thereby evading the missile. Choji grinned when he saw that the one unlucky cultist was horizontally bisected by the shuriken. '_Get up from that, asshole._'

The remaining six cultists howled in anger and charged at him. Choji's smile grew even larger when they slipped on the mud field he had created. To his disappointment only two of them disappeared down the ravine, the other four either managed to stop themselves or jump over it. Choji braced himself. _'Time for another round.'_

"Die, infidel!"

'Partial Multi-size Technique'

Choji's arms suddenly doubled their size. Normally he would have preferred to enlarge his entire body, but being bigger meant that there was more surface area to hit. Additionally he was running dangerously low on body fat. Despite years of study he still hadn't unlocked all the secrets of his clan's calorie control, meaning he lost body mass each time he used one of the Akimichi clan techniques. Until he figured it out he could only increase his size for short periods of time, not use it constantly in a protracted battle like this. He began the fight with an uppercut that smashed the head of the first cultists to enter his range to tiny pieces in a spray of brains and bone fragments. A back-handed blow catapulted another cultist out of the fight for the time being. The third cultist he caught between his hands. The slap probably broke all the bones in his body and covered his hands in even more gore, but not before the man managed to stick a dagger into his right hand, crippling the appendage for the time being. Choji felt an attack from the fourth attacker connect with his back, but his hidden armor plate held and blunted the blow. He whirled around as fast as he could, but the man still managed another swing with his club that rattled Choji's head even if there wasn't that much force behind the strike. In retaliation he used his left hand for a vertical blow that turned the cultist into a pancake.

The recovered second cultist suddenly tackled him from behind, ramming a dagger into his side. With a screeching sound it slid off one of his hidden armor plates. With a roar Choji ripped the man's arm off and didn't stop beating him with it until he was convinced that the cultist wouldn't get up again.

He carefully looked at his right hand, trying to clear his ringing head. The force of his own blow had driven the dagger completely through the hand. Without medical aid he wouldn't be able to use it anymore. Choji carefully removed the dagger from his hand before returning his arms to their normal size. He breathed heavily. There was something he was forgetting.

The intense pain hit Choji completely unexpectedly. It was like somebody had driven something through his entire body. When he looked down he saw a bloody spearhead protruding from his left side. On his right side stood a black-haired woman holding the shaft of the spear that had just pierced him, grinning in triumph. It was one of the attackers that had fallen into the ravine earlier in the fight.

"Oh." was all he managed to say before the pain overwhelmed him and his vision went black.

* * *

><p>Hinata almost panicked when she saw the cultist drive a spear through Choji from the side. Clearing the last two dozen meters in a sprint she brought her watery weapon down with all the force she could muster. Her first swing shattered the bones in the woman's arms and her following upwards kick would have broken a normal human's neck, but the cultist was made of sterner stuff. Hinata barely managed to evade the woman when she threw herself towards the young kunoichi in an effort to head butt her. A horizontal swing of her sword bashed her skull in and she went down for a moment. Exploiting the opening, Hinata continued to strike until she had thoroughly pulverized the head. For good measure she used her last kunai to cut the limbs off before she turned to Choji while keeping watch on the surroundings. It seemed Choji had already taken care of his other pursuers, but Hinata could see movement in a nearby ravine and more cultists coming up from the valley and behind her.<p>

'_I have to get him away from here. The spear has to wait for later.'_

In a display of strength that would have surprised many people Hinata picked Choji up and carried him on her back away from the site of battle while channeling medical chakra into him. That much physical reinforcement was enormously chakra-intensive, but she had still the chakra to burn. Kage-level reserves were really a wonderful thing. It would likely aggravate his injuries further but she had no choice. A frantic search with her byakugan later she changed her direction slightly. After running at the best speed she could manage with her load she reached a sheer rock spire. Hinata didn't even slow down when she jumped on the vertical surface and continued directly upwards. The five meter wide top offered some cover due to the edges of the spire being slightly higher than the center and the cultists wouldn't be able to follow. At least she had never seen them use chakra, so hopefully they wouldn't be able to climb here. Well, she could always transform her water weapon into a whip or spear and shove them off if they tried.

After wiping her blood-covered hands clean on her clothing she began a medical scan of Choji. It didn't look good. Aside from over a dozen medium wounds, a concussion and his crippled hand the spear had done enormous damage. It had destroyed his left kidney, pierced his right one, practically shredded his intestines and injured several other organs to varying degrees. Her carrying him had probably aggravated the injury, and there was heavy internal bleeding. She wouldn't be able to fix this with her own skills alone. He would die in a few minutes at the latest. It was a wonder he had held onto life to this point.

Hinata came to a split-second decision. Choji was too important in a personal sense as well as for his role in their plans. There was a way to heal him, but she would have to take an extremely dangerous gamble. Especially considering who their current enemies were.

'_The spear has to go first.'_

She used her water to break off most of the protruding handle before she formed it into a levitating ball and put it out of the way. Then she gripped it directly underneath the spearhead and pulled with all her strength. It came free with a repulsive squelching sound, followed by a rush of blood mixed with the contents of his intestines. If she hadn't been already covered in blood and gore the smell would have probably been insufferable. Hinata proceeded with channeling medical chakra into him while she marshaled her magic for the most important task.

"Mother of Life, I ask for your help. Grant me the power to heal my friend."

A moment later Youko's power filled her and golden light emerged from her hands, entering Choji's body. Naruto's parents were probably wondering what the hell was wrong. If Jashin paid close attention to this fight she had probably just signed their death warrant. She had used the least amount of divine power she could that was still able to do the job, and she watched in wonder as Choji's body was miraculously healed. Missing flesh grew anew, the wounds closed, blood was replenished and the filth was removed from his body before the divine power disappeared as suddenly as it had come.

Hinata had to concentrate hard not to be swept away in the elation that always went along with such an invocation. She hadn't used that much power and managed to keep her thinking rational. The emerging feeling of emptiness helped with that. It seemed she had expended her entire personal pool of magical power in that invocation.

Suddenly Choji's eyes snapped open and he sat up. "Hinata? What happened?"

"You overlooked an enemy." Hinata pointed at the bloody spear shaft. "I arrived just in time to save and heal you. We are safe at the moment, but we have to get going as soon as possible. You have a few minutes to rest up."

Choji looked at the levitating ball of water curiously, but refrained from commenting in favor of leaning back and closing his eyes. He would need all the rest he could get. While his wounds had been healed he was still weak.

Hinata had to suppress a gasp when she felt another eruption of Jashin's power. She quickly scanned the landscape in search of clues. Finally she found out what was happening. Some distance away the pieces of a recently dispatched cultist dissolved into black goo, flowed together and reformed the man. Desperation filled her. It simply wasn't fair. In the next moment a wave of malevolent bloodlust seemed to wash over them and a deep roar could be heard echoing in the valley. In the distance a red glow became visible. Suddenly their position didn't seem so hopeless.

"What was that?" a shuddering Choji asked.

Hinata decided against telling Choji about the resurrecting cultists. "Naruto is using the Kyuubi's chakra. It seems he is in a desperate situation."

* * *

><p>Naruto was slowly getting desperate; he was almost out of weapons, he had lost his knives when they got caught in the ribcage of one of the cultists and none of his jutsu seemed to do enough damage to put them down permanently; <em>they just kept coming<em>. Their enemies weren't very good; in fact most of them were barely above random mercenary level in skill without their supernatural enhancement. THEY JUST WOULDN'T FREAKING DIE!

Even now as cut some of them to pieces with wind chakra enhanced kunai others were trying to attack him from the sides. The crazy cultists were either not feeling pain from their injuries or ignoring it. Deadly wounds were simply shrugged off. If they received crippling injuries entire body parts dissolved and reformed in the span of a few seconds. Granted, if you killed them often enough or completely cut them to pieces they died for real, but anything less simply wouldn't stick.

He had been almost constantly under attack since the cultists took up the pursuit. The valley was simply not large enough to evade the enemies for long, especially enemies that displayed no signs of fatigue, didn't stay dead and always seemed to know where he was. Not to mention their crazy strength and speed. The only saving grace was that they apparently weren't completely used to that level of power.

Finally he managed to cut off the head of the last attacker. For good measured he cleaved the corpse into three pieces. It was not a moment too soon, for his last kunai crumbled to pieces. Normally you needed weapons made of chakra-conducting metal to properly utilize elemental chakra. A standard kunai wasn't able to withstand the involved forces for long without being damaged, especially because he still hadn't figured everything out he needed to know about using chakra flow to improve his weapons.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he leant against a nearby tree for a moment. His clothing was stained with blood and gore and he was bleeding from several minor wounds. He had to find Anko-sensei.

Two minutes later he finally saw her. She was currently battling with the leader of the cultists and it seemed she was winning. Judging from the burned countryside strewn with mutilated corpses she had used some higher-rank jutsu that were effective against these freaks. Suddenly the silver-haired man batted her away and stretched his arms into the air. Naruto was too far away to hear him, but the following surge of foul power left no question that he had once again called upon the power of his god. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen, but then Naruto saw the dead cultists coming back to life. Their forms were often misshapen, but judging how they attacked Anko-sensei their speed and strength had increased once again. Some of them turned towards him, and soon he would be in battle once more. A battle he doubted he could win in his current state.

Naruto stared blankly at the sight for a few moments. "Okay, this is so not on."

It seemed desperate measures had to be taken. Naruto reached deep into himself. He knew how to access the demonic chakra that was trapped in the seal, but normally shied away from using it. It just didn't feel right to use the power belonging to his mother. Besides, it was painful and the associated rage and power trip threatened his control over himself. But today he had no other choice, and he grasped the power tightly.

Liquid fire seemed to run through his veins as a red haze obscured his vision. He could feel power, incredible power. His fingernails transformed into claws, the whisker marks deepened while his teeth and hair grew longer and red boiling chakra formed a protective cloak around him. He drew even more power, and a single tail rose behind him. After a moment of thought he increased the draw and a second tail emerged. The wild and malevolent power threatened his control, but he would take no chances.

He roared before grinning at the approaching resurrected cultists. **"Now we will see if you are truly immortal."**

* * *

><p><span>'Fire Release: Dragon Fire'<span>

Roaring flames shot along the wires Anko had trapped four cultists in and burned them to a crisp. She had to use the B-rank version of the technique; earlier attempts had shown that the flames had to be hot enough to melt stone to actually put these freaks down. A moment later she had to let go of the wires to evade another attacking group.

In her life Anko had encountered a lot of weird techniques and fought (and usually killed) their users, but you didn't encounter super-strong, super-fast and almost immortal enemies every day, especially not dozens of them at the same time. Luckily none of them were shinobi or familiar with high-power fights. The best cultists seemed to have training as basically competent soldiers while the rest was more on the skill level of bandits. If it had been otherwise she would have been dead by now, but as things stood she had only to keep her distance and avoid being mobbed.

'_Okay, that group over there is nicely clustered.'_

After jumping to the side to avoid another suicidal charge from a cultist she ran straight up a tree making hand seals before she jumped into the air.

'Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet'

Once again flames shot out of her mouth and assumed the shape of a dragon. One of the cultists managed to evade the fire, but three others didn't. A moment later Anko cut his head off with a chakra-enhanced dagger. The remaining two cultists met similar ends.

"That hurt, you bitch! Jashin-sama will drink your blood." one of the disembodied heads shouted.

Anko blinked before pulping the head. "Okay, that was just creepy. Now I have to pick up my genin before they die."

Hopefully they would have survived until now. With their skills they could probably hold out for awhile, but these cultists were bloody dangerous. If they hadn't come at her piecemeal she would have been in real trouble. The entire battle was massively fucked up, but that was hindsight.

She was just about to take to the trees when she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye and barely managed to duck in time. The tree behind her wasn't so lucky and disappeared in a great cloud of splinters. Turning around, Anko saw the head cultist standing behind her.

"Heathen whore; you have decimated my flock and interfered with Jashin-sama's commands. For that crime I will sacrifice you… slowly."

Anko forced a smile on her lips. "You can try, sicko."

The man's expression turned into a malicious smile. "Oh, I will do more than try. First I will cut off your arms and legs; then I will rip the hearts out of the dead bodies your companions and feed them to you. Jashin-sama has blessed me with his power. You cannot defeat me." Without another word he jumped at her, trying to cleave her in two with his scythe.

She had to finish this quickly and get to her pupils. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. Seconds turned into minutes, and the fight was still going strong without a clear winner. The man wasn't a shinobi or any other sort of chakra-using warrior, but he was far stronger and quicker than all the other cultists. Every time she tried to use a jutsu he would press the attack, preventing her from completing the hand seals. As time went one she managed to get more than one hit through, but the body of the man kept regenerating even when his clothing was completely shredded. He was indeed an old man, but outside of a very few people she had never met anyone stronger. She had to play it carefully, one hit from the seemingly indestructible scythe and she would be a goner.

Minutes turned into half an hour and she felt fatigue slowly settling in. Fighting against a physically superior opponent took its toll after a while. Several times she had only evaded a decisive hit by a hair's breadth. If her opponent had been a normal human she would have killed or crippled him more than thirty times, not to mention all the poisoned senbon that seemed to have no effect. She needed to end the fight at all costs. With a sudden change of direction she got inside the man's guard. The handle of the scythe slammed painfully into her left shoulder, but it was too late. With a quick slash she drew her dagger across the man's eyes, blinding him for the time being. She already knew from earlier when she had pierced his eyes with senbon that they would regenerate. Another slash with her chakra-enhanced dagger separated the man's right hand from his arm in exchange for a cracked rib on her part.

"NO! I will not be defeated by the likes of you!"

An unexpected back-handed blow connected with her, propelling her backwards. The air was painfully driven from her lungs when she collided with a tree.

"Oh Lord of Death, hear my call and let my flock rise anew! Let them succeed at their task in death they failed at in life."

When Anko finally cleared her head she saw that the man had already regained his eyesight and picked up his lost hand that had crawled back to him. Considering the experiences of the battle it didn't surprise her when it connected back to his body without problems. More worrisome were the figures that rose all around her. If she had hacked a cultist to pieces his body parts liquefied into black goo, flowed together and formed a new, grotesquely deformed body. The more intact corpses rose even earlier. At least the ones she had burned to ashes didn't rise again. After making that observation Anko didn't have any more time to consider things. The resurrected cultists swarmed her, and this time she couldn't put them down. A few seconds of frantic dodging later she was bleeding from several wounds.

'_Shit, there are too many threats. I can't keep track of them all.'_

Absentmindedly she noticed the appearance of a massive source of malevolent chakra somewhere in the vicinity, but she had no time to think about it. Survival came first. Suddenly she felt herself being grabbed and slammed into the ground while dislocating her shoulder violently. The pain brought tears to her eyes. A moment later she felt people holding to her arms and legs, pinning her to the ground.

The man with the scythe approached her, his weapon raised above his head. "Now you die, filthy infidel. Jashin-sama shall rule supreme. I am the unstoppable instrument of his divine will."

The blade of the scythe descended down towards her. The grip of the cultists was like a vise, making her attempts to free herself futile. Suddenly a sickly red light filled her blurry vision.

"**Not so fast, gramps. I won't let you or your freak show kill my sensei."**

Anko finally managed to blink the tears away. Naruto stood before her, and he was very obviously using the Kyuubi's chakra. Up close the dreadful feeling of malevolence, hate and rage was almost overwhelming. The red chakra cloak with two chakra tails that had just impaled two of the cultists holding her down was a dead giveaway. Two additional limbs of chakra had emerged and were in the process of crushing the other two cultists. Another chakra limb was holding the scythe, preventing each attempt of the leader to wrestle it free. Anko clearly saw the bodies of the cultists blacken. It seemed the Kyuubi's chakra was eating their substance away, and the same thing was happening to the scythe. Suddenly the men exploded in showers of gore, the scythe snapped and the chakra limbs retracted.

"You dare interfere in my task? What is this foul power?" the clearly shaken cult leader shouted.

"**I am your death. That is all you need to know." **Naruto growled before swiping at the man with a chakra-covered clawed hand. The swipe shredded the man's left arm to a bloody mess. Hissing in pain he tried to escape, but several new chakra arms emerged from Naruto and grabbed the man despite his supernatural speed, lifting him into the air. The chakra was very obviously burning his body.

"No, it can't end that way! Jashin-sama, help your faithful servant in his hour of neeee… " Before he could finish the chakra claws ripped him to pieces. Anko saw the pieces of flesh dissolve into nothingness from the contact with the Kyuubi's chakra.

'_Good, that will make sure the guy won't come back.'_

A screeching sound drew her gaze towards the blade of the destroyed scythe. The thing seemed to vibrate while the sound grew louder and louder until the weapon shattered, leaving only black dust behind. When she looked around she noticed that the resurrected cultists Naruto hadn't gotten around to destroying had stopped moving and seemed to be dead, this time for real. Redirecting her gaze back to Naruto, she met the boy's now blood-red slitted eyes.

There was a large amount of bloodlust in there, and for a moment Anko feared he would attack her. Then the first of the two tails receded, lessening the oppressive feeling considerably. In addition Naruto's features lost a lot of their feral look. He gave their surroundings a careful look before he turned back to her. The second tail disappeared and a moment later the red chakra cloak dispersed. Naruto's eyes returned to their normal blue hue and the dreadful feeling of the Kyuubi's chakra went away entirely.

'_Good, it seems he is in full control.' _she thought

"Are you alright, Anko-sensei? Sorry about not being here earlier." he asked worriedly.

She shook her head, still a bit stunned. "It's alright, Naruto. Thanks for saving my life. Can you set my shoulder? It got dislocated earlier and I want it fixed before swelling sets in." Better to get that out of the way immediately.

"Sure."

A sharp spike of pain and application of first aid later Anko stood up and looked around. Some of the fires she or Naruto had caused were still burning and illuminating the landscape. Now that she could properly survey the countryside the swath of destruction Naruto had caused was clearly visible. The trees around the place of his initial transformation had been snapped like kindling in a circular area and practically everything in his path from there to here had been destroyed. Not that she herself had left anything more intact when she had resorted to every jutsu she could think of. On the other side of the valley several other fires burned, probably caused by Chojhi, Hinata or both. When she looked at Naruto she noticed multiple holes in his clothing, but the underlying flesh seemed to be intact.

'_I guess using the Kyuubi's chakra healed him.'_

"Okay Naruto, first order of business is finding Hinata and Choji. We have to mind possible enemy stragglers, so keep your guard up. After that we skim the valley for survivors, both Jashinist and civilian. Sometime later we have to speak about what happened today." Anko ordered.

"Okay, Anko-sensei."

* * *

><p>Choji looked around sorrowfully. When the morning sun finally had risen above the mountains it revealed a scene of devastation. What had once been a relatively poor but lively village was now a smoking ruin. It had come as a relief to him when Hinata spotted Anko-sensei and Naruto searching for them last night. After they met up Hinata had taken care of all their remaining injuries and they had scoured the valley for anyone alive. Eleven Jashinists had been found, but they had lost their supernatural strength. Still, they rather killed themselves then being taken prisoner. Choji wouldn't shed a tear for them.<p>

Other than them they had found two families of five who had managed to hide in caves and four frightened children and a pregnant woman in different hidden cellars under the village. Without Hinata's byakugan they would have died under the rubble. At least they wouldn't want for anything. The cultists' baggage train contained enough money and valuables for them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives even after the shinobi took their share. He doubted it would compensate them for the horror and the losses of this night.

His foot hit an obstacle and he looked down. It was a half-burned doll. Picking it up he wondered to whom of the hundreds of corpses in the village square it had once belonged. They had just finished piling them all up before Anko would cremate them later. There were just too many to do otherwise. Anko had already sent one of her messenger snakes back to the caravan. As soon as they arrived they would be on their way and take the survivors with them. He didn't look forward to seeing the other destroyed villages the Jashinists had left in their wake.

'_Why did they do what they did? How did they get their powers?'_ Choji wondered.

The Jashinists had been all completely fanatical. There just seemed to be no rational reason for committing this atrocity. They didn't do it for the loot like bandits or in the course of warfare. Choji would have understood that. He didn't like it, but he would do it if it became necessary in the course of his duties. It was almost certain that he would be forced to do something similar at some later point of his life, even if the normal population was rarely slaughtered by shinobi. They produced the taxes, after all. Anko had muttered something about blood rituals, but even she knew nothing definitive. Whenever the faith of Jashin appeared his followers spread senseless slaughter and destruction until they were stopped. Apparently their religion called for the eradication of all non-believers.

He sighed. There would be no answers to his questions here.

* * *

><p>The entity known as Jashin was a bit surprised when a particular influx of sacrifices stopped and instead the souls of the followers doing the sacrifices arrived. If things had followed the original projections it should have gotten at least an additional month and several thousand sacrifices out of that specific group before they were expected to meet any sort of real resistance. Plans would have to be postponed significantly.<p>

Jashin was currently too busy to pay attention to the Elemental Nations and had just bestowed more power when it was asked for without investigating, within limits of course. The takeover of Plum country far in the west, Midland on the eastern continent and the formation of a formal church on the southern continent required close supervision. Things couldn't be allowed to stray from the predetermined path if one wanted the optimal outcome; that being a self-perpetuating stable cult who would spread and provide sacrifices without needing constant oversight and support.

When Jashin finally could spare the attention the entire thing was already over. From the memories of the followers Jashin discovered that they had the bad luck to run into a group of high-skilled shinobi including the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Jashin had been worried at first when it had discovered that the Juubi had been freed. The devourer of gods would have been a dangerous opponent, especially because they had clashed in the distant past and Jashin had no desire to repeat that experience. There was almost no possibility for the Juubi to win in the present day, but the victory would cost it much. Luckily somebody had taken care of the thing and divided it into nine separate beings, none of whom was on a level where it would be dangerous to the dark god. Even more fortunate was that they had been sealed in different mortals, which further reduced their power. Currently Jashin left them alone until other plans were well underway, but a time would come when it would suck every little bit of power out of the bijuu and make it its own.

Jashin was about to discard the entire event as an unfortunate fluke when it noticed a short-lived spark of divine power one of the men had witnessed. The follower had been too far away to make out details and hadn't known what he felt, but for Jashin the resonance between the sliver of power it had bestowed on its servant and the foreign source was a cause for great concern. It had been a young girl who used it. A young girl with peculiar white eyes. It seemed the spawn of the all-seeing lord of law and judgment was still at large in the world. They should have been stamped out on his last visit. Even worse, some of them might be capable of ascending if this event was any sort of indication. That couldn't be allowed. Steps would have to be taken to remedy the situation before any sort of real problem arose.

After extracting every little bit of useful knowledge it devoured the souls of its followers. Jashin didn't maintain an afterlife; it promised its followers immortality and power as long as they served faithfully and successfully. The only fate that awaited failures was destruction.

They all failed eventually.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you all for the many reviews (and the favorites, alarms and C2 additions). On that note, I always answer reviews via PM, but some of you have deactivated that function, so don't expect an answer if that is the case. I might forget that I didn't already answer these reviews when I get around to writing the next author's notes.

Not all Jashinists will be nearly immortal fighters. Most are just normal but very fanatical humans. There are some specific reasons why this particular group was so bad that will be revealed later.

If you are wondering where the shinobi numbers come from: It was mentioned in the manga at some point in the Shinobi world war arc that the allied forces numbered 80.000. Since they consist of the combined forces of the five great villages and the samurai one sixth of that would be around 13.000. Naturally that disregards differences in population, events like the Sand/Sound invasion and so on, but it means there have to be several hundred graduates each year to keep the ranks stable in each village. The nameless mooks that are slaughtered (and nobody cares about) at every opportunity have to come from somewhere, after all.

So long.


	20. Chapter 19: Drawing conclusions

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 19: Drawing conclusions**

The first sensation Naruto experienced when he entered the world of his parents was that someone was squeezing the life out of him. "What happened to you? Are you both alright?" two very concerned Youkos asked in an eerie double voice.

"Air." Naruto managed to get out, causing his mother to release the almost bone-crushing hug. The other Youko did the same with Hinata. One of the Youko's shimmered and disappeared, leaving only one version of his mother standing before them.

Youko blushed slightly. "Sorry kit, I got carried away. Now, can you tell us what happened? First Hinata called upon my power to heal someone and later you used my chakra."

After regaining his breath Naruto began the explanation. "We were in a bad situation. You know we were sent on that escort mission. At first everything went according to our expectations, but that changed. We encountered followers of Jashin two days ago and weren't able to evade them. I spotted them first when…"

After Naruto finished with his part of the story Hinata took over. His parents were obviously very worried about what had happened. It was disconcerting to hear how close their friend Choji had come to dying. In the real world Hinata had downplayed their big friend's injuries to avoid questions, but now she described in detail what injuries he had suffered and why she had called upon his mother's powers despite their warnings. Naruto watched his mother and father anxiously, waiting for the explosion that was sure to come.

Youko sighed after Hinata's finished explaining. "I guess it was the best course of action for you to take." She and Daiki chuckled when she saw the surprised looks on their faces. "What? Did you expect me to freak out because you ignored our warnings to not use our divine power outside of the sanctuary? And in the vicinity of Jashinists with the direct backing of their god no less?"

Naruto shared a look with Hinata before speaking. "Honestly? Yes, we did."

"What would that achieve? What's done is done. You two are the people on the spot. We can only give advice, but if the situation makes it necessary you have to call the shots on your own. Hinata, you didn't have much time to make that decision. Would you do the same thing again now that you had time to think it over?" Daiki asked.

Hinata nodded. "I would. Most importantly Choji is our friend, but he is also a very important piece of our plans. Without him we lose the Akimichi and a lot of influence. I know it was risky with the Jashinists present, but I still think it worth it."

"Considering that Jashin didn't intervene personally and we are still alive I think you made the right call. Just don't make a habit out of it. Next time we might not be so lucky." Youko said.

Naruto felt a weight lift from his heart. He hadn't looked forward to his parents scolding them or more specifically Hinata. "Well, it worked this time. Perhaps the power level was so low Jashin didn't notice anything?"

Daiki shook his head. "It might be a bit early to say that we are out of the woods, son. Sure, if Jashin had realized what power you used, what we are and what sort of connection you have to us he would have intervened immediately no matter the cost. That doesn't mean he didn't notice something, just that it didn't warrant an immediate or direct response in his perception. He might watch you very carefully or initiate a more long-term response. Or he really didn't notice anything; there's simply no way for us to tell. One thing the entire event teaches us is that users of divine power can feel each other when they use that power." He took a deep breath. "Enough of that matter. I have still some questions. Firstly, did any other cultist beside the leader display any ability of directly calling upon Jashin's power?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "I don't think so. They shouted his name and all sorts of curses and things, but nothing out of the usual happened. They did have their freaky strength and regeneration, but they didn't get any additional powers on their own. Well, there is the matter of the leader's weapon. The scythe felt strange, and after I killed the leader and snapped the shaft the blade turned into black dust. I sealed a sample away."

"The same for me. Only the leader caused supernatural things to happen." Hinata added.

"Interesting. I wish I could examine the dust myself, but I won't risk taking possession of you in the current situation. When you get back to Konoha deposit the sealing scroll in the outer regions of the sanctuary; do not bring it inside all the way. The particulars of your encounter coincide with some theories I have about this world works. Still, I would like to view your memories myself. Please clear your mind." Daiki commanded. Naruto complied and a few seconds later his father's presence entered his mind. A few minutes later he retreated, humming thoughtfully. A moment later Youko's expression grew equally thoughtful.

"And?" Naruto asked after none of them made a move to say anything.

The question startled his father. "What? Oh sorry, I was considering the new information. We will have to mull it over for a day or two before we can come up with some theories. You can relax for the time being. I would prefer for us to get that out of the way immediately and concentrate my whole attention on it. Do you need me or your mother urgently?"

"Nah, that's okay. I think we talked about everything important for now. We just postpone our family day until after you're finished. Right, Hinata?"

"That's fine with me." the girl answered.

"Good, good." Youko waved them away. "You can use the house; we won't be physically present. If you need one of us for something just call. Have fun you two and don't do anything I wouldn't do." With a last wave the forms of his parents faded to nothing, leaving Hinata and him alone in the familiar cottage.

Naruto frowned slightly. "You know, I can't think of anything mom wouldn't do when she wants to have fun."

Hinata practically molded herself to his side and began kissing his neck and cheek. "Neither can I."

It was two very enjoyable days later that his parents returned. Naruto and Hinata had just finished eating and were enjoying a sunny afternoon on the field of flowers nearest to the cottage when Youko and Daiki materialized from thin air. After the normal greetings and a bit of hugging they sat down on the grass beside them.

"Well, what have you learned?" Hinata asked curiously.

"A very great deal. Even indirectly observing how another god does various things has given us valuable information. Many things are still guesswork, but we now have a much better grasp on some principles we haven't been able to test during our possessions." Daiki answered.

Youko took over the first part of the explanations. "Firstly, the followers you encountered didn't have any power of their own. They were originally normal humans who were slowly charged with divine power, but they had no direct connection of their own to Jashin. If you would use our power to enchant another human it would be roughly the same. It was all centered on the head cultist. He was a genuine priest with a divine connection to Jashin. Only he could call upon him, directly receive power and create supernatural effects. He was the one doing the sacrifices, nullifying the big fire jutsu, awakening the power resting in the cultists and lastly raising the dead."

She paused a moment before continuing. "The jutsu nullifying isn't very interesting; he simply let the darkness swallow it. You could probably do something similar in various ways, but it would be a waste when you can accomplish the same with chakra techniques or simply getting out of the way. In contrast, the other three things are much more interesting. Each time he sacrificed a human the chakra was sent to Jashin and a tiny bit of his power was sent back. In our estimate the returned power was about a tenth of what Jashin gained from each sacrifice. That power was then distributed across all the cultists, but once there it became dormant. When the priest set it free it increased their physical abilities greatly and protected them from harm. Fortunately, each moment spent in that state and especially each injury healed consumed a part of the stored power."

Naruto looked thoughtful. "That explains how they died when we killed them often enough and they seemed to become weaker the more often they died. I guess it wasn't necessary to use that for the raid until we turned up. How was the priest able to invoke Jashin several times? We can't do that without losing ourselves in the power. And why did Jashin allow a human that much leeway instead of personally intervening?"

Daiki shrugged. "I don't know. Our situation is unique in many ways, mainly because of the seal. My best guess is that it is easier or more efficient to allow a trusted follower to wield one's power instead of doing it directly. As a god Jashin shouldn't be actually physically present in the real world but residing in his own demi-world most of the time. The available evidence suggests that it requires vastly less power for him to use a mortal priest as a conduit instead of creating an avatar to do it himself. Additionally, direct intervention is far more noticeable than letting a priest use the power indirectly. I have no precise count, but there are more than two dozen entities that qualify as gods or great demons currently in this world, but they are all either sleeping or incapaciated in different ways. Jashin might be loathe to risk them waking up. For that to work Jashin has to anoint priests in a rather time- and energy-intensive progress. On the other hand, that makes these priests extraordinarily dangerous. What does that say about eventual future encounters?"

Hinata smiled. "Always kill the priest first."

"Exactly. That should disrupt any supernatural stuff the priest in question caused in most cases." Youko confirmed. "Full-blown priests who can invoke a god's power at will are a valuable resource. Until there is a formal church who can handle that in an organized manner each one requires personal attention to create. That means each loss hurts and you shouldn't have to fear encountering them in large numbers. Although there will be preachers and the like with somewhat less power they won't pose as much danger."

"Is that why the resurrected fell apart at the end and the survivors lost their powers? Why didn't the priest use a horde of undead in the first place?" Naruto asked.

"Most likely, yes. We are unsure how the scythe ties into all that, but without an active conduit the flow of power was cut off." his father answered. "I don't know the answer to your second question. I suspect it requires too much power for too little gain."

"Why do they need an active conduit? If we cast spells they don't depend on us to function once completed." Hinata wondered.

"Because they don't use normal magic but rely solely on Jashin's divine power. Free magic is only available around Konoha, not anywhere else. Without free magic surrounding and augmenting them those supernatural effects dissipate much more quickly and require constant support. On the flipside, without free magic to use humans are completely dependent on higher beings to grant them power. Like us Jashin seems to produce his own brand of divine magic for personal use and distribution to his followers. The living followers losing access to their strength without the priest might have been a security function." Youko explained.

"Do you have any idea what this group of cultists planned?" Naruto asked.

"I have my suspicions." Daiki waved his hand and the ground between became a detailed map of the northeastern region of the Land of Fire. The information it contained was mostly vague, but the sections Naruto and Hinata had visited personally showed more detail. The path the Jashinists would have been forced to follow and their likely trail had been marked specifically. "What do you see?"

Naruto and Hinata studied the map for a few moments in silence. Finally Hinata spoke up. "There are only small villages with a population between a hundred and four hundred people on that path; most are on the low end. If our information is correct that doesn't change for quite a while further on the way to the Land of Hot Springs. The estate of our client is probably the only really defensible structure in the vicinity. They might have intended to follow the blocked road we used to swing back towards the central Land of Fire, but I doubt it. As soon as you leave the mountains in that direction there is a whole lot of traffic and military presence."

"Almost all of these small villages are self-sufficient and trade is low. One or two merchants a month travel this route, if even that. No military presence on either side of the border in this region." Naruto added. He pointed at one of the regions the Jashinists had probably come from. "If they started here and made their way to the Lands of Hot Springs no one would notice in time to mount a credible defense. That is until they leave the mountains on the other side of the border, but the Land of Hot Springs is weak. We stopped them at around a fourth of the way."

Hinata looked thoughtful. "They wouldn't need to use any supernatural powers to defeat the individual villages. Their numbers, weapons and skill were good enough to take even the bigger villages with hardly any losses."

Youko nodded. "Correct. We believe this group was to act as a one-shot army for a hostile takeover of a small country, most likely Hot Springs, and naturally sacrifice people in the meantime. With four times the strength and speed they would be a threat even to jonin, especially if the opposition is somehow compromised through the priest's power."

"The Village hidden in the Hot Springs is more of a high-class tourist resort than a proper shinobi village if our information is correct. They are still excellent in infiltration, seduction and assassination, but their direct combat strength is low. The country only continues to exist because both the Fire and the Lightning Daimyo prefer for the Land of Hot Springs to act as a buffer between them. They have no non-shinobi army aside from hired guards and the armed retainers of the individual nobles." Hinata added.

"The villages on the way are small, but taken together the population is a not inconsiderable number. At the point you encountered the group they posed a challenge for a team of chunin-level shinobi, but if your sensei's plan had succeeded you could have defeated them easily. If they had been able to follow their route uncontested and increased their speed and strength further it would take at least two teams of combat-experienced jonin to put them down, possibly more. Jonin Hot Springs doesn't have. That doesn't account for possible reinforcements from other sources." Daiki said. "Another possibility is that they were never intended to actually conquer the country. The Land of Hot Springs has several large cities. In their empowered state the cultists could create an incredible bloodbath. It wouldn't be regular sacrifices, but I'm unsure if Jashin can draw power form such large-scale slaughter in another way. Anyway, we believe that these people were created in a rather quick-and-dirty way to collect as much sacrifices as possible in a short timeframe. In my opinion this particular brand of relative immortality clashes with the normal chakra reserves humans have and using it wears the bodies down in a few months. I don't know if Jashin has shinobi among his followers, but using that on them would be a waste of resources in the long term."

Naruto's expression wavered between smugness and gloom for a few moments. "That means that we have just accidentally derailed an important plan. That's good in a way, but on the downside it probably has brought us to Jashin's attention."

His parents shrugged before his mother spoke up. "There's nothing we can do about it now. You and we will have to deal with the consequences in time. As a god Jashin's plans are probably global, so we don't know how important this scheme was for his designs. Most other things we learned are of no immediate practical use for you; we will go over them another time. How is your shinobi training coming along?"

"There's progress, but I told you that already on our last visit. During our missions there isn't really time to train properly. One thing the last battle has shown is that we need to broaden our jutsu knowledge. The fire and earth jutsu we have are a good start but both Hinata and I have far more difficulties with the C-rank jutsu because we lack the proper training in that element. We'll speak with Anko about it at the first opportunity. Otherwise there's nothing new."

The rest of the time in the world of his parents was spent as usual, meaning they split their time between studying magic, chakra techniques and various research projects. On the night of their return to the waking world Naruto's thoughts returned to their mission. "I just hope Yakumo-chan's C-rank goes better." he mumbled half-asleep.

"Naruto-kun, what are the odds that something will go wrong there as well?" Hinata answered before her changed breathing indicated that she had fallen asleep without waiting for an answer.

* * *

><p>"ATTACK!"<p>

Shinji froze for a moment when three bandits sprang out of the bushes and charged at him, but a second later his training took over. Before his conscious mind really caught up with everything he had taken out a shuriken out of his pouch and launched it at the throat of the first man. When his thoughts returned they were cold, calm and crystal clear.

'_One of them down. No time for another distance attack.'_

A man with a scruffy black beard was almost upon him when he fished a kunai from another pouch. It was the easiest thing in the world to duck under an awkward swing of a badly nicked sword, heft the charging man over his shoulder and slice open his belly in almost the same motion.

The third man had been initially hampered in his charge by the death throes of shuriken-stuck-in-throat, but was now coming at him with a look of desperation in his eyes, a raw wooden club raised high. A twist of his body let him evade the strike and put him behind the man. Before the man had time to realize what happened Shinji drew the kunai across the man's throat. He paused a moment to evaluate the situation and determine his next actions.

The first attacker had already died while the third one was choking on his own blood and would be dead in a few seconds. The second one was kneeling on the ground and trying to stuff his spilled intestines back into his belly. He never noticed when Shinji walked up to him and pushed his kunai into the man's skull, killing him immediately. Two other attackers had been dealt with by the three regular caravan guards. There didn't seem to be any more enemies attacking the front of the merchant caravan they had been hired to protect, so he quickly jumped on a tree to the wayside to gain a better vantage point. He could see that over two dozen enemies were coming from the left flank which Ino was supposed to guard. About half as many seemed to attack from the other side, but he was certain Kurenai-sensei would win. The tail of the caravan was out of sight, but Yakumo could probably deal with anything that came up. A quick look around showed him that the front was secured. He had to help Ino; that many enemies were always a threat.

Shinji cursed under his breath while he bounded along the length of the caravan. The damned wind produced so much noise in the trees it had been impossible to discover the ambush beforehand and the client had forbidden them from scouting ahead because he wanted to keep them close.

When he got closer to the battle he saw that his concern had been completely unfounded. The bandits were fighting among themselves; with some of them very obviously not in control of their own bodies. Two were lying death at his blond teammate's feet. One had a senbon needle stuck in his throat and bloody foam around his mouth while the other one had been dispatched by a kunai to the eye. Ino spared him a sidelong glance when he approached her before shifting her attention back to the bandits.

"Help, I can't control my body!" "NO!" "Please stop Kensuke; we have been friends for years!"

After a moment of listening to the cries of the rapidly decreasing number of bandits Shinji tuned them out. Ino had her hands in one of the seals specific to the Yamanaka techniques while the men belonging to the merchant caravan watched with open mouths as the bandits slaughtered themselves. When he saw no immediate threats that Ino didn't have well in hand Shinji relaxed somewhat and took up a defensive position by her side. Suddenly all his normal emotions came flowing back to him and he had to repress the urge to retch.

'_I've killed humans.'_

It wasn't as bad as he had feared, but he had no time to think about it now; combat was still on-going, after all. In an effort to keep his thoughts from the act of killing he paid more attention to Ino. She had a very disturbing gleam in her eyes and a smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth. Up close he could hear her muttering softly. "Dance my puppets, dance."

At the same time some of the bandits seemed to make pirouettes and similar moves until they plunged their weapons into the bodies of their comrades. Shinji gulped. _'Okay; that explains why Ino and Yakumo always looked at me funny when I said Yakumo was scary and I stuck close to Ino.'_

Whenever a controlled bandit fell another seemed to lose control of his body, and soon there was only a single survivor left. That was until the man impaled himself on his own spear. Ino waited a few seconds before she released her technique and took a deep breath.

In that moment a blood-spattered but uninjured Kurenai appeared at their side. After glancing at the battlefield she addressed them. "Report."

Ino calmly gestured to the strip of free land before them. "I took out the main fighting force, sensei. No survivors."

"Five attackers came from the front. I killed three of them; the other two were handled by the normal guards." Shinji said, surprising himself with his steady voice.

Kurenai nodded briskly. "Good. Stay close to me; I don't know the situation at the tail of the caravan and the merchants should be able to deal with stragglers on their own if necessary."

With these word she took off with Shinji and Ino following close behind. When they cleared a bend in the road the end of the caravan became visible. It was horrifying sight and this time Shinji couldn't keep from vomiting. From the looks of the merchants close to the end of the caravan he wasn't the only one who couldn't keep the contents of his stomach down.

Seven bandits had attacked the rear of the caravan. Six of them were lying dead on the ground, their faces contorted in horrifying masks of terror even in death. Four of them had apparently clawed their own eyes out before they died. The lone survivor was sitting on the ground, swaying gently back and forth with drool dripping from his slack mouth. Yakumo was currently examining him critically.

Despite being busy with emptying the contents of his stomach into the ditch at the side of the road Shinji had no trouble hearing the following exchange.

"Yakumo, what happened here?" Kurenai asked.

"Hello sensei. These gentlemen decided to attack us and I used the opportunity to test one of my more… forceful creations. It seems their hearts couldn't keep up and the survivor is unresponsive." Yakumo answered.

Kurenai's voice sounded a bit shaken. "You killed them all with a single genjutsu?"

The answer sounded oddly cheerful. "Yes, I consider it a full success. It probably won't work against shinobi, though, or at least not to the same extent. I developed it from the basic Hell Viewing technique, but it is much stronger, doesn't break due to pain and affects multiple opponents at once. I call it Vision of the Abyss."

Ino's voice chimed in. "There isn't much of a mind left here, Yakumo. I don't think you should use that against anyone we want to keep alive and sane. Oh, and nice work on drawing out the deepest fears from the subconscious. That jutsu is a piece of art."

"Duly noted and thanks. Let's put him out of his misery."

Shinji looked up in time to see that Yakumo had cut the bandit's throat. Kurenai-sensei wore a slightly bewildered expression, but before she could address the girls the blustering caravan master arrived.

"What are you thinking? I paid you for protecting me and you simply take off. If I hadn't such a good heart I would reduce your pay." the almost skeleton-thin man threatened before he continued ranting.

Kurenai's neutral expression never wavered, but Shinji knew her good enough by now to see partially through the mask. She loathed the man, but as their employer she was unfailingly polite and required the same of the genin as long as certain boundaries weren't crossed. It didn't seem likely that they would. The caravan master was a loud and controlling man who was more of a hindrance to their jobs, but according to Kurenai-sensei's words they had to learn to work with uncooperative and simply loathsome clients all the same. From what she told them their current employer was far from the worst and it would leave a black mark on their record if they botched a mission just because the client was insufferable.

"I don't care; we are behind schedule and the weather isn't doing us any favors. Leave their bodies to the animals." the man shouted.

"As you wish, Nobu-sama. I and my team will take the front position to spring any other ambushes." Kurenai answered after receiving a rebuff to her suggestion to take care of the bodies.

Before the man could say anything further she signaled them to follow and left at high speed. Shinji didn't hesitate to follow and neither did the two girls. They split in two teams to scour the woods besides the road for any attacker they had missed, but they didn't find anyone. They met again a few dozen meters in front of the caravan. It would probably take the merchants a few more minutes to get all the carts and animals moving again. After Kurenai had made sure they were all alright they lapsed into silence.

"Who were these attackers, sensei?" Ino asked finally.

Kurenai sighed. "From the looks of it they were once peasants or perhaps citizens of one of the dismantled trade cities. There were several located in this region. In all probability they had the choice between becoming serfs, slaves or going bandit if they didn't want to starve. Obviously they chose the last option, but it didn't seem like they had much success. Their equipment was falling apart and their skills non-existent. Either they didn't see our headbands in time to abort the ambush or were too desperate to care."

Yakumo looked skeptical. "It's been years since the last trade cities have been dismantled. Shouldn't they have been caught or killed earlier?"

Their sensei shrugged. "Perhaps they originated in another region and the military patrols pushed them into this region. Who knows? There always have been bandits, either from greed or necessity. When things went bad around nine years ago their numbers multiplied, but in the last years things slowly returned to a more normal level. Bandits or low-skilled mercenaries are the main threat on most C-rank mission."

"It seems the merchants are ready to move, sensei." Shinji interjected.

The red-eyed jonin looked back at the caravan. "You're right. We will talk later about today's events. Form a perimeter; I don't want to get another surprise like this."

When they made camp that evening Shinji went a short distance into the night to find some peace. The clouds racing over the sky cast rapidly moving shadows on the moon-lit landscape. Sensei had talked with them earlier about their first kills. She had been proud that they all had taken it in stride. Still, he had things to think about.

Shinji had never truly wanted to become a shinobi, but his father had ordered it and so it happened. His mother had died years earlier and he was desperate for any sign of approval. The few times he had seen his father in the last five years Gendo had been distant. He was busy improving his position at the Fire daimyo's court and moving other people around like chess pieces, meaning he paid hardly any attention to his son. Shinji's grades and skills had been utterly average during his academy time, but that had changed when he was assigned to a team with the blond Yamanaka and the brunette Kurama. They had demanded he step up his training far beyond anything their sensei required. He had never found the courage to argue. Ever after Yakumo had used a genjutsu on him he had been deathly afraid of her, but today he had gained several additional valuable insights.

Ino and Yakumo were both terrible monsters who hid their true nature most of the time.

And so was he. A lesser monster perhaps, but a monster nonetheless. Just like all the other shinobi.

But most importantly, monsters had power.

Shinji had never realized it before, but he liked having power over other people. It had been so _easy_ to kill these bandits. He could do everything to them he wanted. If you were powerful no one was able to discount you. Oh, he would never be on top of the heap, he wasn't a big enough monster for that by far and didn't want to be, but there was still a lot of room just beneath the summit. As a shinobi he would be more powerful than the vast majority of the Fire Daimyo's subjects. A valuable chess piece which could easily become a player in time. The lure of power was strong, but he would have to be careful and mind its dangers while accumulating more of it.

A grin spread across his features when he realized who acted just like him and had been for a long time. For the first time in his life Shinji Ikari thought he fully understood his father.

* * *

><p>Unknown to Shinji his two female teammates were discussing him at the same time. Kurenai was safely occupied with the caravan master and would give them a bit of unsupervised time after the day's events.<p>

"Do you think I overdid it with the mental makeover?" Ino asked pensively.

"No, I think you hit just the right spot." Yakumo assured her. "From what I could observe the change was triggered as planned by Shinji's first true life and death situation and is now propagating through his mind. We have to keep a close eye on him for the next few days, but any changes should be easily explainable by his first kill."

Ino let out a small sigh. "I'm still not completely sure I did the right thing. Mind-raping enemies is one thing, but doing it to our teammate?"

Yakumo put a supporting hand on Ino's shoulder. "It was necessary. Shinji wouldn't have survived for long without your help, and that might have killed us, too. There's no denying that he wasn't truly suited to becoming a shinobi. He was just too nice. Forcing him in another way to face reality would have ultimately broken him."

"I guess you're right. I know from his memories that his father would never have accepted him dropping out of the program and he desperately wants to please that man. This was probably the best solution for all involved." Ino leant back and observed the moon in silence.

It had not been an easy decision to secretly mind-rape Shinji, but after almost two months of training together they had come to the decision to do it. In an effort to make it look natural she had planted several packages in Shinji's mind during several sessions that were only now unfolding and rewriting parts of his brain. If anyone ever found out she would be in very deep trouble, but she doubted that anyone would. Only her father and maybe a handful of the most experienced Yamanaka elders would ever be able to discover what she had done and even they would need to perform a very careful deep scan of Shinji's mind in the next two weeks. A scan they had no reason to perform. After that everything would have settled into a stable state that would look like a natural progression from Shinji's earlier character. The main two things she had given the boy were some limited desire for power and some amount of ruthlessness; both of which were necessary survival traits for their profession. Despite what she had done he still belonged to the nicest quarter of shinobi.

'_At least the technique is obscure enough to avoid suspicion. I'm not sure daddy even knows that what I have done is possible. Pity it only works well on rather weak-willed people like Shinji. If I had to overcome a strong will I would have needed weeks of sessions.'_

Long months had passed since ancient Izumi Yamanaka had shoved her memories into Ino's head. It had taken a great deal of time and effort to make them really accessible and it was still an ongoing project that would take years to complete, but it had been worth it. Ino could hardly believe how many techniques and other things had been forgotten over time –accidentally as well as deliberately. She probably knew more Yamanaka techniques than any other Yamanaka alive, even if she still lacked the personal experience and training to make use of most of them. One thing she had noticed was how the Yamanaka of Izumi's time had taken measures to restrict the use of the most horrifying and powerful techniques by embedding artificial compulsions in the pupil's mind when the techniques were taught. If it was not for them Izumi could have easily prolonged her life indefinitely by simply transferring her mind into another body permanently. There existed no such restrictions in Ino's mind. She could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and there was nothing holding her back besides her own sense of right and wrong.

Another thing that was steadily shifting her perspective was the sheer length of Izumi's life. Izumi had seen entire generations come and go. Persons she had only known from history books like the first Hokage or Madara Uchiha had come alive in her acquired memories. The clan wars, the founding of Konoha, the three shinobi wars; it was all there. Granted, most was colored by Izumi's perspective, but Ino was learning much.

The one thing that truly scared her was how easy it was for the world to change when the right kind of pressure was applied. Most people believed the world to be a very stable place, but it was anything but. Nobody alive in the era of the clan wars would have predicted how quickly everything changed after the first shinobi village was established. Granted, things had remained stable since the establishment of the system of shinobi villages around eighty years or so despite shifts in power, but that wouldn't last. Ino doubted anyone in her clan could imagine that Konoha might one day cease to exist. The great villages seemed to be unassailable, standing proud above the minor villages. Even the minor villages were seen as unchanging, despite some of them being destroyed over time. No, her new memories had really driven the point home Naruto had made so long ago after their big investigation. The shinobi world and especially Konoha had become stagnant and complacent. Despite the Circle's efforts it was possible they wouldn't be able to save the village, but they had to try their best. If she had to mind-rape her own comrades to achieve that goal, so be it.

* * *

><p>"I thank you and your pupils for your services, Mitarashi-san. With my nephew's escort now here your contract is fulfilled." Lady Haruka said.<p>

Anko bowed slightly in return before they parted ways. Naruto and his teammates watched the slowly receding forms of the newly reinforced caravan in silence. They had met the thirty soldiers on the last afternoon on the road. After turning their marching column around they had taken shelter in one of the intact villages on their way.

During the week since their encounter with the Jashinists they had made their way through the mountains. They had found several destroyed villages along the way, but interestingly there were no obvious traces of sacrifice ceremonies like the one they had observed. There were dead bodies lying around, but the majority of each village's population was missing. Apparently the cultists had taken care to make it look like some large band of bandits had attacked the villages and either enslaved or driven off the villagers. After a bit of searching Naruto had found a mass grave hidden in the woods near one village, but it had been hidden competently. He hadn't bothered searching near the other destroyed villages.

Once they had reached a valley serving as a junction of five different routes the destruction had stopped. A short exploration of the different valleys confirmed his suspicions. The Jashinists had come from another rarely travelled direction and avoided making any trouble while they were in this more frequented place before departing. In fact, the destruction of many villages along the two routes had apparently stayed completely unnoticed until the shinobi made it known. Naruto doubted it would be more than a footnote for the people outside of the directly affected area. This region was a complete backwater and roving bands of bandits or warlords had done even greater damage in more important areas in the past years.

When Anko turned around to face them her expression was serious. Aside from some relatively short conversations they didn't have time to really talk about the encounter with the cultists, especially because they didn't want their clients to overhear anything. It was better to keep the more unsettling facts about the Jashinists secret for now.

"Okay kids, you can now relax somewhat. Our mission is effectively over and we will be returning to Konoha. This evening we will talk about the details of the mission and what our reports should contain." Anko said before they started their journey home.

After so many days of crawling across the landscape traveling at their usual speed was really a considerable relief in Naruto's opinion. Granted, he and Hinata had spent more than a week in the world of his parents, but because of how the memories integrated their experiences of the real world before the visit appeared still fresh. They advanced at a steady pace, only interrupting their journey for a short break at noon. Only when they made camp for the night the opportunity to really talk arose.

Their normally unflappable sensei seemed to be struggling with something before she inhaled deeply and began to speak. "First off, I want to say that I'm proud of you. Your conduct in a very difficult situation was exemplary and you did far more than anyone could reasonably expect even from exceptionally talented genin of your caliber. You managed to survive despite my failure as your commander." Anko held up a hand to forestall their protests. "I made a grave tactical blunder by splitting the team. That almost led to us being killed. At least two of us should have stayed together at all times."

"But sensei, you couldn't have known what would happen. No one could have foreseen that." Choji objected.

Anko shook her head. "I couldn't be expected to know the cultists' specific powers, that much is true. But what would have happened had there been disguised shinobi among them? Yes, Hinata spied on them and found no indications for that. Nor did I when I observed them. That still doesn't excuse me neglecting the possibility." She sighed. "It if hadn't been for Naruto's special condition we would have died. It should never have come to this; I've been neglectful of my duties. Therefore I want you to think very hard if you want to keep me as your sensei. If you don't want to I will arrange for another jonin to take over."

Naruto couldn't believe his ears and neither could his two teammates judging from their looks of disbelief. Hinata was the first to regain her voice. "Don't say something like this, sensei. Maybe you m-made a mistake; so what? We're all alive and well."

Choji nodded to reinforce the point. "Hinata is right. None of us objected to the plan. It's as much our fault as it is yours."

"You're the best sensei we could wish for. There's no way we would want to swap you for someone else." Naruto added. That was completely true. They had hit the jackpot with Anko and Naruto would be damned if they lost her for such a stupid reason. He wasn't completely sure, but he thought he saw Anko's eyes growing a bit moist upon hearing their reassurance.

"Thank you; that means everything to me." Anko said before she took a deep breath. "Still, my mistake is pretty obvious. I'm not on good terms with the Hokage. He could use that as a pretense to dismiss me from the position of sensei purely as a cheap shot at my mentor. That means we will have to tweak our report somewhat. Let's hear your suggestions."

"Are Jashinists usually like this?" Hinata asked.

"Fanatical? Yes. Immortal and super powered? No. I have heard of one case were the leaders of a cult showed some extraordinary abilities that made them hard to kill, but nothing like this. It is possible that there have been some incidents I don't know about, but it can't be a widespread problem. Heck, even now I don't understand what really happened. These guys were definitely no shinobi or any kind of chakra users I'm familiar with."

"Then we should report it mostly as it happened with some changes." Choji announced. "We omit our initial dispersal and downplay the enemies' strength somewhat. Just that they were a serious danger for a normal genin team. A team of chunin should have been able to dispatch them with little difficulty."

Hinata signaled her agreement. "That isn't far from the t-truth. We are roughly chunin in taijutsu skill. Had we known about the enemies' abilities beforehand things w-would have gone much easier. If the fire jutsu at the beginning would have worked as p-planned there wouldn't have been any problems. The only real individual danger was the c-cultist leader. Had any of us been in range to support you while you kept him b-busy the fight would have been over, Anko-sensei."

"Good. How do you want to handle your use of the Kyuubi's power, Naruto? We already talked about it directly after the battle, but what do you want the official story to be?" Anko asked.

Naruto thought for a moment, weighting the pros and cons of making it known that he could use the tailed beast's power. "I think you should report that I successfully drew on its power in a pitched battle when I had reason to believe my teammates were in mortal danger, but that I managed to stay in control. After that you were forced to explain it to me. The entire mess has been kept secret too long and there might be occasions in the future when I have to use its power in a fashion that wouldn't be believable without me knowing about it."

Anko accepted his decision with a nod. They continued hashing out their report long into the night. The story had to be just right; it still wasn't time for them to reveal their true skills. Anko had reported rapid advancement on their part, but the reports still hadn't caught up with their real strength. The process was stretched out because they steadily got better now that the academy no longer took up a big chunk of their time. The other members of the circle were in a similar situation, but they couldn't count on their sensei keeping things under wraps and their advancement was slowed until they got their non-circle teammates up to speed.

* * *

><p>Mizuki was a bit worried. While he and Anko had regularly spent time together he had never seen her in her current state. She had walked into their favorite bar thirty minutes ago when he was relaxing from the day's work, waved him over to a private corner and after a greeting begun to drink heavily; one shot of strong alcohol after another. By now she had slowed down somewhat and started talking. It wasn't an uncommon sight for a shinobi returning from a mission to get sloshed; the stress involved in their job was at times crushing. Where if not in the safety of the village could a shinobi let his guard down safely? Still, that someone like Anko felt comfortable enough around him to do so instead of remaining at the main bar was a sign of a level of trust that wasn't easy to reach. He had become close friends with Anko over the last few months and really enjoyed spending time with her. Several times he had thought about taking their relationship to a new level, but until now he hadn't acted on that desire.<p>

From what he gathered from her talk his master's team had returned shortly after noon and spent most of the remaining day in the Hokage's office. The reason for that became clearer the more Anko talked. Her last mission sounded more like a horror story than a C-rank. More than once Mizuki glanced around to make sure they remained undisturbed. Some of that information was sure to become classified.

"I almost got them killed and they still want me as their sensei." a drunken Anko announced before hiccupping. "They are the best genin team in the world. I even gave up torturing people for them and acted all professional all the time."

"They are the best." Mizuki confirmed.

Anko continued speaking as if he hadn't said anything, her slurred voice filled with pride. "Cute little Naruto-chan acting so mature at all times; Hinata-chan always dismissed by her clan and keeping her skills and feelings to herself; Choji-chan ever striving to become like his father." For a moment she stared into her cup in silence. "I love them, I truly love them. They are the best thing that could have happened to me. And I almost botched it." Now she sounded almost in tears.

Mizuki was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. The vicinity of a drunken kunoichi of Anko's skill with rapidly changing moods wasn't an especially safe place to be, but he considered her a friend. It wouldn't be right to simply leave. "I'm sure you did all you could."

"My best wasn't good enough. I killed them and they simply stood up again and again. When I finally thought I was winning that bastard priest brought them back again. Without the damned fox we would be all dead." Her voice was now angry. "These wonderful kids were almost killed because I wasn't careful enough. The best of their generation simply snuffed out by some mad cultists. At least the old monkey had to officially acknowledge Naruto's status as you-know-what. He can now tell others about it, but the law stays in effect."

"That's at least something." Mizuki answered. He would have to talk with Naruto-sama at the earliest opportunity. If what Anko said was true his master had come dangerously close to dying. He would have to check if he had any new instructions for him.

"Bartender! Keep the drinks coming!" the purple-haired jonin shouted, startling him from his thoughts. By now she had obviously some trouble staying upright and her speech was becoming even more slurred.

"Don't you think you've had enough drinks today?" Mizuki asked carefully.

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do!" Anko hissed angrily. Mizuki blinked. With a rapid series of thuds something impacted to both sides of his head. He could feel cold metal touching his face and a slight burning sensation on his right cheek. When he opened his eyes Anko had gone back to drinking. He carefully leaned forward before turning around. About a dozen senbon formed an outline of his head on the wooden wall. When he touched his face his finger came back red with a few drops of blood.

Suddenly he heard Anko's voice directly by his ear. "Oops. Sorry Mizuki-kun. Here, let me make it better."

Before he could react in any way Anko draped herself around him. _'How did she move so fast and silently without me noticing?'_ Then she began licking his cheek. It was an oddly erotic sensation, especially with Anko's ample breasts rubbing against his side. Her mesh top and flesh-colored undershirt did almost nothing to block the heat emanating from her. Mizuki let out an undignified squeak when he felt a hand groping his crotch.

"Your blood tastes delicious. Want to have some fun?" Anko purred.

Without waiting for an answer Anko kissed him, taking his breath away. Despite the alcohol-laden breath and her drunken state she was a fabulous kisser. It took him a few seconds to regain his bearings; enough time for Anko to settle firmly in his lap. Immediately afterwards her hands began to wander over his body. Normally he would have taken the opportunity when a beautiful woman wanted to have sex with him, but Anko was drunk and a friend. The first fact alone would have sufficed for him to decline, but together they literally screamed 'Hell, NO!'. She had obviously lost all control of her actions. He didn't want her to do anything in a drunken haze that she might regret later. Or make him regret, for that matter.

Luckily the problem solved itself without requiring further actions on his part as Anko's movements slowed down until she was sitting still, her head nestled against his shoulder and her arms draped around him. Mizuki breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently the alcohol had finally completed its work; Anko had drunk too much too quickly.

'_Crisis averted. Now I have to get her somewhere where she can sleep it off.'_

The only problem was that he didn't know where she lived. In the past months they had mostly met in bars or on the training fields. Not once had either of them visited the other's home. Mizuki pondered the problem for a moment before deciding on a course of action. His small house wasn't far from here. It seemed the best option to take her there. If any additional problems cropped up during the night or on the morning he would be right there to help. His plan set he carefully stood up while stabilizing Anko with his arms. Fortunately she was holding tightly to him, but not so tightly that he couldn't move her.

The bartender sent him a questioning glance when he shifted Anko to his back, but as they were regulars here and had been seen together he didn't seem overly concerned. "Too much to drink after a mission gone wrong. I have her sleep it off at my place. Put the drinks on my tab." Mizuki offered in way of explanation. After receiving a nod in response he made his way out of the bar. Some of the patrons eyed them curiously for a few moments before they returned to their own business. It wasn't that uncommon for shinobi returning from a mission to get carried away, especially in the company of people they trusted.

As soon as he left the building the cool night air hit him in the face, helping him to clear his head. Anko's closeness and earlier ministrations had caused his pants to feel rather tight. Shifting the weight on his back once again he sighed before making his way home. Sometimes it was hard to do the right thing.

* * *

><p>Anko groaned when she awoke. Her head hurt and the sunlight streaming through the window didn't do her any favors. Consciously shoving the pain to the side she took stock of her situation.<p>

'_Okay, I'm in an unknown bed and have a hangover. Somehow that sounds familiar.'_

The last time that had happened several years ago she had woken up in Naruto's apartment, but she had given up on drinking binges after that. Oh, she still drank alcohol, but never enough to become truly inebriated. Well, obviously that had changed last evening. At least she was fully clothed and armed, unlike the situation last time. Additionally the headache wasn't that bad. Tentatively standing up she discovered that she felt relatively fine not considering the hangover and didn't have any trouble moving around. A quick survey of the room yielded a photograph depicting a young Mizuki as part of a genin team. That answered whose house she was in and she relaxed.

She groaned again when she remembered the last evening. After reporting to the Hokage in person (she had to speak with the old man, the events of her last mission made that necessary) a lengthy debriefing had followed. Her concerns about the cultists were noted even if there was nothing that could be done about them. The Hokage wasn't exactly delighted that she had told Naruto and the other two genin about the Kyuubi, but he had acknowledged the necessity. It was the following part that had set her on edge and sorely tested her self-control. Instead of coming clear about everything the Hokage had spun a cock-and-bull story about how the Yondaime wished for Naruto to be seen as a hero, how the villagers disregarded that wish and how he had done everything in his power to protect Naruto in the aftermath. No mention had been made of how it had been the Sandaime who had made Naruto's status known in the first place, that the Yondaime was his father, that the previous jinchuuriki was his mother and several other rather inconvenient facts that called his image as benevolent grandfather into question. The old man never seemed to realize that anyone who wasn't an idiot could poke holes into that story with frightening ease. It was a disgrace how he treated the person whose normal life had been sacrificed to protect the village. Honestly, the nerve of the Hokage! Naturally Naruto had played his role to perfection and never let the Sandaime suspect what he was truly feeling or that he knew who his father was. Heck, Anko would have been deceived too if she hadn't known better.

After dismissing her genin she had only wanted to get one or two drinks before turning in. That decision had been disregarded when she met Mizuki in the bar. She liked the man and he was one of the few people who she could freely talk with about issues concerning Naruto. He had her trust, and that had caused her to let her normally tightly controlled emotions out. The sudden lack of exercised conscious control combined with the alcohol had led to rather extreme behavior on her part. The last thing she remembered before passing out was straddling Mizuki's lap. Well, it seemed she had some explaining to do.

When she looked out of the window she recognized the street as one of the cheaper residential areas of Konoha. The sun had just cleared the horizon, making it early morning. Considering that she had two days for rest and recovery before she was scheduled to meet with her team again there wasn't any sort of rush. Leaving the room she found herself in a small corridor with two doors and a stairway. Behind the first door she discovered a study filled with books and teaching-related materials while the second door led to a bathroom.

She really wanted to freshen up, but first she had to find her host. Descending the stairway she arrived in a corridor with four doors. One was obviously the front door of the house, one was a combined storage room for supplies of both the household and shinobi variety, the third one led into a small kitchen while the last door opened to a living room. It was here that she found her host, sleeping peacefully on a couch. As soon as she stepped inside the room Mizuki's eyes snapped opened and he sat up, but relaxed immediately when he saw her.

"Good morning. Good senses, not many people would have heard me." she greeted him.

"Good morning to you too. I have to thank the brats at the academy for that, they keep me on my toes. I see you're up early. How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Moderate headache and some other hangover symptoms, but otherwise I'm fine. Thanks for your help. I would like to talk about last evening."

Mizuki held up his hand. "Can that wait until after breakfast? I would rather discuss this over a cup of tea."

Anko shrugged. "If you want to. May I use your bathroom?"

"Sure, make yourself at home."

The hot water helped enormously with her hangover. While she had dropped off her backpack at her home when they returned from the mission she still had a sealing scroll with a set of fresh clothing with her. It always paid to be prepared, after all. A black sleeveless shirt and some standard black pants were all she needed aside from some fresh undergarments. Anko decided not to bother with the mesh shirt or her vest today. When she was finished she returned to the living room.

Mizuki handed her a cup of steaming tea as soon as she was seated. "Hangover cure, Naruto gave me the recipe." he explained before disappearing towards the bathroom. Anko used the time to think about what she should say. It had been years since she lost control like that.

'_I let my guard down before I had cooled down enough. Probably because I feel at ease when I'm with Mizuki.'_

They had hit it off well from the start. After their initial meeting due to her investigating her team's… irregularities they had met again three days later. Mizuki was the adult closest to Naruto who she could ask for advice about her blond charge, but after their third meeting she had dropped the pretense. She just plain liked the white-haired chunin's company. They had even trained together a few times and continued meeting with increasing frequency. At the current time he was one of the four people in Konoha she trusted completely aside from her genin, who were in a category of their own. The others were her mentor Homura Mitokado, Ibiki Morino from the Torture & Interrogation department who she almost considered as an older brother and lastly Kurenai Yuhi. She had been friends with her fellow jonin-sensei for years, with occasional additional benefits. Their last intimate episode was already some time in the past; they had both been busy with their teams and neither had yet given up looking for the right man. There were other friends and acquaintances, but none of them were as close. Oh, she had a string of boy toys over the years, but it had always been solely about the sex with them. Her few attempts at genuine relationships had all failed for one reason or another.

It had surprised her how quickly Mizuki had advanced in her trust. If she was truthful with herself she had to admit it was mainly because of his relationship with her students. He seemed to be a kindred soul who was in a similar situation as she had been years ago. Despite his skills his advancement was denied because of unsubstantiated doubts about his loyalty and he had to waste his time at the academy. From what she had seen of his skills he doubtlessly qualified at least for special jonin and judging from the results of him teaching Naruto's study group he would have been much better employed as an elite tutor or jutsu creator. Leaving him stuck teaching children the basics was just a waste of his potential. She had considered taking their relationship further but hesitated each time. Such things could end messily and she didn't want to lose the man's friendship. Well, depending on how the approaching conversation went that might change, one way or another.

When Mizuki returned freshly showered the made idle chat over breakfast. They sat with cups of tea in their hands when her host brought the topic of the last evening up. "What do you remember?"

"I think I remember most things, but it gets fuzzy after a while. How bad did I act?" she asked.

Mizuki shrugged. "I've seen worse from stressed out shinobi returning from a mission gone bad. You threw some senbon at me, but I treat worse cuts at the academy every day when the kids fumble around with sharp weapons. The only other exceptional thing was that you came on to me. A kiss, some groping and then you passed out while sitting in my lap."

"Yes, I remember that. I also remember you didn't reciprocate or took advantage. Why didn't you? Most people would have." she asked before she could stop herself.

The white-haired chunin hesitated. "I can't say I wasn't tempted, but it wouldn't have been right. You are a very desirable woman, but you were not in control. You lost consciousness almost immediately, so my resolve wasn't tested that much. As I don't know where your home is I brought you to my house. "

"You are a sweet man."

Mizuki seemed to flinch almost imperceptibly upon hearing her words. There probably was a story there, but that was for another time. What she now planned could fire backfire spectacularly, but fortune favored the brave, didn't it? Anko leaned towards, giving Mizuki a prime view of her cleavage, moving slightly so that her breasts seemed to bounce. The slightly glazed look of Mizuki's eyes indicated that he found the view very interesting. "If I were to offer you either a few nights of fun now and then, no strings attached, or a chance at a more long-term relationship, what would you take?"

"If I can't have both I would go for the latter." he answered immediately. Then he realized what he had said and shut up.

His expression was so funny that Anko couldn't keep from laughing. When she had laughed enough she wiped some tears away. "At least you're truthful. I like that in a man. Seriously, I like you as a friend and possibly more."

The man shook himself out of his stupor. "I can say the same, but… I'm not sure I'm ready." he said and looked to the side. Following his gaze she saw a small painting depicting Mizuki with a good-looking black-haired woman. She had overlooked the thing before.

"Who is that?" she asked softly.

Mizuki sighed. "That was my lover Tsubaki. She was mortally wounded on a mission almost two years ago. They brought her back, but she died. It hit me very hard. I think I'm ready to move on, but sometimes I'm not sure."

Anko nodded. "I understand. We both have some baggage. There are some things you need to know about me." She tapped the seal on her neck. "My behavior last evening was partly because of this damned thing my erstwhile teacher saddled me with, the Cursed Seal of Heaven. Normally it's inert, but when I'm in emotional turmoil and I relax my control it causes rapid mood swings and magnifies the strength of my emotions. I was rather upset yesterday after leaving the Hokage's office and was still dealing with the emotional fallout from the mission. Normally I would have slowly cooled down before drinking, but, well, as you know that didn't happen. No one knows what the thing is really for, only that it won't be benign. I had a seal master look into it, but he found no way to remove it safely. Even without that seal I have my faults. I like torturing people a bit too much, have a short temper and I am rather bloodthirsty. A chance to kill my teacher might cause me to act irrationally. Oh, and I'm rather addicted to dango."

"Really? I heard some rumors about your earlier conduct, but I never got that impression from you." Mizuki said, frowning.

"That's because I've learned to control myself. At times I acted rather juvenile, but a few years ago I decided to turn my life around. Still, if you want it to work between us you will have to deal with that side of me." Anko responded.

Mizuki seemed to think about that for a minute. "I think I can deal with it. Now it's my turn. The most important thing is that no matter what I will always stand by Naruto. I don't see it becoming a problem, but you should know."

That was curious. "How can a young boy produce such loyalty?

Mizuki got a faraway look. "Naruto prevented me from making a terrible, foolish mistake. It will probably make you think less of me, but I seriously considered joining Orochimaru at a time. My skills were much weaker than they are now and there just didn't seem to be a future for me in this village. I was willing to throw everything away for a vague promise of wealth and power."

Anko was silent for a moment while she processed that. It wasn't anything she would have suspected, but that was why they were talking about it. Normal people might consider such talk before dating rather strange, but almost all adult shinobi had at least some psychological scars or issues. The clan shinobi were generally better off because the clan acted as a support network, but it was different for the non-clan shinobi. It was pretty much an inofficial standard procedure to talk about potential problems in a rather blunt manner before starting dating. Sex was just sex, and it usually carried only few if any emotional significance most of the time. Genuine relationships were different. Considering the countless ways shinobi could kill each other and how much collateral damage they could cause it was vitally important to learn if there existed any insurmountable issues before entering an emotionally invested relationship. It could get very, very ugly otherwise.

"Go on." she said neutrally. In the past the revelation that Mizuki had considered aiding her traitorous teacher might have sparked a violent outburst, but he had said that he didn't go through with it. It wouldn't have been fair to hold it against him anyway, Orochimaru could be extremely persuasive.

Mizuki shrugged. "There isn't much to say. Hinata and Naruto discovered what I was doing and prevented me making contact in the first place. Then they threatened me into helping them with their extracurricular activities which later led to the study group."

She looked at him disbelievingly. "They blackmailed you?"

"At first they did, and it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Later on I realized how stupid I was to even consider joining Orochimaru." he said.

Anko nodded slowly. "I think I can deal with that. Anything else?"

A shadow seemed to fall on Mizuki's face and his voice became full of hate. "If I ever encounter the traitor Aoi Rokusho I will kill him in the slowest and most gruesome way possible. He is the man responsible for Tsubaki's death." Mizuki's expression returned to his normal pleasant state. "I'm not aware of any other bad habits. Some thirst for power, respect and glory, but I have it under control."

"All of that is understandable and not a problem for me. I say we give it a try but take it slowly just to be on the safe side. I don't want to ruin our friendship if this doesn't work out." she announced.

"Gladly. How about we find a nice restaurant tomorrow evening? I would say today, but I still have some tests of the academy students to correct." Mizuki proposed.

She favored him with a smile. "That's fine with me."

* * *

><p>Hinata frowned slightly when she tried different clothes from her wardrobe. Many of them were becoming rather tight in the chest area. While she was rather happy about the state of her developing assets they did cause her the occasional problem.<p>

"He is just so irritating and makes me look bad." Hanabi whined, interrupting her thoughts.

With a sigh Hinata turned around to face her little sister who had spent the last twenty minutes complaining about one of her classmates. From all accounts Konohamaru Sarutobi was an irresponsible troublemaker who reminded her of what Naruto might have become without the influence of his parents.

"If he gets so much on your nerves why d-did you agree to your sensei's offer in the first place?" Hinata asked earnestly.

"It seemed so easy at the time. Mizuki-sensei said it was a reward for my superior skills and I should see it as a valuable learning experience. I just can't get him to take the academy seriously. He's always goofing off and doing some stupid pranks." the girl grumbled.

Hinata shrugged. "Then cut your l-losses and concede that you can't rein him in."

In response Hanabi looked away while mumbling something unintelligible about not giving up and set her jaw in a rather stubborn manner. Hinata had to hide her smile at the cute display. It had been an unexpected move on Mizuki's part to pair Hanabi with the Hokage's grandson, but she couldn't argue with the results. The boy had the ability to get under her sister's skin like no other, but Hanabi's pride wouldn't let her give up. It certainly served to fuel her temper and stubbornness, both traits that were very useful in countering the usual Hyuuga conditioning and made her life much livelier. Still, a little sisterly advice might be called for.

She sat down besides her sister and put her arm around the girl's shoulders. "Look, if he d-doesn't listen to you, you have to enforce your will in another manner. If he skips class drag him back physically. Sabotage his p-pranks. Force him at fingerpoint to do his homework. Juuken him if he goofs off, but don't really h-hurt him. Just enough to show him who's the b-boss."

Hanabi looked thoughtful for a moment before she grinned in a rather disturbing manner. "Thanks for the advice; I will do that. You're the best, big sister."

Hinata shook her head when Hanabi ran out of the room and returned to sorting through her wardrobe. Considering how easily things got damaged during missions or training she would have to go shopping soon. It was a pity that Ino and Yakumo were still away on their first C-rank mission. Even Asuka's team had left, but she didn't know her that well in any case. Only Team 7 was still in Konoha and from what she had seen with her byakugan doing some inane teamwork exercises.

An hour later Hinata arrived at their usual training ground with Choji and Naruto already waiting for her. After greeting them she approached the nearby river and took control of several liters of waters. Her water manipulation had proven rather useful and she wanted to use every opportunity to train. Choji and Naruto began a light spar while she occupied herself with rapidly shifting the position and form of her watery construct. Five minutes before the agreed upon time their sensei came into view when she jumped down from a tree. Her male teammates stopped their spar and she shifted the water into a ball hovering above her right shoulder.

After a moment of examining them Anko plopped down on the grass and indicated for them to sit down. When they had all settled down she began speaking. "I see you're early as usual and already training. Good work, but don't overdo it. Now that we have dealt with the nastiness of the last mission it's time to take stock. In the past months I taught you the ropes of shinobi life. You have gotten some much needed practical experience and we brought your taijutsu up to chunin level. The question is how you want to proceed further. Konoha will host the next chunin exams. What are your thoughts about that?"

"It's too early for us to participate." Naruto said immediately. "We are still learning what a genin's duties are."

"I agree. Besides, we w-would have to reveal too much of our skills." Hinata added.

Choji spoke up last. "We probably could make a good showing, but there are always deaths and crippling injuries. Too much to lose for too little gain at this time. It's better for us to increase our skills further and simply blow through another exam in the future."

Anko nodded. "I agree with your reasoning, but I wanted you to know that you have that option. On to the next matter. In what direction do you want to develop your skills aside from what we've done until now? I have some ideas, but I want to hear your opinion."

"We have too few jutsu." Choji said. "The ones we know are a good base, but we need more flexibility. I'm almost finished with mastering my fire affinity and would like to incorporate it into my fighting style. My priority would be defensive jutsu that allow me to better take hits. Otherwise I would like lessons about creating and maintaining spy networks and information handling."

Their sensei looked thoughtful. "I have a strong fire affinity like you Choji, but I use it solely to make my ninjutsu more efficient. Aside from my primary element I have mastered earth and lightning and I'm working on wind. Most of my jutsu are fire or relate to infiltration and assassination, but I do know some for my two secondary elements. What about you, Naruto?"

"I've already mastered my wind and lightning affinities. Currently I'm thinking about commissioning a weapon made from chakra metal, but it is very expensive. Even with the loot and increased pay from the last mission I don't have enoguh considering my other expenses. One more C-rank should give me enough money, though. I ruined most of my weapon load when I tried to use chakra flow during our last mission, so I need further lessons in that. Depending on what jutsu you are willing to teach me I want to start on creating my own combat jutsu, sensei." Naruto answered.

"Okay, that's reasonable. Hinata?"

"If y-you can keep it secret I would appreciate tutoring by a m-medic-nin. I'm as g-good as I'm going to get without the help of a professional." Hinata gestured to the ball of water. "As you c-can see I'm working on pure water manipulation. With N-Naruto's help I want to try and create my own jutsu if you haven't any you can t-teach me. Lastly, I want to k-know more about infiltration in u-urban environments."

Once again Anko nodded. "Finding a medic-nin who will train you anonymously might prove difficult, but I'll see what I can do. Some things I might be able to teach you myself, but my medical knowledge is mostly first aid and application for torture. I can't help you with the water jutsu, sorry, but infiltration training is no problem. This is what I've come up on my own…"

They continued planning their training for the next hour before their sensei gave them some practical demonstration of enhancing her dagger with chakra before she let them all try their hand at it. It was quite educational, but only Naruto managed anything close to what it should have been.

"I mainly use pure chakra to generally reinforce the dagger, never found a teacher who taught me how to do it with elemental chakra. Asuma would be the best man out of the current jonin-sensei, but I don't know if he would be willing to teach someone not belonging to his team." Anko explained. She glanced at the position of the sun. "If you don't have any questions I say we return to Konoha to eat something. After that you can accompany me to the library when I search for genin-level jutsu that might interest you. I have the clearance for that, but I don't know how useful these things will be. Any objections? Good, let's go. Today's Naruto's turn for choosing the restaurant."

"Ramen at Ichiraku's!" he shouted immediately to the chuckles of the rest of the team.

* * *

><p>A bandaged man was sitting behind a desk in a nondescript room somewhere deep below Konoha. He didn't react in any way when a young man walked into the room and deposited a stack of reports on his desk. His expression never wavered during his reading, but suddenly he stopped and his one visible eye widened slightly.<p>

"Interesting."

The man stood up and retrieved several files from a cabinet. After doing so he looked at the ceiling, deep in thought.

_'So the boy can function as a weapon and is able to maintain control of his beast. This is unexpected, but not unwelcome. The team's skills are far above normal. It seems I underestimated my old colleague.' _

Originally he had thought Homura's insistence of getting his protégé Anko Mitarashi the position of jonin-sensei was just a normal political move among countless others. In light of these new reports it seemed it was anything but. Mitarashi and the academy instructor who had given them the opening to prevent the jinchuuriki of being assigned to Kakashi obviously had a close relationship, a fact he hadn't been aware of before. It was a very interesting puzzle piece. Each individual fact was innocent, but taken together the picture was clear. Homura had enacted a brilliant long-term plan to gain control of the jinchuuriki and train him as best as possible right under all their noses while including the heirs of several great clans. Mitarashi had obviously been groomed as his right hand and handpicked to teach the jinchuuriki. The political power his fellow elder might gain that way was worrying, but it would serve the village if he succeeded in turning the boy into a strong asset. Everything that served to strengthen Konoha was a welcome development.

"Maintain your outlook for relevant facts concerning that matter. Do not spy on any of the genin or their jonin." he said to a seemingly empty room before returning to perusing reports.

He would have liked to get more first-hand information, but he wouldn't risk the discovery of one of his operatives. No, watching everything from afar and following the various paper trails would have to be enough for the moment. He would only intervene if the situation called for it, but some parts of his long-term plan might have to be amended.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> It lives! Sorry for the long delay, but recently I have less and less time to write. Things will probably continue at a rather slow pace for the foreseeable future.

Story progress: We will reach Wave either in the next chapter or the one after that. Then things will move towards the chunin exams with one other mission beforehand.


	21. Chapter 20: Making progress

Disclaimer: By now it should be obvious that I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 20: Making progress**

Kurenai let out a small content sigh when she slid into the water of the hot spring and relaxed. She and her team had returned this morning from their mission, finished all the usual after-action business before noon and now she had two and a half days to herself. Although she liked teaching her group of genin it was very different from her life before she became a jonin-sensei. Sometimes she secretly wondered if she was truly ready to take over a team; she hadn't been a jonin that long in comparison to her fellow team leaders. Kakashi had been a jonin since the middle of the third shinobi war while Asuma had around seven years under his belt. Even her friend Anko had achieved promotion to full jonin more than two years ago and had her beat by one and a half years. That didn't even count the years Anko had spent as special jonin. Still, the opportunity had been too good to pass up.

In her opinion her team was coming along fine, both Ino and Yakumo were more skilled than she had expected from fresh genin and were improving at a rapid pace. They had even managed to drag Shinji along with them. Originally she had grave doubts about the boy's suitability for shinobi life, but after his first kill on the last mission he was changing for the better. It appeared all he had needed was a wake-up call. Still, something bothered her about her two girls. At times they just seemed too skilled and she couldn't get rid of the suspicion that they held part of their skills back and that there was a whole lot going on that was kept from her. On the other hand they hadn't given her any reason to openly doubt them and they were both clan heirs, even if the Kurama clan no longer existed. Above average skills were to be expected, really, and from what Anko, Asuma and Kakashi said the clan heirs on their teams were very skilled, too.

With a shake of her head Kurenai dismissed these thoughts. She had come here to relax in peace, not to worry about her team or her teaching capabilities. At this time of the day the hot springs were mostly empty and she had her pool to herself. Positioning her towel under her head she leant back and closed her eyes. Soon the comfortable warmth was causing her to doze off and her mind drifted in blissful nothingness for a while.

The slight splash of a body entering the pool caused her to become fully awake again and to open her eyes. Sitting on the opposite side of the pool Anko was grinning at her. "Hey Kurenai-chan. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Hello Anko-chan. No, I don't mind. How did you know I was back?" Kurenai asked.

"Hinata saw you this morning when you passed through the woods near our training ground while she was training with her byakugan. Since I already had a self-study session scheduled for this afternoon and I know you prefer to visit the hot springs whenever you return from a mission I decided to look for you. How did your team's first C-rank go?"

Kurenai pressed her left hand against her brow. "Don't remind me. The client was an obnoxious idiot; the caravan we were guarding ran into an ambush by bandits because he forbade us from scouting ahead. I should have ignored him, but he is a regular client. They caught us individually. I feared the worst, but my genin exceeded my expectations. "

"Really? What did they do?" Anko inquired curiously.

"Shinji had the least enemies to deal with and he managed his first kills without problems. I must confess I expected more problems with him judging from his track record. Instead the entire event seems to have worked as a wake-up call. He's still far behind the girls, but now he has the right mindset." She hesitated a moment. "Ino used some clan jutsu to make the bandits fight among themselves. She managed to take out the main bandit force all by herself."

Anko let out a low whistle. "Now that's impressive. What about your third pupil?"

"Yakumo killed her share of the bandits with a single genjutsu. I'm not sure if she developed it completely on her own or if she took some parts from her clan's techniques, but it was devastatingly effective." Kurenai shook her head contemplatively. "It caused six adult and generally healthy men to see something so terrifying that their hearts gave out. There was one survivor, but his mind was completely broken."

"Wow, she sure sounds like a genjutsu prodigy."

Kurenai nodded. "She is. I have more than a decade of experience on her, but I can't match her raw talent. In a few years' time she will surpass me in all likelihood. I would have liked for them to wait with their first kills for a few months, but they took it in stride."

Her friend shrugged. "You know my opinion on the matter. If they are genin they should be able to kill. The earlier they find out if they can't the better."

It was an old point of contention between them. Anko despised what she saw as counterproductive coddling of the young genin, but Kurenai was hesitant to burden the children with too much too soon. Well, the matter had been resolved for her team and she saw no reason to dwell on it. "How about your team? Did everything go well on your last mission?"

Anko's face lost the cheerful expression. "It was a nightmare. We almost died." After making sure there was no one who could overhear them she launched into a detailed recount of her mission in a low voice.

Despite the warm water Kurenai couldn't suppress a shiver. Encountering unexpected problems was a depressingly frequent occurrence, but it was seldom as bad as what had happened to her friend. When the tale came to an end she was silent for a moment. "Naruto really used 'it'? And you had to explain it to him and the others?"

"Yeah, I could hardly tell them that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. They had a clear view and the fox's chakra is rather unique. I tell you the Hokage wasn't happy about it. It's not the first time I have wondered what the old man is thinking. Considering that apparently no one knew if and how Naruto could use the fox's chakra it would have been far safer to tell him about it years ago; at the graduation at the latest. Now it appears emotional stress is the key. It could have ended very messily if Naruto had lost control. How were the chances that a boy of almost thirteen years could control the power of an ancient demon on his first try without any idea what was happening?" Anko asked.

Kurenai snorted. "Not bloody likely."

"And still he did it somehow. He said it was quite the power trip, but he managed to control the bloodlust and rage. We were really lucky. Anyway, Choji and Hinata have accepted the true story without problems. I imagine Naruto will tell Yakumo and possibly Ino and Shinji about it at the next opportunity. The law stays in effect, but he can tell others." Anko explained.

Nodding her head in acknowledgement Kurenai thought about the implications of that. Before this development it had been straightforward who knew about the fox. Now though it would get increasingly uncertain. "This complicates matters. I can understand keeping it secret for a short time to give Naruto the opportunity to tell his friends in person, but wouldn't it be better to repeal the law? I mean most adults know already and it isn't exactly difficult for foreign spies to connect the dots."

Anko shrugged. "That's the Hokage's decision and we have to abide by it." She looked around for a moment, apparently making sure that no one was nearby before she scooted over to Kurenai. "Listen, I have a favor to ask from you. Do you know a medic-nin who would be willing to train Hinata? We have to keep it secret because her father has an entire tree stuck up his ass about her only learning the Gentle Fist. I know no one who I can trust with this."

Kurenai tapped a finger against her lips thoughtfully. "I think I can help you there. I do know a trustworthy medic-nin who owes me a big favor. Even better, she doesn't work at the main hospital. In exchange I want you to teach Yakumo and Ino about fire and earth jutsu respectively. I would do it myself, but you know I'm almost useless with elemental ninjutsu."

"Deal. I have around two weeks for training before I plan to head out again. Our last mission pay was upgraded to B-rank and we collected a good amount of loot, so there is no pressing need to go immediately on another mission."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while and Kurenai's thoughts began to drift aimlessly until they settled on the matter of relationships. Or rather the lack thereof. It had been a while since she had gotten laid the last time. Perhaps Anko was interested in reviving the 'with benefits' part of their friendship. Tentatively she placed her hand on her friend's thigh.

A few seconds later Anko gently removed her hand. "Sorry Kurenai-chan, I'm currently seeing someone."

Kurenai nodded in acknowledgement, suppressing a pang of disappointment. While they occasionally shared a bed they never did it while one of them was dating someone else. "Another boy toy or something serious?"

"Serious. I think it just might work out this time. He's a very sweet man. We've know each other for a few months but we've started dating only a few days ago. It's too early to tell if it will really work out long-term."

"I wish you good luck. I'm still searching." For a while Kurenai had thought there might be something between her and Asuma, but by now she had recognized that while the man flirted with her he didn't seem to harbor any real desire for a relationship. Well, there was nothing she could do about that.

* * *

><p>With a slight puff of smoke that was nearly invisible in the omnipresent mist the sealing scroll divulged it contents; a small heap of black dust. From behind obsidian eyes an inhuman intellect examined it carefully before probing it with additional otherworldly senses. After ascertaining that the dust constituted no danger he began studying it in earnest.<p>

"How unusual."

* * *

><p>Hana Inuzaka was in a pensive mood when she left the veterinary clinic after her shift ended. She didn't have far to go; the relatively new clinic was practically an annex of the Inuzaka clan compound. It had just seemed practical to relocate the clinic here after the original building had been damaged irreparably in an explosion a few years ago. The Inuzaka dogs were the largest chunk of their patients, after all.<p>

She had hardly entered the compound when her three canine partners greeted her enthusiastically. "Down boys, I'll right back. I just need to change my clothing before we can go for a run." The three dogs immediately backed off and allowed her to approach her house.

The usually noisy compound was rather quiet at the moment because most people were sitting down for dinner. Having been fed earlier most dogs were napping until the human part of the clan returned from their meals. Unfortunately there was no dinner waiting for Hana. Her mother and her little brother were away on missions, meaning the house was empty. If everything went as planned she would get something to eat later. Quickly changing out of her medic-nin uniform into more practical attire she stopped for a moment to consider what reading material she should take along to the meeting. After a moment of thought she decided to pack some of the advanced texts. Even with them her bag wasn't that heavy and they might prove useful.

When she left the house again her partners were already waiting for her. "I've to meet someone in the woods. We can use that to get some training in. What do you say, boys?"

The enthusiastic barks left no doubts about her partners' willingness. As soon as she left the gates of the compound Hana began to run. Occasionally she took to the roofs with her three dogs following faithfully behind. She didn't need to pay much attention to where she was going, by now she knew most travel routes rather well. With her conscious mind free to pursue other avenues her thoughts returned to the impending meeting. The reason for her pensive mood was that she had been asked to tutor a young kunoichi in the use of medical jutsu. That alone wasn't that unusual in and of itself. Despite her long absence from the village Tsunade of the Sannin still served as a role model for many of the young females of each generation who dreamt of becoming a famous medic-nin. Unfortunately most young kunoichi lacked the necessary seriousness and either gave up after a few weeks or had to be kicked out. Becoming a medic-nin was a long, hard and arduous process with a lot of responsibility, not a place for young girls to chase their daydreams.

No, the first unusual part of the request was that the tutoring had to be done in secret. Frankly, Hana couldn't think of a reason for that. Medic-nins were a respected profession. Why would anyone need to keep that under wraps? She didn't know much more than that her prospective pupil was female and not on Kurenai's team.

The second unusual fact was that Hana had been asked to do the tutoring. While she was a fully qualified medic-nin she preferred to work with animals, not humans. It was far less glamorous and one received far less recognition for that. In fact it was the first time anyone had asked her for tutoring and it had come as no small surprise when her friend Kurenai brought it up yesterday. That the intended pupil wasn't one of her own genin wasn't that unusual though; if people called in favors from other people it could cause quite the chain reaction until everything worked out.

'_I really, really hope the kid isn't like so many others. Well, I'll have to test her knowledge and skills extensively before I let her anywhere near my patients.'_

It didn't take long at all to leave the city zone of Konoha behind and enter the woods. Despite her empty stomach she enjoyed the run greatly after a long day in the veterinary clinic. The Haimaru triplets seemed to share that enjoyment. She really had to do that more often, but ever since she had taken over the job at the clinic there were fewer and fewer occasions to run and train. After a few minutes of running she finally arrived at the agreed upon meeting place. Awaiting her were Kurenai, a purple-haired kunoichi and a young Hyuuga girl. Four skewers of meat were cooking above a fire. From the looks of it several skewers had already been eaten and the scents of two additional girls and three boys still lingered in the air.

'_The girl has to be the one. Unusual, I've never heard of a Hyuuga taking up the profession of medic-nin.'_

Kurenai took over the introductions. "Hana, this is my friend Anko Mitarashi and her pupil Hinata. Say hello to Hana Inuzaka and her three partners."

After they exchanged greetings Kurenai excused herself, leaving Hana alone with Anko and Hinata. Hana knew Anko due to her reputation, but they had never been on missions together. She vaguely remembered Kiba talking about his classmates, but aside from 'shy and cute' she didn't have much information about Hinata. Anko motioned for them to sit down and handed Hana one of the skewers.

"So, you want me to teach Hinata here about medicine? Why all this secrecy?" Hana asked between bites.

To her surprise it was Hinata who answered. "My clan d-doesn't approve of anything other than the G-Gentle Fist, but I like to learn o-other things. I've already learned m-many things in self-study, but I'm at a point where I need help of s-someone knowledgeable in the subject."

"Hinata here is already very good; she patched us together during our last mission. She's already past anything I can teach her in that area. We hope that you can help her in this regard." Anko added.

The Inuzaka mulled that over for a moment. The argument certainly sounded reasonable, but she would have to check things for herself. It wouldn't have been the first time that someone embellished a pupil's abilities. "Before I agree to anything I would like to test Hinata's knowledge and skills. I trust you have no objections?" she asked.

"No, I would expect nothing less." the jonin answered. "If you don't need me for anything I'll leave you two alone; I have to look after the rest of my team. It will take me around two hours to return."

"That's no problem. Should we finish earlier I'll train a bit until you're back." Hana replied. After Anko disappeared into the woods she turned to the Hyuuga girl. "Now Hinata, what do you know about…"

Hana was in a daze when Hinata left for her home after about two hours, her thoughts running wild in her head. She still hadn't completely caught herself when Anko returned.

"Sorry I'm late; had to take care of something. Well, how did it go?" the purple-haired kunoichi asked.

Looking at her without really seeing her Hana replied with another question. "When can she start at the veterinary clinic?"

"Pardon?"

Shaking herself out of her stupor Hana managed a more coherent response. "Sorry, I'm still overwhelmed. Hinata is good, and I mean really good. I didn't reach her level until about a year of studying after I did the entrance test for medic-nins. To think she achieved that purely in self-study… She could take the test now and the guys at the main hospital would welcome her with open arms. Oh, there are holes in her knowledge of advanced fields, but she is far better than I expected. I would be honored to help her improve her skills."

Anko nodded while smiling brightly. "Very good. I assume you already have found a way to keep everything secret?"

"Not completely. It would make everything just too complicated, but we found a compromise. Hinata will have to check things with her clan, but apparently only the learning of techniques requiring medical chakra is outright frowned upon by the Hyuuga. Mixing of medicine, operating conventionally and things like that are seemingly allowed. Officially I will only tutor her in those skills, but unofficially she will get the full training."

It didn't take long for them to hash out a schedule for the next two weeks. When Hana returned to her home she was very glad that Kurenai had called in the favor she owned her in that manner. Teaching a capable pupil was its own reward, but considering Hinata's level of skill they could get to the interesting subjects with only a cursory review of the basics. It was a shame the girl would be away on missions and other training so often. Hana would have preferred having her permanently on staff.

'_Oh well, I can't get everything I want.'_

* * *

><p>Kiba was happy; tired but happy. They had just completed their first C-rank missions without any problems. In fact, the mission had been rather boring, but at least he had been out of the village for a time. After creeping through the valleys and forests of the western Land of Fire to search for bandit camps he looked forward to sleeping in a real bed again. They had even travelled during the night to arrive in Konoha this early; they just had to deliver their report and he could return to his home. Akamaru was already napping in his jacket. Kiba wished he could do likewise, but as a shinobi he had to stay alert at all times.<p>

He could hear angry voices coming from the room down the hallway. Apparently someone was causing a scene in the mission office and delaying everything. When he got closer he could identify the shrillest of the voices; it was unambiguously belonging to Sakura Haruno. The lower, deeper voice of Sasuke Uchiha added to the picture and a faint "Troublesome." completed it.

A few seconds later Team 7's sensei emerged from the room, his eyes glued to the orange book in his hand. His free hand gave a lazy wave to Asuma-sensei before he passed them. A scruffy-looking grey-haired man followed behind him; the overpowering stench of cheap sake that surrounded him had Kiba wrinkling his nose in disgust. The three genin of Team 7 were the last to emerge. Sasuke ignored them, but Sakura and Shikamaru greeted them with a nod. Normally Kiba would have used the opportunity to tease Sasuke a bit, but at the moment he was just too damn tired.

"What a disgusting old man." Asuka muttered as soon as they were out of earshot. "It's only midmorning and he's already drunk. I'm glad we don't have him as our client."

"Yeah, I don't think me and Akamaru could stand to be around him." Kiba said.

"I agree. That would be unpleasant." Shino added.

Asuma-sensei didn't comment.

* * *

><p>Anko was in a pretty good mood when she perused the available missions in the mission office together with her genin. The past two weeks had been very productive for all of them. Teaching Kurenai's team about elemental jutsu had been a joy; Ino and Yakumo were just as good students as her own team. Shinji's performance was weaker, but still acceptable. Still, something was strange about the boy. During the first week there seemed to be little personality shifts and his two female teammates watched him attentively the entire time. That meant she wasn't imagining things, but during the second week he seemed stable.<p>

'_Probably an aftereffect of his first life-and-death battle. Such things happen and the changes seem to be positive.'_

It was funny to see how her friend Kurenai was astonished about the girls' progress. Apparently she still hadn't figured out what was going on with her two female pupils. Anko felt a little bad about keeping that knowledge from her friend, but she wasn't about to disappoint her team's trust. Besides, some lessons Kurenai had to learn on her own and she hadn't asked her. It was important that Kurenai learned to recognize small inconsistencies, investigate and draw conclusions on her own without prompting. Such things were necessary at their rank; seeing underneath the underneath and all that crap.

Her own team was coming along nicely, too. Hana was raving about Hinata's medical skills and wanted to keep her indefinitely, which wasn't going to happen. Anko had far too much fun teaching the girl about infiltration and her work with water manipulation was very impressive, too. Naruto and Choji had the least obvious progress to show for their efforts, but that didn't say much. Choji had only yesterday reached a level with his elemental training that his fire element could be considered mastered; an impressive feat at his age. Most people only really mastered their primary element after three or four years of shinobi life, not a few months. Naruto was still working hard on the development of his own ninjutsu techniques. The boy had decided to concentrate on lightning techniques first, making it possible for Anko to help him somewhat. There just weren't enough wind users around that he could ask for help. It wasn't a quick process by any means, but according to Mizuki it never was. Considering their close relationship it was no wonder that the white-haired chunin helped Naruto as good as he could without neglecting his work at the academy. When Anko visited his house one evening she had found Mizuki and Naruto engrossed in an in-depth conversation about jutsu crafting that she could hardly follow. Anko had been able to observe them for several minutes before they noticed her and Naruto excused himself after giving Mizuki a thumbs up.

'_Well, I never expected to keep my relationship with Mizuki secret for long. At least none of them seem to have any problems with me dating their old academy teacher.'_

Now though it was time to head out again. "How about this one?" Choji asked while handing her a mission description. After three missions she had picked it was time for her genin to choose the next one. Their choices would tell her much about their own estimation of their skill level.

Anko scanned it quickly. "Looks promising. Let's see what the others come up with." Choji had picked a mission to track down and annihilate a group of bandits that had made a nuisance of themselves by attacking a tax collector. The government took a dim view of such activities. It looked like a straightforward search and destroy mission that was well within the capabilities of the team.

Naruto and Hinata were still looking through the available missions when a chunin with several scrolls in his arms appeared from the direction of the aviary. The scrolls were quickly dispersed to the people working in the background and Anko could see a messenger leaving for the jonin standby station.

Then one of the chunin on duty called her over to his desk. "Mitarashi-san, we have a time-critical missing person case here. There is a possible follow-up mission to bring the perpetrators to justice included if it turns out to be abduction. We are currently a little short on ready genin teams with tracking capability and the mission doesn't really justify dispatching a jonin´or a group of chunin. Do you want to take it?"

"Where is it located and who is the client?" Anko asked.

The chunin handed her the scroll. The client was the mayor of one of the mid-sized harbor towns on the east coast of the Land of Fire. His granddaughter had gone missing about two days ago, taking in account the travel time of the message. Anko thought about it for a moment. The mission wasn't especially interesting, but they would get to see the ocean. Familiarity with new types of terrain was always useful and they could stay a few days after the mission was completed. She could always let the genin pick the mission after that.

"Okay, we take it." She turned to her genin. "I want to see you at the eastern gate in twenty minutes. Let's go!"

It did take only fifteen minutes for them to assemble and move out. As soon as they were underway Anko briefed her genin on the particulars of the mission. "I don't have a lot of details, but time is critical for missions like this. I know we dealt with a missing person case just two missions ago, but we were the most qualified team available that wasn't complete overkill. Do you understand why I took it?"

Hinata was the one who answered. "If y-you didn't take the m-mission an overqualified team would have been assigned. They would then b-be unavailable for missions that require a higher skill level."

"Correct. There are some genin teams that would have qualified, but they generally have lower chakra reserves than you have and wouldn't be able to travel as quickly as we. The sooner we get there the better." Anko replied.

The route to the east coast was mostly easily traversable terrain and they arrived on the evening of the second day of their mission. Her genin acted suitably impressed when they first laid eyes on the eastern ocean. It was a pretty sight with the evening sun glittering on the waves, but they soon resumed their journey. The sun was touching the horizon when they arrived at their destination. Anko had never been to this particular harbor town. It was of middling size with a small garrison and seemed completely unremarkable; neither especially rich nor especially poor. A short chat with the gate guards later the team was approaching the mayor's mansion.

Her trained eye immediately noticed the strange mood the servants and guards seemed to be in. Some were angry, but the majority was gloomy. After announcing their presence a butler led them into the mansion after a perfunctory greeting. From the looks of it the interior decoration was in line with what she expected the official of such a town could afford without corruption. It was always nice to work for honest people. They were ushered into a meeting room to await the arrival of the mayor.

"What do you think is all that about, sensei?" Naruto asked.

Anko shrugged. "No idea. Could be that all these people are angry about the disappearance of the girl we have been hired to find, but there seems to be more to it. We'll have to wait until the client talks to us."

It was almost a quarter of an hour later when a middle-aged, muscular man wearing the uniform of the imperial army entered the room. Unfortunately he wasn't their client but the local commander of the small army detachment and the harbor guard.

"Can you tell us anything about why we are here? The information in the mission request was rather vague." Anko asked.

The man sighed. "It is not really my place, but I am involved in the matter. I guess there is no harm in telling you. Four days ago the granddaughter of our honored mayor Akira Ojima vanished. At first her grandfather wasn't overly concerned; the Lady Yuna is rather high-spirited and likes to mingle with the common folk incognito. When she didn't return a day later Ojima-sama was beyond himself with worry and immediately sent for help from your village while commanding me to search the town. We found her this morning."

"She turned up again?" Anko asked.

The man hesitated a moment. "Yes, but… she is not in a good state. Forgive me, but please wait with further questions until Ojima-sama arrives."

This time they had only to wait for about five minutes before three men entered the room. Judging from their clothing the first one was some sort of doctor while the second one seemed to be the mayor. His white hair was in disarray, his shoulders slumped and he looked like he hadn't slept in days. The last one seemed to be a secretary.

Her impression proved to be correct when introductions were made, but the mayor never said a word. He seemed to be staring into the distance sightlessly, so it fell to the secretary to explain the situation. "Mitarashi-san, we are honored by Konoha's quick response to our request. The first part of the stated mission is no longer applicable, but we still want to enlist your help in the follow-up mission."

Anko held up her hand. "Before I agree to anything I would like to completely understand the situation. I know the girl went missing and turned up again, making finding her unnecessary. Who exactly is my team supposed to find?"

The secretary was clearly uncomfortable, but after a quick look to the mayor he explained the situation further. "When the Lady Yuna was found she was unconscious and hasn't woken since. She was clearly beaten severely and…" he stopped for a moment and breathed deeply, "raped over the course of the three days she was missing."

Suddenly the mayor spoke up and looked at her with burning eyes. "I want you to find the scum who did that to my granddaughter. Preferably alive, but if circumstances don't allow you to safely capture them make their deaths as painful as possible. I don't care what it costs."

After speaking his piece the old man lapsed again into a brooding silence. Anko thought for a moment. The circumstances were certainly nasty but well within the original mission parameters. Bringing criminals to justice was nice and clean; her genin would soon enough be confronted with the morally questionable stuff. "In the name of Konoha I accept the mission to find these criminals and bring them to justice. What do you know about the perpetrators?"

The commander took over the explanation. "Criminal investigations fall under my responsibility. The Lady Yuna was discovered in a back alley. We have no direct suspects, but shortly before I was called to our meeting I was informed that seven low-life mercenaries apparently left the town via ship yesterday evening. We don't know if there is any connection. I didn't want to take any further action without consulting you. If you would accompany to my office in the town I can show you what we've found until now."

"E-Excuse me, but c-could I take a look at L-Lady Yuna? Maybe I w-will be able to do something." Hinata unexpectedly said.

Despite the interruption by the young girl the doctor answered immediately. "I have done everything I could for Lady Yuna, but she will not wake. In my opinion she has some internal injuries that are beyond my skill."

Anko was a bit surprised about Hinata's boldness but didn't show that reaction. "That is a good idea; my pupil Hinata here is very skilled in the medical arts. Additionally I would like to examine the clothes she was found in. There might be traces we can use to find the culprits."

Soon Anko and Hinata were led into the bedroom of Yuna Ojima while a servant was sent out to retrieve her clothes. It wasn't a pretty sight, although she had seen worse. The girl was a few years older than her genin and she could have been considered very pretty under other circumstances. Now though her body was covered in bruises, or at least the parts that weren't bandaged. After a quick talk with Hinata she left the room and returned to the meeting chamber to confer with the military commander about the suspects.

It wasn't long before Hinata returned with the doctor in tow. "She h-has several broken bones, but these and the bruises w-will heal. The problem is that h-her brain was injured. There is swelling under her skull and the p-pressure on her brain is increasing. If nothing is d-done she w-will die in two days at the latest."

She hadn't thought it possible, but the face of the mayor fell further. "Is there anything that can be done?"

The doctor shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ojima-same. This is beyond my skill."

"I m-might be able to save her, but the chances a-aren't good. It h-has been too long since the i-initial injury." Hinata answered. "I know the p-procedure but never did it m-myself. It has to be done as soon as p-possible; with each m-minute her chances for a r-recovery are growing worse."

Hinata was obviously surprised when the old mayor knelt before her and took her hands into his. "Please, I beg you. Do everything in your power to save my little girl."

After a moment of thought Anko signaled Hinata her approval. While she worked on the girl the rest of the team would search the town for clues. It was then that a servant brought a tattered dress stained with dried blood and other bodily fluids. Naruto sniffed at it closely for a while, which earned him strange looks from the other occupants of the room.

"Okay, I have her scent. Too many people have handled that thing, but if I get an uncontaminated sample I can match who had close contact with her." Naruto announced.

Seeing the relaxing faces Anko took over. "Good work, Naruto. Choji, I want you to collect all info related to this case you are able to find. Concentrate on the suspects, but keep your mind open. Pay special attention to leaving and arriving ships, if the commander's suspicion is correct we'll need a ship to follow them. Naruto, you stay by my side. Commander, if you would be so good to show us where the people you suspect lived?"

The first one's abode was a simple wooden shack. Nothing suspicious turned up besides some old, discarded clothes, but Naruto said the smell of the man matched with one of the scents on the girl's clothes. Anko thought it prudent to keep a sample of the man's scent on hand and took a piece of cloth with her. They had more luck at the second location, an abandoned house.

"The girl was clearly in this room; I can still smell her scent clearly. Five other scents; all male. They all had their way with the girl several times. She was most definitely not the first one" Naruto said with a shudder of disgust.

A bit of searching yielded blood-stained bedding on a trash heap behind the house, further supporting their conclusions. Five more empty residences later they were sure that they had determined the people responsible and Anko had collected scent samples from all of them.

It was well past midnight when they convened again in the mayor's mansion. Choji was there, but Hinata was still operating. "We are now sure who the perpetrators are. Naruto can now recognize their scent as can my snake summons. Choji, what have you been able to find out?" Anko asked.

"I have learned fewer facts than I wanted; the available time was just too short. Two of the suspects were heard boasting that they had been offered a well-paying job and would be leaving town shortly. One said he and some of his friends wanted to have a little fun beforehand. They were seen boarding a ship headed for-" Choji was interrupted in his report when a tired-looking Hinata entered the room, followed by the doctor.

Hinata turned to the mayor. "Ojima-sama, I've d-done everything I c-can for Lady Yuna. The o-operation went as w-well as I could hope for. Only t-time will show if my efforts w-were enough."

A bit of life returned to the eyes of the mayor. "I thank you for your efforts, Hyuuga-san. You have my gratitude. What is your opinion, doctor?"

"It was impressive work." the doctor said. "As my young colleague said, there is nothing further she can do. I will be able to handle any complications that might arise, but we hope Lady Yuna will wake in a few days."

Anko was sure she spied tears in the eyes of the mayor when he continued thanking her female pupil profusely. He even promised to pay for the initial, now unnecessary C-rank mission to reward her for her efforts. It took them a few minutes to return to the matter at hand.

"Before we were interrupted you wanted to say something, Choji?"

Choji nodded. "Yes, Anko-sensei. I had only their names and a rough description to go by, but I was able to discover their destination. The ship they took was going to Whirlpool Island."

* * *

><p>The buzzing of untold kikaichu filled the air when Shino settled in his place at the side of his father in the underground meeting hall and some of his own allies joined the colossal swarm. It was the first time for him to participate in the biannual clan meeting that was only open to adult Aburame with full control of their hives, shinobi and civilian alike. The people who had married into the clan weren't allowed in here and would be informed by their spouses later. Their lack of kikaichu would have caused problems. For a few moments he allowed himself to freely savor the feeling of unity caused by the intermingling of their hives.<p>

They were the Aburame. They were all part of the same swarm.

The voice of elder Shikoru brought him back to reality. "All participants have arrived. I call the conclave to order." Almost immediately the buzzing sound grew fainter. "As the first order of business I welcome young Shino into our ranks. You are now an adult and are able to speak for yourself. May your contribution make the clan prosper."

Shino politely inclined his head. No answer was expected from him at this point.

Following that declaration Shikoru continued with announcing the deaths and births since the last meeting. Four elderly Aburame had perished due to different ailments of old age. They would be missed. More painful was the loss of young Shinju. The girl had only reached the age of four before she succumbed to a severe case of fever. There were so few of them left that each death was a tragedy, especially of clan members that didn't have the chance to procreate yet. The announcement that cousin Muta's wife had born healthy twin girls and cousin Shizuko had given birth to a son were far happier news. If projections held up the recovery of the clan would pick up speed in the next few years when more of the young generation like him reached the age to marry, provided they were able to find suitable spouses of course. After concluding that topic the conversation moved to the political developments.

"Torune, what do you have to report about Shimura's covert activities?" Shikoru asked his son.

The man didn't answer loud, but that wasn't surprising. Torune wasn't able to speak directly about his dealings with Danzo Shimura and work in ROOT thanks to the special seal the old man employed, but one little fact had slipped by the paranoia of Konoha's most secretive elder: An Aburame didn't need to speak or write in order to communicate with other Aburame; contact with the other clan members' kikaichu was perfectly sufficient.

"_Clan head Shibi has already received a detailed report. The only matter of significance is that Shimura has become aware of the current planned proposals of the Hokage to phase out some of the shinobi clans' tax privileges. He doesn't intend to oppose them."_

The assembly pondered that for a moment. This was only the last measure of the Hokage to slowly and subtly chip away at the shinobi clans' privileged status. If the changes were approved it would further weaken the position of the clan. Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done. With Danzo remaining neutral there was no hope of stopping the changes from becoming law. All nine of the civilian councilors would naturally approve. Combined with the Senju vote of the Hokage and the Kurama seat in the hands of a civilian the six votes of the great clans wouldn't be enough, even if it was unknown how the councilors Homura Mitokado and Koharo Utatane would vote on the issue. The slow dismantling of the clan privileges had noticeably picked up speed ever since the Hokage had achieved a stable majority of his civilian allies, even if they didn't agree with him on all issues. It did nothing to endear the old man to the Aburame.

"Our association with Shimura has proven to be less profitable than originally envisioned." another elder voiced his opinion.

"That is true." Shino's father Shibi replied stoically. "Unfortunately our clan has less political weight than in the past. He seemed the only possible option for opposition to the Hokage's policies. Contrary to our expectations he doesn't seem to actually want to go against the Hokage. On the other hand we have access to more information than without our association. Currently I feel it is in the best interest of the clan to continue the secret alliance with Danzo."

Shino remained silent while he listened attentively to the unfolding debate. It was the first time he was included in the political maneuvers of the clan and he learned a great deal. He pondered for a moment to reveal his membership in Naruto's political circle, but decided that the time wasn't right. His voice wasn't important enough yet to sway his clan. His father and some of the elders were aware of what he was doing and approved; it wouldn't do for the Aburame to keep their eggs in just one basket. They intended to survive no matter which side proved successful.

Several other topics were swiftly dealt with until something came up that had the kikaichu in the room buzzing in anger and hate. "The last three Kamizuru left Iwa approximately one month ago for an unknown destination. All clan members leaving the safety of the village should stay on alert. If the opportunity presents itself use all means possible to end the feud once and for all." Shibi commanded.

Shino made a mental note to look out for their insect-using rivals. Their feud stemmed from the era of the clan wars, but it had flared up to new hate in the third shinobi war. The Kamizuru had led a covert invasion force into the Land of Fire that had come very close to destroying Konoha. They had managed to reach the village undetected and breached the walls while most forces were away. By a quirk of fate their avenue of attack had led them directly into the Aburame clan compound. A large part of the non-fighting Aburame clan members and children had died in repelling the attack while the shinobi of the clan sustained heavy losses in the field. The Aburame had retaliated by almost wiping out the Kamizuru remaining in Iwa by the means of an infiltrator poisoning their water supply. It had been elder Shikoru's brother who did they deed with his special breed of nano-sized kikaichu. The man had died when he was discovered, but his sacrifice had decimated their enemies.

The meeting was about to end when his father raised his voice again. "There is another matter. You all have noticed that my son is employing a technique to conceal his true chakra reserves. Shino, please show the others what your true reserves are."

Accommodating the request of his father Shino stopped suppressing his chakra. Slight gaps could be heard and the buzzing grew louder. The uncommon show of emotion was completely understandable considering the surprise. Despite his young age Shino possessed the second largest chakra reserves in the room. His father had him still beat by the tiniest amount, but no one else.

"How is this possible?" Muta asked.

"My improvement is due to new chakra training techniques Naruto Uzumaki developed with the help of Hinata Hyuuga. Thanks to my close association with them they shared them with me under the condition that I don't share them further." Shino answered.

Shikoru posed another question. "Is that his last word in the matter? This technique is incredibly valuable."

"No. Should we agree to politically support Uzumaki he would be willing to reveal the secrets of his techniques to us. Before you ask, I will not go against my word. Why do you ask? The promise was witnessed and shared by the heirs of the Akimichi, Hyuuga, Kurama and Yamanaka. It would damage our credibility if I should forsake my word."

The following discussion was unusually lively. Many were wary of the jinchuuriki, but the possible advantage to be gained from agreeing to his terms was swaying an increasing number of clan members. It had grown late when his father ended the meeting. "There is no need for making a hasty decision. I only asked my son to reveal this fact because some of you have doubted my decision to let him befriend the boy. Considering the clear advantage he already gained from this friendship I trust there will be no further objections. In time his association with the last Uzumaki might prove even more useful and worthy of our support. This meeting is adjourned."

If he had been so inclined Shino would have smiled. The first step in getting his clan to support the goals of the circle was successful.

* * *

><p>Sea foam sprayed all over Naruto when another wave hit the ship. The cruise was not going well due to the increasingly rough sea, but he wasn't that worried. The captain said they would be able to reach the safety of Whirlpool Island before it became too bad. Unfortunately their weather-induced slow speed would give their targets even more of a head start. They had been lucky they had been able to catch a ship going in the right direction at all. The harbor guard only possessed two small boats that were completely unsuited to bracing the sea outside of coastal waters.<p>

Naruto wasn't sure what to feel about the next step of their journey. The ancient home of the Uzumaki clan, Uzushiogakure, the Village hidden by the Whirling Tides, was their goal; or rather the settlement near the ruins thereof. He had searched for information on his clan in the libraries of Konoha and he wasn't completely ignorant of his clan's history.

The Uzumaki had settled on Whirlpool Island several hundred years ago and had maintained that seat even during the time of the clan wars. It had only been transformed into a proper shinobi village a few years after Konoha's founding when several small shinobi clans asked for permission to settle on the island. The Uzumaki had remained the one major clan of Uzushiogakure, though. Their specialty had been the sealing arts. Individual seal masters here and there may have been just as good or even better in their own way, but only the Uzumaki had the sheer number of seal masters among their members that allowed them to employ seals on a massive scale. It had made them quite powerful and influential, but in the same vein the sealing arts had been their downfall. They had been just too powerful to be left alone, but not powerful enough to survive against the odds arrayed against them.

The third shinobi war had been a protracted mess of several individual conflicts over the course of more than a decade that had involved the whole shinobi world, although the normal populace hadn't been affected all too much. In Konoha they mostly remembered the struggle against Iwa, but the Village hidden in the Leaves had fought against pretty much all major villages and most of the minor ones at one point or another. Alliances had been fleeting, and today's enemies could be tomorrow's friends and the other way round. Uzushiogakure had been one of the first victims of the war. The stalwart defenses that had held against every assault in the clan wars had proven insufficient against the combined might of Kumo and Kiri as well as several minor villages. The coalition had fallen apart not even two months after their victory, but by then it had been far too late. From all accounts the battle had been gruesome, but in the end Whirlpool Island had fallen and the Uzumaki with it. The victorious forces had scoured the island clean. After their withdrawal no living thing had remained on the island.

Some isolated Uzumaki who hadn't been there like Kushina or who had been taken prisoner had survived, but when the dust settled there hadn't been an Uzumaki clan anymore. Their secrets had been either destroyed or seized by the victors, leaving nothing behind but ruins. The thought of seeing that place made Naruto slightly depressed. He may have renounced his biological parents, but in some sense he still was an Uzumaki. Suddenly Naruto noticed Hinata standing by his side.

"I have been standing here a while. Thinking deep thoughts?"

Naruto sighed. "You could say that. I'm just wondering about what we'll find there. That is if we even have the time to look around."

Hinata shrugged. "Who knows? I doubt much remains after all this time."

They continued staring into the distance until Hinata signaled him that Anko was approaching. "Is everything alright, Naruto? You have been here for hours, staring into the distance." their sensei asked.

"I'm just not in a good mood, sensei." Naruto answered.

"Is it about what happened to the girl? Such things happen. The world isn't a nice or friendly place. Sometimes we make it slightly better, sometimes worse. You have to learn to keep your emotional distance to the clients and targets or it will crush you before long." Ako-sensei said.

Naruto shook his head. "No, it isn't about that. It's… well, Whirlpool Island was once the home of the Uzumaki clan."

"Oh." Anko was silent for a moment. "I should have thought of that, but it was long before my time."

"Do you know anything about the battle, sensei? I read what texts were there in the library, but it wasn't much." Naruto asked.

"Some facts, but not many. My sensei once took me here when he searched the ruins, but we didn't find anything. I know there was a siege and most of the island was ravaged by tidal waves. There are no openly accessible reports, most likely because what information Konoha has was gathered via hidden agents. There are some small fishing towns and the harbor we're now heading to that were founded a few years after the battle, but otherwise the island is a desolate wasteland. Nothing grows there anymore besides some weeds; the salt from the tidal waves poisoned the soil." she answered.

In that moment the silhouette of an island became visible in the distance, but they couldn't make out many details. The ship changed course slightly to keep its distance while heading in an eastern direction.

"Why don't we get c-closer to the shore? It would make the journey much shorter." Hinata wondered.

Anko pointed towards the water. "You can't see it from here, but there are shoals everywhere. The whirlpools caused by them gave the island its name. Originally you needed a native to pilot you through the natural and artificial channels leading through the shoals, but not anymore. The attackers took care of that. You'll see it yourself when we get there."

It took hours, but finally their destination came into view. It was the mouth of a river surrounded by steep, barren hills. The surroundings were even more interesting. Even after two decades the remnants of elemental jutsu and other high-powered techniques could be seen if you knew what to look for. Rock formations that were out of place, traces of solidified lava, a stretch of land that had deep grooves dug into it like it had been hit by lightning again and again.

Naruto blinked. It seemed the water on the river was flowing backwards because of the rising tide.

"I see you noticed the river. It reverses its direction in tune with the tides. Look into the water." Anko told them.

Naruto did as he was told and he saw what their sensei was pointing out to them. The waves made it difficult to recognize, but the ubiquitous shoals, reefs and whirlpools were missing here. When he looked left and right he could see that it was a large gap in the shoals.

Anko took over the explanation. "This is where the forces of Kiri and Kumo breached the defenses of the island and the seal barriers anchored on the reefs. I don't know how they did it, but somehow the Kiri-nin caused the water to recede, leaving the sea bottom uncovered. Then the Kumo-nin blasted the reefs to pieces with lightning. With their support destroyed the seal barrier surrounding the island was pierced. When the attacking forces formed the returning water into a tsunami it did further damage to the inner defenses. There are other breaches, but this one here is the biggest. The rest of the seal barrier was destroyed later."

"Why didn't Konoha help their allies?" Choji asked. He had joined them about an hour ago.

"We couldn't. Things were tense with Iwa and we were fighting against a coalition of several minor villages at the time. Furthermore, we never had much power at sea. With Kiri controlling these waters there was no way we could get troops here." Anko answered his question.

With the high tide it wasn't difficult for their ship to make its way on the river. It was a good thing for the weather was steadily getting worse. All the waves were getting bigger and bigger and whitecaps were everywhere. When the ship passed a bend in the river they laid eyes upon the harbor town. It's location was certainly unusual. Something had completely obliterated two of the hills, creating an artificial bay that served as a harbor. Several ships and boats were laying at anchor. Most of the buildings were made from rubble or driftwood. All in all it was a dingy, miserable place that hardly qualified as a town.

"What happened here?" Naruto asked.

"You mean to the hills? This is the site were the head of the Uzumaki clan fought against the Sandaime Mizukage and his elite guard. When he was about to lose he used a sealing technique in an attempt to take the attackers down with him, but unfortunately they escaped in time. If you refer to the village; there just isn't much traffic or trade. Most ships don't stop here until they need a sheltered harbor. Some smuggling is going on, but not much. The ruins of Uzushio are behind these hills over there."

"You sure do know a lot, sensei." Choji said.

Anko shrugged. "I always try to collect as much information as possible about the terrain. It could come in useful at a later point."

As soon as they entered the harbor they split in search of their targets. It was surprisingly easy to find information about them; they hadn't left a good impression behind. Unfortunately they had already left the town. After the team met up again they tracked down the ship-owner who had given them passage and had just returned earlier the day.

"Aye, I've seen your guys. They met some friends and paid me to ferry them to a specific beach on Wave Country to the south. Unpleasant lot, I was glad to be rid of them." the white-haired man said while chewing on some tobacco.

"Could you bring us to the same spot? We'll pay well." Anko offered.

Unfortunately the answer wasn't what they hoped for. "Certainly, but not soon. My ship isn't sturdy enough to handle this weather, and I don't think anyone else is willing to take the risk. It will probably be two days until we can head out."

Anko nodded in acceptance. "I see. Thank you for your time; we will return as soon as the wind calms down."

"Couldn't we simply water-walk?" Choji asked when they left the man.

"Theoretically, yes. Unfortunately it's rather unpleasant and dangerous to do that on the ocean at the best of times, not to mention under the current conditions. Think about it, the ground is moving under your feet and the waves are large enough that it will be hard to keep our direction. If I remember correctly Wave is pretty much flat, so it's easy to miss from a distance. Additionally, without the captain guiding us we won't find the specific beach our targets used." Anko lectured.

Choji thought about it. "I see. Well, what do we do in the meantime, sensei?"

Anko shrugged. "We can't do much besides taking a room and wait until the weather clears. There's nothing here and I don't want you to run off alone. Do you have any suggestions?"

"I would like to visit the ruins. There is no telling if we ever get the opportunity to visit here again." Naruto said.

"Okay, we can do that tomorrow. For now we need a place to stay the night. Did any of you come across an inn that wasn't a rat-infested shithole?"

* * *

><p>The ruins of Uzushiogakure made for a depressing sight in Choji's opinion. Broken columns and collapsed buildings littered both banks of the river. Parts of the destroyed village had been flooded and some bones could be seen lying around here and there. Obviously the village population had gone down fighting and the signs of jutsu damage were obvious.<p>

'_One of the most powerful minor villages wiped out like that. If we fail in our plans Konoha might meet the same fate in the future.'_

They had been here for hours without finding anything valuable. That wasn't unexpected, according to the townspeople the ruins had been picked clean by treasure hunters. Even after the original sacking almost all shinobi villages had sent several expeditions over the course of the last two decades in hope of finding some valuable remains. That wasn't even counting the hordes of independent scavengers that had descended on Whirlpool Island after the shinobi had left. Apparently even now there were two or three groups of treasure hunters each year. Most things that hadn't been stolen had rotted away in the moist island climate. Only the bare bones of the buildings were left and it looked like someone had removed some of them, probably by using massive sealing scrolls.

Choji was walking alongside Anko; Naruto had wanted to explore for himself and Hinata had accompanied him.

"All this really drives the point home that nothing lasts forever, doesn't it sensei?" he suddenly remarked.

Anko was visibly startled for a moment. None of them had spoken for more than twenty minutes. "Yes, Choji, it does. Uzushio was actually much older than Konoha, but all that history didn't prevent its end." She sighed. "No matter what we do, one day will see the end of our village. Sometimes I wonder how long Konoha will last and what will be remembered of it. Will we be seen as the paragons of the shinobi world? Or will we be pictured as tyrants who imposed our worldview on other countries? Or will we be forgotten completely?"

He had nothing to say to that and they continued wandering the ruins in silence until they arrived at the agreed upon meeting place. While waiting for Naruto and Hinata Choji suddenly noticed that someone was using the Fire Arrow jutsu in the distance, most likely his wayward teammates.

'_The color is green, so they aren't in any danger. I wonder what this is about.'_

Before he could say anything Anko had noticed it on her own. "Well, it seems something came up. Follow me."

Anko started moving in the direction of the fire arrow with Choji following her. It didn't take them long to arrive at their destination. Once upon a time it had been an impressive garden sequestered behind several walls and buildings, but now it was a waste of brown earth with a few weeds sprouting here and there. The trunks of dead trees towered over the garden when they approached the waiting Hinata who motioned them to be silent. Several large slabs of stone were standing at the other end of the garden. Naruto sat before one of the large chiseled stone, tracing inscriptions with his fingers and seemed lost in thought.

Hinata moved over to them. "These stones are s-similar to the memorial stones we have in Konoha, but they r-record what the persons died for. Naruto is m-memorizing them. He has been at it for a while and I didn't want to d-disturb him."

Anko gave her a nod of agreement and gave Naruto a bit more distance. Choji and Hinata followed. It was a very personal moment for Naruto and none of them wanted to disturb their blond teammate.

'_What would it be like to only know my clan from old history books? To wander a ruined Konoha and wonder what could have been?'_

It led to a rather depressive line of thinking. Naruto's voice interrupted his thoughts after a while. "I'm finished; thanks for giving me the time. I memorized them as good as I could. They should be remembered by someone."

"Don't mention it. Ready to return to the harbor or do you want to explore more?" Anko asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No sense in doing that. There's nothing here but ruins, dust and bitter memories. If there are some hidden caches left I doubt me being of Uzumaki descent is enough to find them. At least some of the expeditions must have enough forethought to bring known Uzumaki descendants with them."

Neither Choji nor Hinata had anything to say to that and they began the journey back. On the next day the wind had subsided somewhat, but it was still strong enough to prevent their ship from leaving the harbor and they spent a rather boring day in the town. Choji and the others used the opportunity to hone their information gathering skills, but unfortunately nothing interesting came up. Most rumors and news they picked up were already out of date.

On the morning of their third full day on Whirlpool Island the weather had finally improved enough for them to set sail. After a quick meal of mussels they purchased from one of the street vendors they left the island behind. The voyage on the new ship was even more boring than the day before. The captain wasn't a man of many words and the small crew didn't talk much to them either. Things weren't made better that around midday Choji's stomach began to grumble and he was beginning to feel a bit queasy.

'_It's probably sea sickness. This ship is far smaller than the last one and the waves are much more noticeable. I can deal with it.'_

The sun was already touching the horizon when they arrived at their destination, a mid-sized beach bordered by dense mangrove forests.

"Welcome to Wave Country. That's the beach where I dropped the other lot off. We made good time; we needed several hours more to get here last time. Unfortunately you'll have to swim to the shore; the wind wrecked my longboat before I got back to Whirlpool." the captain announced.

Anko-sensei waved the man off. "That's no trouble for us. Thank you for your service and have a good journey home. Let's go, kids."

True to Anko's command they jumped off the ship and simply walked on the water towards the shore. Hinata let out a small giggle after a few steps and a sidelong glance showed him that she had her byakugan active.

'_The reaction of the sailors was probably funny.'_ he decided.

Once upon the shore they almost immediately stumbled upon the remains of a campfire. Unfortunately another subject soon required his attention. The queasy feeling in his stomach had increased over the last hours and was now replaced by a sharp pain and pressure. After relaying his predicament to the team he barely managed to reach a convenient bush before vomiting. From the way it felt he would have to use another body orifice of his to relieve another part of the pressure. Some part of his brain that wasn't occupied with his immediate needs noticed how Anko and Hinata seemed to be in similar straits while Naruto seemed fine but confused about what was happening. His mind connected the dots and came to the inevitable conclusion.

'_Food poisoning. Shit.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto had a headache. His entire team was incapacitated by diarrhea and vomiting just because each of them had ignored the initial symptoms and decided to tough it out. At least Anko-sensei and Hinata should have known better than keeping stomach problems to themselves. Now it was too late for Hinata's medical techniques to cure them before it became a problem. Oh, it wasn't dangerous thanks to his own skills, but his teammates had some very uncomfortable days before them until their bodies recovered. He cursed himself for not noticing that the mussels had been slightly spoiled. Well, he had noticed that they tasted a bit strange, but not having eaten that dish before he hadn't known how they ought to have tasted. Only his unnatural resilience had prevented him from sharing their fate.<p>

The trail of their targets would probably go cold, but there was nothing to be done about it. His team was pretty much helpless and needed him to take care of them. They didn't know anything about the state of affairs here in Wave and had decided to remain hidden in the woods. The entire thing was stupid, but stupid mistakes were what got good shinobi killed. Currently he was busy with searching for some herbs that should make things easier. Hinata's doctor's bag was well stocked, but some herbs were better fresh. Suddenly a shift of the wind brought him the smell of the herbs he was searching for along with the scent of a woman.

'_Great. The herbs I need apparently only grow in one spot in this entire damned forest and someone else is already there.'_

Quickly checking himself over once more he made sure that he wasn't immediately recognizable as a shinobi. His headband was back with his team and his weapons were carefully hidden. Breathing deeply he continued in the direction where he had smelled the herbs. It didn't take him long to reach a clearing where a young, beautiful black-haired woman was picking herbs. When he deliberately made some noise she spun around far more smoothly than usual for a civilian. Naruto had to consciously keep his eyes from narrowing when he noticed that she had a hand inside her kimono.

'_She's a kunoichi, and a skilled one from the looks of it. I have to be careful.'_

Plastering a genuine-looking smile on his face he called out. "Hello there. I'm looking for some herbs. Do you mind if I come over?"

"Good morning to you, too. No, I don't mind. Which herbs do you need?" she called back.

Naruto had to hand it to her, she was really good. Gentle voice, friendly facial expression and a good imitation of a civilian's movement patterns. If he hadn't paid special attention to her initial reaction the girl would have been successful in presenting a completely harmless image. Still, there was no reason for them to fight. Their targets were low-life mercenaries who would never be able to afford the services of a kunoichi of her caliber, meaning she was no threat to their mission. Hopefully it wouldn't come to a fight before he could make that point to her.

Slowly Naruto made his way to her. "I'm looking for herbs useful for treating stomach disorders; some friends of mine ate something that didn't agree with them. My name is Naruto, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Haku."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>It only took me 250k word and twenty full chapters, but now we are finally in Wave. Yay!


	22. Chapter 21: A visit to Wave

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

**Chapter 21: A Visit to Wave**

Haku watched the slowly approaching blond boy like a hawk, ready to pepper him with senbon at the slightest indication of aggressive behavior. Considering how he managed to sneak up on her she was pretty sure he was a shinobi, even if she wasn't able to confirm that at the moment. His clothes wouldn't have been out of place for a huntsman, his movement pattern matched that role and he wasn't wearing a forehead protector. Still, in light of the last few days she doubted that she would be so lucky that he was what he pretended to be.

What should have been an easy, straight-forward assassination of a helpless old man had turned into something very different. Meizu and Gozu had been supposed to take care of that old bridge builder Gato wanted dead while Zabuza-sama and she took care of another job for a different client. Unfortunately their target had died of natural causes before they ever got to him and their client had refused to pay. When they had returned to the meeting point without having achieved anything they had discovered that the Demon Brothers were missing. That meant complications had arisen. Zabuza-sama had decided to lay an ambush at the location where the bridge builder would most likely arrive back in Wave. Due to the Konoha shinobi team the bridge builder had hired the ambush had gone south and Zabuza-sama was now recovering from the state of fake death she had been forced to put him in. Which was why she was traipsing around the woods to collect herbs that would speed up the recovery of her master. To make matters worse she couldn't shake the suspicion that their client planned to betray them, but unfortunately they needed the money and couldn't risk failing at another job. Such things got around and their reputation as professionals was at stake.

By now the blond boy called Naruto had fully entered the clearing and was obviously searching the ground, but he always kept an eye on her. Haku had to give it to him, he was good, but she couldn't really tell the extent of his skills. All the more reason to avoid a fight; Zabuza-sama needed her in prime condition. The next few minutes were spent in silence while both of them tried to pick herbs while keeping the other in their respective field of vision. It wasn't conducive to their professed goal and was getting ridiculous quickly.

"Can I help you… shinobi-san?" she finally asked.

Naruto fixed her with a stare. "No thank you… kunoichi-san." After a moment of silence she couldn't suppress a giggle and her counterpart let out a snort of laughter. The situation was really absurd despite the tension; two skilled shinobi pretending to be civilians dancing around the matter at hand. Before she could say anything Naruto continued to speak. "Okay, it obvious that we both are not what we pretend to be. I don't want to fight. I'm here with some associates in pursuit of a group of low-life mercenaries who attacked someone they shouldn't have. We get them and we get out of here without making a fuss. Does that in any way interfere with your interests?"

Haku had to think for a moment. If what Naruto said was true there was no conflict. The only mercenaries on the island belonged to Gato, but Zabuza-sama and she had been hired solely to take out the bridge builder, not to provide security. If they had been going directly after Gato their paycheck would have been in danger, but she couldn't care less about the scum the man employed. Neither would the Konoha ninja. For a moment she considered setting up a confrontation between them and this new group, but the outcome would be uncertain and her master had already enough enemies without adding another faction of shinobi to that group.

She shook her head. "No, it doesn't. I and some associates are here to solve a problem for our employer. The problem is a permanent resident of this island."

The blond boy seemed to relax slightly. "Very good. We don't have contact with anyone from Wave."

No further words were spoken and they both concentrated on collecting the different herbs they needed. Haku still kept her guard up and Naruto did the same, but it was no longer the high-strung tension from before. She was still wary of the boy and didn't make conversation. He didn't belong to the Konoha team and would have no useful information; she didn't want to accidentally give something important away.

Finally she had gathered enough herbs and made to leave the clearing when a mischievous thought occurred to her. It would be funny to screw a bit with Naruto's mind. "Let's meet again somewhere under better circumstances. Oh, and I'm a boy."

"Whatever you say, Haku-chan. It doesn't change your gender, though. Goodbye."

When she turned around to refute him she saw that Naruto had already left the clearing in the opposite direction. Only a few disturbed leaves remained behind.

'_How did he know?'_ Haku asked herself before shaking off the thought. In all likelihood the boy had just taken a wild guess to unsettle her.

Another surprise awaited her when she returned to the hideout after a lengthy trip through the woods. She had doubled back several times to shake off a possible pursuit, just to be sure. When she entered Zabuza's room two familiar figures sat at the table. "Gozu? Meizu? You are back?"

* * *

><p>Naruto was very worried. The usual time for him and Hinata to visit the world of his parents had come and gone, but neither of them had been drawn there as usual. That meant something extraordinary must have happened. Unfortunately he couldn't even speak with Hinata about it. With Choji and Anko in close proximity the danger of being overheard was just too great. That meant he had to use the one way of contacting his parents that was always open to him, even if he hadn't used it for a very long time. The necessary meditation wasn't quick and the contact did cause him considerable mental strain, which was why he normally shied away from using it. On the few opportunities when he might have wanted to speak with his parents immediately it had always seemed more prudent to wait the few days until his next regular visit.<p>

For the first time in long years Naruto trudged through the sewers that formed the mental interface of the seal. When he finally entered the cage chamber everything seemed completely normal, but he didn't really expect anything else at this point. Swiftly moving to one of the walls he tapped several stones in a complicated rhythm. His hopes of speaking with his parents were dashed when instead of the expected window writing appeared on the wall.

_We found a lead to something very important. Investigation and testing makes it too dangerous for you to visit and too important to delay until we could speak with you. See you as soon as possible. Love, mom and dad._

Naruto sighed. Well, that answered that question. It was certainly unusual, but his parents had mentioned that possibility before. He really would have liked to discuss his recent visit to Uzushio with them. Apparently that had to wait until they finished with whatever they were doing. Concentrating, Naruto prepared himself to return to the waking world.

* * *

><p>Anko Mitarashi was not a happy kunoichi. She and her team had just recovered from a severe case of vomiting and diarrhea caused by food poisoning. She wasn't keen on mentioning that little fact in her mission report. Anko swore that if she ever got her hands on that street vendor she would force feed him his own stock until his stomach cracked.<p>

'_Note to self: When buying food always let Naruto check for signs of decay. At least I discovered the kid has some talent as backup-medic. That could prove useful if the main medic is incapacitated. '_

Their illness had delayed them for several days, and now they had lost their targets. After following the tracks from the point of landfall they had found a clearing where their targets had met up with at least forty more men and then dispersed in small groups of two to three. There were simply too many trails for them to follow. Even worse, the group they had originally tracked had split up as well. The fact that the meeting had apparently taken place even before they themselves left the former Land of Whirlpools combined with the delay from their illness meant that the trail had gone cold.

"Naruto, can you detect the scent of our targets?" Anko asked.

"Sorry sensei, I can't. The meeting here was too long ago, and it rained in the meantime. I was lucky to be able to follow them this far. I'm not an Inuzaka." the blond boy answered.

"Don't worry, you performed admirably so far. Alright, search the place for clues."

'_What to do now?'_Anko pondered while chewing a new mint leaf. She had taken to chewing them during her illness to counteract the constant taste of vomit. It had been really thoughtful of Naruto to provide them. She had to thank him when they got back to Konoha. As habits went constantly chewing something in exchange for perpetual fresh breath wasn't so bad. At least she wouldn't ruin her teeth like Genma did with his senbon-chewing.

"Sensei, I found something." Hinata reported after a few minutes. She held a half-burnt, soggy piece of paper in her hands. Anko took it from her to examine it. Most of the writing was illegible, but it seemed to be a letter offering job opportunities for mercenaries. The name at the end caught her attention.

Anko grimaced. "Well, shit. It seems our targets hired out to Gato, the rich shipping magnate. That complicates our job; Gato is on the protected list of people we aren't allowed to touch because of the amount of money the Fire Daimyo and his officials get from him in taxes and bribes. "

"We aren't allowed to touch Gato personally, but does his protection extend to his underlings?" Choji asked in a thoughtful tone.

"To a degree; the matter touches politics at this point. Konoha in general isn't allowed to directly interfere in Gato's business by taking out, say, his whole staff. But they aren't explicitly protected like Gato himself. If the pay is high enough I believe the Hokage would authorize the assassination of a staff member. Otherwise it's more a matter of what we think we can get away with. Our five targets are basically nobodies; dumb hired muscle that isn't good for anything else. As long as Gato or anybody important isn't around we should still be able to get them. If not, we simply have to report our findings to our client and let him handle it. Political stuff exceeds our pay grade and mission parameters." she explained.

"Hey sensei, I see a small town a short distance to the south. Apart from that there are no traces of our targets. Should we go ask the townspeople if they saw anything?" Naruto shouted from the top of a tree he had climbed to get a better view of the area.

Anko thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "Alright, it seems our best bet. I hoped to stay hidden for a while longer, but I see no other way. Hide your forehead protectors and split up. We meet here again in two hours."

Two hours later they had a wealth of new information. Although nothing was really helpful for the pursuit of their targets it was interesting in other ways. Wave country consisted of a few dozen villages scattered across the large, flat island. There had been no central authority or government in any form for a long time. Before that there had been a string of rulers who reigned by force for a time before disappearing for one reason or another, mostly because some enterprising would-be lord had been successful in staging a coup. In the time between rulers the whole island was more or less in a state of benign anarchy. That lasted until Gato decided to make taking over the island his pet project. Apparently he had the entire island in a crushing economic chokehold and had an army of thugs further suppressing the local population. Why he didn't just declare himself Lord of Wave to formally take over the way the previous rulers had done eluded Anko. Perhaps he had some overcomplicated master plan. The last attempt at resistance from the population had been brutally quelled, with the leader being tied to a pole in the main village square with his limbs hacked off. After that nobody dared to offer any resistance anymore. Almost nobody, that was. A man named Tazuna was still trying to break Gato's monopoly on transportation to and from the island by building a bridge over the relative shallow channel separating Wave from the mainland. The original project had been started by the last ruler of Wave, a pirate lord who had disappeared on his last voyage together with his complete fleet. After that the building process had been on and off, depending on Tazuna's ability to procure funding.

He was now close to finishing the bridge, and Gato was obviously pulling in mercenaries for his end game before his plans could be thwarted. The truly interesting bit of information was that Tazuna had apparently hired some shinobi from Konoha for his and the bridge's protection. Anko briefly wondered why the Hokage was directly interfering in Gato's plans, but shrugged it off. In all likelihood there had been some backroom deals negotiated that made the risk worth it. Perhaps the Fire daimyo or one of the high-ranked officials planned to annex Wave as soon as the bridge was completed. Anyway, given that the shinobi would be up against Gato who was known to hire the occasional nuke-nin she expected the Hokage to have sent one to two teams of experienced chunin with some jonin thrown in for good measure, ideally supported by a third, hidden group if things got out of hand. Heck, if it was politically important enough the old man might even have sent some ANBU. That promised good things for their own mission, if it came to a battle they could just nab their targets. She had just explained her reasoning to the genin and was about to make plans when Hinata cut in; causing Anko's train of thought to come crashing down.

"Umm, Anko-sensei? I g-got some descriptions, and the Leaf ninja a-are obviously Team 7."

After a few moments of dumbly staring at the girl, Anko's brain reengaged.

'_What the hell? There is no way the Hokage would send a green team into such a mess. Kakashi is good, but not good enough to do everything alone. Especially against the kind of manpower Gato can bring to the party when he has to take care of the genin,'_ she thought, _'It could be a ruse; plant Team 7 as distraction so the enemy underestimates them while the real force is in hiding and ready to engage at an opportune moment. Chancy though, and I see no real advantage that would make risking the last loyal Uchiha and the Nara clan heir worth it.'_

Deep down she considered another possibility, namely that the client had lied about the mission and the expected opposition. But that didn't make sense either as Kakashi's team was still here. The lie would be blown as soon as they reached Wave and saw Gato's men all over the place. If she were put in that position she would immediately abandon the mission and return to Konoha at full speed. Aside from concerns about the safety of her genin and feasibility of the mission, it would set a very bad example if they continued the mission despite being deliberately fed false information by the client. That would only encourage others to do the same thing if word got out, which it inevitably would. Misranked missions due to outside influences and pure chance were bad enough, but if prospective clients thought they could get away with deceiving Konoha to save on the mission payments it would lead to a drastic increase in dead shinobi. Unfortunately she had the very bad feeling that exactly that had happened and Kakashi was going along with it for some reason.

"Did you find out Team 7's location?" Anko asked.

"I g-got a description, Anko-sensei. I t-think I will be able to f-find their clients house." Hinata answered.

"Good, we will head there next and meet with Team 7. Hopefully they have some information that can help us. Let's go!" Anko commanded.

Hopping from tree to tree they made good speed. The group made a short break in one of the villages on the way to grab something to eat at an okonomiyaki cart and to verify the way to Tazuna's house. The vendor was a young woman named Ukyo who was eager to help them, especially after Choji requested several second helpings. Not that the other members of Team 11 were small eaters. After several days of thin soup they had pent up a lot of appetite, and the okonomiyaki was truly delicious. The girl probably made more money of them than she had earned in the entire week before. In the end they had to almost haul Choji bodily away because he was about to make a marriage proposal to the girl. Said girl had obviously understood Choji's intentions because she was blushing a bright red and muttering something about her father, fiancées, a previous engagement and someone named Ranma Saotome. Soon enough they were on the way again. Thanks to Ukyo's directions they took a shortcut through the woods, thereby avoiding one of the larger villages.

Suddenly Naruto spoke up. "Sensei, I hear screaming from directly before us. A woman and a child from the sound of it."

"That could be the family of that bridge builder. Prepare yourselves for combat." Anko ordered.

They all increased their speed, but had to leave Choji somewhat lagging behind because a branch broke under him. There was no time for them to slow down so that he could catch up. They soon left the woods and stopped for a second to take stock of the situation.

One of the many bodies of water that littered Wave country stretched into the distance, with a house built on stilts obscuring their view. A path ran from the house into the woods, probably the way to the next village. A small child of perhaps seven or eight years was lying face down in a spreading pool of blood while two thuggish looking swordsmen were about to rape a woman. From the looks of it they had already beaten her quite a bit and her clothing hung in tatters. One man with white hair was holding her arms while the other one kneeled between her legs and had just undone his trousers. He had an eye patch and several large tattoos. Some fresh deep scratches marred his flesh and was obviously just finishing a rant. He had relieved himself of his sword that was now lying on the ground out of his reach. Thinking quickly, Anko silently ordered Naruto to take the unarmed thug and Hinata to see to the injured or dead boy while she herself would take the white-haired one.

"We tried to be nice, but you and your brat just had to make things difficult, didn't you? You will pay for all the trouble, bitch. Gato doesn't pay me enough to play nice. Zori, maintain a good grip while I show this little whore who's the boss." the man with the eye-patch shouted.

His partner in crime was just about to answer when he was hit by an enraged Anko. Obviously the thugs had counted on remaining undisturbed and neglected their surroundings. Her enemy hadn't even time to lay a finger on the sword on his belt as he was driven back by her brutal blows and kicks before she pinned him to the wall of the house with a kunai driven through each of his shoulders. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see that Hinata was using some medical jutsu on the child while the would-be rapist was on the ground, dying slowly and noisily. Naruto had apparently used his knives to sever the tendons in his enemy's arms and legs before removing the one body part that the man had so conveniently exposed. Obviously the boy didn't like rapists, an attitude of which Anko heartily approved. Choji had arrived by now and was seeing to the woman who looked like she was going into shock. She returned her attention to her whimpering victim and put on one of her scary grins.

"You have two choices. One, you tell me immediately all you know about your little raid here and your employer's operations in general, and if I'm content with your answers I may allow you to die quickly. Two, you try to resist, meaning I'll get to play with you for a bit before you spill all you know and die in exquisite agony. Please, choose option two. It's been quite some time since I've gotten around to torturing somebody." Anko whispered into the man's ear.

To her surprise the thug was either made of sterner stuff than she had initially assumed or suffered from reality loss: he spit her in the face.

"You don't know who you're messing with you ninja hussy. I won't tell you a thing." he blustered.

"Wrong answer, fucker. Now I've get to have some fun." she said before ramming a senbon squarely into one of the man's pain centers.

Now, Anko Mitarashi had worked a long time in Konoha's Torture and Interrogation department alongside master craftsmen like Ibiki Morino or Inoichi Yamanaka and was considered one of the foremost professionals in the field while her newest toy was a common thug with delusions of grandeur. It didn't even take her two minutes to make the man beg her to be allowed to tell his secrets. Apparently Gato had sent them to get hold of the bridge builder's family while his hired army of thugs attacked the bridge directly. Normally she wouldn't conduct a torture session in front of a civilian or genin that were a few months out of the academy, but current circumstances necessitated a different stance. Gato was making his move if the family of a well-respected man that was known to have hired ninja protection was attacked in open daylight, meaning that any information might well be time-sensitive. And after what happened on their last fucked-up mission she was pretty sure her genin could cope with observing a little bit of torture. After learning all she needed to know from the thug she pierced his heart. Normally she would have made his death more drawn-out, but time was a wasting and she didn't want to take the chance of the man doing something unfortunate before he died.

Turning to her charges, she saw that the second thug had already drawn his last breath. Naruto was now helping Choji with the woman who seemed to slowly come out of her state of shock. Anko went over to Hinata who was still doing something to the boy. From the size of the puddle of blood Anko doubted that he would survive, but apparently Hinata thought differently. When she got close enough to get a good look she sharply sucked her breath in. The boy's torso was cut open diagonally from armpit to hip in a gaping wound, with quite some amount of internal damage if she was any judge. Her female pupil was pouring a literal torrent of medical chakra into the small body lying still on the ground.

"I can still save him. We need to get him inside." Hinata said without looking up.

* * *

><p>Hinata concentrated fully on her patient lying on the improvised operating table while her sensei questioned the woman about the last events, thereby distracting her from the state of her son. From what her byakugan showed her Anko had used some sort of genjutsu on the woman, probably to keep her coherent. She told them about her father hiring Team 7 and the two ambushes on his way back home by the Demon Brothers and the Devil of the Mist.<p>

'_Several ribs are cracked, but the ribcage held. No major organs are damaged. Good, the blade didn't penetrate too deeply.'_

Using one hand to keep the healing technique going that was all that prevented the boy from dying she forced another blood replenishing pill down his throat. It would convert chakra into blood, thereby keeping the boy's blood circulation going for a bit longer. Normally they were very dangerous for people with civilian chakra-levels, but a slight modification of her medical technique allowed her to supply the necessary chakra herself. It was a trick she had learned from Hana just a few days ago. It would give her more time to fix the damage.

"Hinata, we have to go. The others are probably under attack right now." Anko said urgently.

Hinata answered without looking up. "Go. If I leave now the boy dies. Take Choji and Naruto with you. I can do this. Oh, and please knock the mother out. I don't want her to panic."

Anko-sensei looked for a moment as if she wanted to argue, but obviously thought better of it. With a sigh she turned around and did something to the mother of the boy that had her slumping on one of the chairs. _'Her name is Tsunami.'_ A moment later she left the house along with Naruto and Choji. Hinata concentrated on saving her patient's young life.

* * *

><p>Their speed was so great that the trees seemed to simply fly by, but suddenly the woods ended abruptly. Before them stretched a mist-covered body of water without any clearly discernible bounds. Anko cursed, they had evidently followed the wrong direction and missed the bridge. She ran a few meters on the water to get a better look at the coastline in both directions. The ever-present thin fog made it difficult to see things at any sort of real distance.<p>

'_Nope, no bridge in sight. If I were a bridge, where would I hide?' _Anko thought.

"Anko-sensei, that bank of mist way over there looks funny." Choji interrupted her musings while pointing in one direction.

After a few seconds Anko saw what her pupil meant. Another drifting bank of fog had obscured it when she had looked in that direction, but now it was clear. In fact, it was really obvious if you knew what to look for. The cloud in the distance rose almost two dozen meters in height, thereby dwarfing the natural fog that surrounded it. Additionally it seemed far denser.

"Good job spotting it, Choji. That thing isn't natural but the product of a technique. It has been some time since I last saw it, but it looks like the hidden mist jutsu, a signature technique of Kiri. Now follow me, we must hurry." said Anko before taking off at full speed.

'_Shit, the fighting has obviously already started. I hope the genin are still alive._'

As they reduced the distance, they could finally make out the bridge, or at least the part that wasn't shrouded by the technique. Suddenly the mist dispersed, and the view wasn't pretty. The three genin of Team 7 were lying on the ground looking like pincushions, either unconscious or dead. An injured Kakashi was restrained by two persons while a third figure bleeding from several wounds was administering a brutal beating. A fourth figure in the garb of a Kiri hunter nin was slowly walking in the direction of a fifth person who seemed to be quivering so strong that she could see it from afar. Judging from the positioning that was probably the client Team 7 had been hired to protect. A few other bodies were lying around that obviously belonged to the villagers. Anko immediately signaled a halt to Naruto and Choji who looked at her with questioning expressions.

'_Damn, damn, damn; they already have been defeated. If we make one wrong move they all die. Fortunately they seem to concentrate on Kakashi and ignore their surroundings._'

Then she spotted movement on the seaward side of the bridge. A large force of mercenaries was marching in the direction of the battle. Naruto took a good whiff of the air and began signaling her that he had identified the targets they had been sent to find.

'_Great, nothing can ever be easy, can it? Those are the guys the fucker at the client's house mentioned. They obviously want to finish whatever party survives the battle. The nuke-nin are probably already tired, wounded and low on chakra. That means they won't put up too much of a fight. The mercenaries can always swamp them with numbers. If we engage the nuke-nin the mercenaries will attack us from behind. If we attack the mercenaries the nuke-nin will finish off Team 7 before engaging us._'

Her mind was working furiously, there had to be something they could do. Absentmindedly she noticed that the mercenaries had several bows with them that they were preparing to use. She had a healthy respect for ranged weapons; they were one of the few things that could bring down even skilled shinobi with relative ease. Especially with so many threats acting as a distraction.

'_If you have two problems sometimes they cancel each other out. We should let them fight each other. It's either already too late for the genin or they are unconscious and nobody will bother with them until after the battle. Could be hard on Kakashi, but he can take care of himself and I never liked the guy anyway. That leaves the surviving mercenaries for us to deal with. Let's see, the battlefield is a relative narrow bridge. Due to Kakashi's mission I'm not allowed to destroy the thing, which rules out almost all my area-effect jutsu. In these conditions I could easily hit one of our guys and in such a mass battle I can't take the time for techniques anyway or someone would target me while I'm distracted. There are too many opponents to fight simultaneously; at least some of them would get some lucky hits in on this cramped battlefield if I attack head on. Same goes for Naruto; that leaves the Akimichi… wait… Akimichi… narrow space with no room to dodge…That's it_!'

Suddenly Anko's eyes widened and she began to grin maniacally. Quickly she used sign language to give her orders. Both genin nodded and Choji left running parallel to the bridge to get behind the mercenaries. There he would hide until he received the signal to attack. Naruto and she would stay hidden close to the brewing confrontation. As soon as the time was right they would off the most dangerous targets from a distance and let Choji handle the rest while they picked off the stragglers. Still, there was one bit of preparation she had to do beforehand. Hopefully her summons were in a good mood. Anko bit into her thumb and made some hand signs.

"Summoning Technique" she whispered.

With puffs of smoke that were almost invisible in the omnipresent fog five man-sized greenish-blue sea snakes appeared in the water. Anko showed each one of the scraps of cloth holding the scent of their targets which they had acquired all the way back in the port city.

"I want you to hide in the water under the bridge. The moment I give the signal I want you to jump onto the bridge, paralyze the humans matching these scents and carry them to the shore of the island. There one of you is to guard them until I come to collect them. The others are to return to the bridge and eliminate all humans that try to escape via swimming. Understood?" Anko told them in a barely audible whisper.

All serpents made a nodding motion before speedily swimming away. Anko let out a breath of relief. Unfortunately she couldn't take the cooperation of her snakes for granted, but this time they seemed willing to follow her orders. She motioned for Naruto to follow her before she made her way closer to the bridge.

No sooner had they taken their positions behind some support beams they heard the typical TWANG of released bowstrings. None of the missing nin seemed to notice; they were too focused on Kakashi who had lost consciousness by now. The fourth enemy had almost reached the old man who was cowering on the ground and judging from the brownish-yellow puddle that formed under him had just lost control of his bowels.

The biggest enemy was obviously Zabuza Momoichi, and he was about to swing his giant sword to take off Kakashi's head. Before he could begin his swing the arrows hit. Around a dozen clattered uselessly on the bridge having missed their intended targets, but others had been more successful. Both of the enemies holding Kakashi were falling to the ground dead, each having been hit by several arrows. The one to the left had been hit through the heart if she was any judge, while the one to the right had one lodged directly in his skull. Zabuza had been somewhat luckier in avoiding instant death; he had one arrow sticking from his leg, two from his chest and one through his right shoulder. Miraculously Kakashi hadn't been hit. The fourth nuke-nin had gotten off the easiest due to his larger distance from the mercenaries; he had only a single arrow lodged in his side and another through his right arm. He was now rushing back to the side of Zabuza. Said ninja had turned towards the newcomers.

"Gato! What are you doing here you scumbag?" Zabuza roared.

"Hehehe isn't it obvious? The plan has changed. Well, actually I planned to do this from the beginning. Zabuza, I'm going to have you killed here. I never planned on paying you any money." the miniscule man replied with a wide grin from amidst his thugs.

"What! But why?"

Gato harrumphed. "Hiring normal ninja from a village is expensive and they may betray me. So I get you nuke-nin who are easy to take care of afterwards. I have the ninjas battle each other and once they're weakened I kill them off with numbers. It doesn't cost me anything. Good plan don't you think?"

Anko was far from happy. '_Why did that dwarf had to come here personally. He's on the forbidden to kill list. That makes the job a lot more complicated._'

Meanwhile Zabuza had broken off the shafts of the arrows sticking in his flesh to regain some mobility, acting as if he didn't have a care in the world. His partner in crime stood tall beside him, showing no sign of his injuries bothering him. Both presented an image of strength, but to Anko's trained eye it was hollow. Zabuza had already been wounded in his fight with Kakashi and his almost imperceptibly changed breathing indicated damage to his lungs while his right arm hung limply at his side. The countless rivulets of blood streaming from his wounds alone would cause him to lose consciousness soon if he didn't stop the flow. The fake hunter nin had a rigidity to his stance that spoke of a great deal of pain that was suppressed for the moment. None of the injuries seemed immediately life-threatening, but both would need medical attention very soon. It was unlikely that they would be able to escape in their state; their only hope was to kill or chase off the mercenaries.

Zabuza chose this moment to spit out some blood and chuckle darkly. "It seems you were right Haku, the little piggy really planned to betray us from the beginning. That means we get to feast on some PORK CHOPS!"

Both missing nin catapulted themselves towards Gato.

"That's enough, kill them!" came Gato's cry.

"Ice Release: Ice Spike"

Anko whistled soundlessly as a tall spike of ice erupted from the ground under the first row of the enemies, impaling one mercenary in the process and hurting several others. Zabuza used the spike as springboard to bridge the distance between himself and Gato. Unfortunately for him his injured leg slid away slightly as he made the jump, landing him in the middle of the mercenaries instead directly on top of Gato as he had planned. His accomplice had entered the broken ranks on ground level and tried to make his own way towards the shipping magnate. With a mighty left-handed swing of his sword Zabuza decapitated the five closest mercenaries before resuming his approach, battering away every enemy that dared to step between him and his chosen victim. For a moment it almost seemed as if he would reach his goal as only three men remained between him and Gato, but it was not to be.

Zabuza had just relieved one of the mercenaries approaching from the side of his leg via a back-handed swing of his sword. In contrast to the former victims this one kept his cool head. He rammed his spear into the ground to successfully change the direction of his fall. Instead of falling away from Zabuza, the man turned towards him and was now directly in his unprotected back. The nuke-nin had obviously already discounted the wounded mercenary as a threat, and why not? These untrained thugs were obviously no real danger to a trained shinobi of Zabuza's caliber. Every one of them he had wounded so far had broken down and clutched his injuries instead of continuing the fight. This arrogance proved to be his undoing. The spearman used the few precious moments that the former swordsman of the mist remained in his reach to draw a knife from his belt and ram it in a fluid motion directly into Zabuza's back.

In many ways it was a very lucky hit. Had the blade impacted only slightly differently it would have scraped over the bone, causing a painful but in the end not debilitating wound. Unfortunately for the Devil of the Mist the knife seemed to have damaged his spine. Zabuza screamed in pain and surprise as his legs gave out from under him. The mercenary before him used this chance to plant his own spiked mace in Zabuza's left shoulder, making him lose the grip on his giant sword. He had barely hit the ground before the rest of the mercenaries descended on him, their weapons rising and descending in a frenzy.

"ZABUZA-SAMA!"

The masked nin had abandoned his own fight and was now desperately trying to reach his fallen master. His mad dash was cut short by a thug clubbing him on his head from behind. He immediately fell to the ground unconscious.

The expression on Gato's face changed slowly from terrified to exultant as Zabuza's sudden death registered. He moved slowly to the cruelly mutilated corpse of the now deceased nuke-nin. The thugs respectfully gave way to their employer who bent down to get a better look at the body that was almost hacked to pieces.

"So, you punk wanted to carve me up like a pig? Looks to me like you shouldn't have played with sharp objects. The devil of the Mist? What a joke, if you ask me you were just a cute little baby devil, right men? Now patch the wounded up, we have to teach these uppity bastards of Wave a lesson. Oh, and all of you get a nice fat bonus for taking down this freak."

At that the mercenaries cheered for their boss. The danger was past, the ninja dead while they were alive and they would soon get to a bit of pillaging. Even better, they got paid for that. A shame about the dead and wounded, but what could one do? Life went on regardless.

The height-challenged man had meanwhile left the protective envelope of his mercenaries and was addressing the bridge builder. "Too bad old man, you were so close to your goal. Only a few days more and you would have completed your beloved bridge. I'm feeling merciful, so I won't separate you from it even in death. Every bridge needs a sign, don't you agree? Your decaying corpse will make a fine one." Gato's eyes fell on the unconscious nuke-nin. "Oh yeah, I owe that one for dislocating my arm. Men, before you kill this one you can have a little fun with him. After that, kill the leaf nin and make sure no trace of the bodies can be found."

'_Okay, that does it! With the last command you took yourself from the protected list, little man. We can always lay your death at the nuke-nin's feet. Now's the time;_ _Fire Release: Fire arrow_' Anko thought.

The short shipping magnate was about to go back behind the wall of his mercenaries when a single arrow made of fire shot high into the air. Almost all the mercenaries were momentarily distracted by the fiery missile, creating a perfect opportunity for an attack. Anko and Naruto sprinted from on side of the bridge to the other, hurling weapons all the way. Gato and six of the mercenaries that still had their bows ready were killed by kunai or throwing knives to lethal spots. At the same time several large serpents sprang out of the water, coiled around their targets and jumped back. After finishing her attack run Anko took cover behind a support beam on the other side of the bridge and started making hand signs.

'_Perfect timing, I only need to close the trap. __Fire Release: Wall of Fire_'

A stream of flames shot out of Anko's mouth and formed a barrier larger than a man, effectively cutting the mercenaries off from the injured Leaf shinobi. Not knowing what was happening and without their leader said mercenaries were thrown into chaos. Her part of the trap was set; now it was Choji's turn.

* * *

><p>Choji climbed the bridge far behind the main mercenary force. He had just disabled the few guards left on the boats the mercenaries had used to get here. It had been pathetically easy. Most of them were completely untrained and didn't even pay attention to their surroundings. He wasn't an expert in sneaking around and inconspicuously killing people, but even a normal genin would have managed that without any problems. He took his time to carefully examine the bridge.<p>

'_Very solid and robust. Good. That means the thing won't collapse under my increased weight.'_

When he saw the fire arrow he knew it was time.

'Massive Human Boulder Technique'

Choji could feel himself swell to massive size until he was large enough to fill almost the complete available width of the bridge. Tucking his limbs and head safely away he began expelling chakra to get going. It was much slower than the basic human boulder technique, but that was by design. The self-created variant he had just used traded speed and rotation for massively increased mass and greater resilience. It wouldn't be useful against enemies who could dodge, but on the narrow bridge there was simply no room for the mercenaries to evade him.

Practically all Akimichi jutsu dealt with the interrelated complex of mass, volume and density. He wasn't a jutsu creator like Naruto or Mizuki-sensei, but he could fiddle around with the techniques he knew. Especially because he could always ask one or both of them for help.

Finally reaching the speed he felt comfortable with he had nothing to do but maintain the technique and wait. It would be a slaughter when he reached the ranks of the mercenaries.

* * *

><p>A malicious smile appeared on Anko's face when a grinding sound started behind the mercenaries. After a few moments a giant rolling ball came into view as it sped towards their enemies. It filled almost the entire width of the bridge, leaving them no room to dodge.<p>

As the ball reached the mercenaries the sounds of its movement changed. Before it had been the grinding of stone, but now these sounds were replaced by the cries of pain, the breaking of bones and the squishy plopping of flesh submitted to a far too high pressure. Against the stone-hard surface of the bridge men were ground to paste while blood splattered in all directions. Terror gripped the mercenaries, and they tried to escape. Some jumped over the edge of the bridge, but their death cries only moments later signaled that this avenue of escape was closed. A few desperate ones braced the flame barrier and jumped through. Still smoldering or burning, they were immediately killed by Naruto while Anko concentrated on maintaining the barrier. The surrounding ocean was turning red from all the blood that flowed in streams from the bridge.

Despite its blazing flames the barrier was surprisingly transparent, making the carnage clearly visible to all who cared to watch. That number included a terrified Tazuna and several villagers who had come to investigate the ruckus. After a few seconds almost all of them hurried to the edge of the bridge to puke their guts out. Not all of them made it that far. The reek of vomit mixed with the stench of blood and human bowels as the seemingly unstoppable ball of doom cut its path through the mercenaries. Weapons simply bounced off or were crushed underneath together with their wielders. Begs for mercy were uttered and promptly ignored.

Finally, Choji made it to a stop a short distance from the barrier. The few mercenaries he didn't crush were killed by the precisely thrown weapons of Naruto. Gasping in relief Anko ended her jutsu. The summoning of the snakes beforehand combined with the strain of maintaining the extended barrier for so long in this wet climate had taken a lot out of her, especially because she still hadn't recovered completely from her illness. After inhaling a few deep breaths she made her way to Choji while Naruto made sure all mercenaries where safely dead.

The boy had returned to his normal size and was wiping the blood from his face, looking very pale as he surveyed the destruction caused by him. He was coated from head to toe in the red liquid and was beginning to tremble. As far as Anko could make out under the layer of blood he was sporting only a few minor cuts, so at least it wasn't related to serious injuries on his part.

'_Oh shit he is going into shock. It's probably not directly because of the carnage; the Jashin worshippers on the last mission were worse in some respects and he was relatively fine. No, it's most likely because this time he himself slaughtered a mass of enemies in one go. At other times it was more personal, he could see the individual enemies. I keep forgetting they are still relatively fresh. I have to do something; I must keep him functional…That could work._'

She gripped Choji's shoulders and turned him towards her. "Look at me Choji. Everything is fine; you did what you had to."

"But… but… I killed so many."

"To kill our enemies is one of our duties as shinobi of the Leaf. Granted, it's seldom this bloody, but it still occurs more often than one would think." It was indeed true. As bad as the scene of the slaughter was, it didn't even make it into her personal top twenty, not counting the things she had seen in Orochimaru's laboratories.

"Some of them might not have deserved to die." Choji mumbled.

Anko enveloped him in a hug, not caring about the blood that stained her own clothing. "You know what sort of men our targets where, and you have seen what the other thugs of Gato did here in Wave. Do you really think someone who wasn't the worst sort of scum that exists would work for a man like Gato?"

"…No."

"You did what you did to protect your comrades and a client. Would you want one of your friends to die because you took the risk to let an obvious enemy live? Now pull yourself together, Team 7 still needs our help." Anko said while pulling back and looking him into the eyes.

Finally the trembling stopped and Choji took a deep breath. "You're right Anko-sensei. Thanks for your help. I think I'm okay now."

Anko maintained her grip for a few moments longer to ensure Choji had overcome the crisis for now. She would need to have a long talk with him later. It seemed he was the one person on her team who had some problems with killing. Well, it was probably too much to ask for all of her genin to be cold-blooded killers. After she released him she joined Naruto in checking the enemies for survivors and sent Choji to look after Team 7. It would not do to have a surviving enemy perform a surprise attack while they cared for their injured comrades. Most of the mercenaries were clearly dead, but she had to slit a few throats. Considering the injuries it was always an act of mercy.

After she finished looking for survivors she approached the still forms of Team 7. Naruto was still busy with a particularly large heap of bodies. Choji was in the process of cleaning the worst wounds of Kakashi. To her immense relief the pink-haired kunoichi as well as the last Uchiha were still alive if unconscious. Judging from the placements of the senbon needles that stuck in their bodies they would stay that way for quite a while, but weren't in any actual danger. Anko got a surprise as she examined the pineapple-haired Nara boy. She had expected him to be knocked out like his teammates, but despite looking like a pincushion he had his eyes wide open and roaming the scene.

She knelt down beside him. "Huh, you're still awake but can't move kiddo? That has to suck. I have to knock you out temporarily; the removal of the needles will be quite painful otherwise. If you understand me move your eyes up and down three times."

The boy seemed to understand her and moved his eyes as requested. She quickly used one of the senbon she carried herself to knock him out for a while. After that she began to carefully remove the needles from the three genin. It was slow work because she had to occasionally use her own needles to relax specific muscle groups of her patients lest she injure them further by removing the needles too forcefully. She looked up as she felt someone approach.

"W-w-who are you?" asked a visibly shaken Tazuna.

Anko rolled her eyes and tapped her headband. "As you can see we're from Konoha. We were in the area because of a different mission and more or less stumbled upon you due to chance. Now I suggest you leave me alone and let me work in peace before my patience runs out." She gave a lazy wave with her hand. Because she was still holding several bloody senbon she had extracted from the pink-haired one several drops of blood splattered across Tazuna's face. It didn't help her image that her front was coated in blood from hugging Choji. "Look after the bodies of your buddies or something."

Tazuna managed a faint nod before he scampered away as quickly as he could. The rest of the increasing number of villagers kept their distance as well. Apparently nobody wanted to possibly irritate the shinobi that had just slaughtered over a hundred of the thugs that had oppressed them for years.

Anko had seen no need to be especially polite as she was pretty sure the client had lied about the mission. There was simply no way the Hokage would have sent a fresh team of genin to protect the client against someone like Gato. That would have been a B- or possible A-rank mission from the outset, depending on the quality of the expected opposition. As Zabuza had been an A-rank nuke-nin and had worked with several accomplices she would have pegged it as solid A-rank, but it was possible that this fact had been unknown to the client at the beginning.

But there was another thing that bothered her. Zabuza and the demon brothers had obviously encountered Kakashi before on this mission. Why the hell did the man continue the mission instead of abandoning it because of breach of contract or at least sending for help? She knew he could summon dogs and would therefore be able to send a message to Konoha in a relatively short timeframe. Oh well, definite answers would have to wait until she could question one of the members of Team 7.

Anko was just finished with the Uchiha when she saw Naruto carrying the bound body of the fourth nuke-nin, the one wearing a mask that looked suspiciously like belonging to a Kiri hunter nin. He was still breathing despite the arrows stuck in his torso and arm. She looked at her blond genin questioningly.

"This guy here is still alive; Choji didn't reach his position. From what we saw earlier he was throwing ice jutsu around. I figured the guys at home would like to have a chat with him. If it's a bloodline he may even be allowed to join the village if he behaves reasonably. I already sealed the bodies of Zabuza, his sword and the other two guys." Naruto explained while tapping four scrolls on his belt after putting his load carefully on the ground.

Not in the last perturbed by his attitude Anko nodded. "Good thinking. It always pays to get on the good side of the research guys. They like it to get new study objects every so often. If it is a bloodline or if they learn how the guy's jutsu work you can expect a hefty bonus."

Naruto nodded back and went to help Choji treat Kakashi. She was really proud of him and her other students. They showed the proper professional attitude while retaining their sanity and acting their age from time to time, but always in secure environments. Anko had a very low opinion of some of the other jonin-sensei that coddled their students in an attempt to 'preserve their childhood' or some such rubbish. She had even heard that some of them had sent their genin into chunin exams without a single kill to their name. The only thing they achieved was that their genin weren't ready when they had to face one of the harsher realities of the shinobi lifestyle. Personally she held to the belief that it was better to face the ugly truth as quickly and completely as possible. Sure, it was painful, but once one had the silly illusions stripped away one was far stronger and better prepared to deal with the unavoidable problems. That was the reason she had actually sought out some bandits on their first C-rank mission. Better to get the first kills and all the assorted problems out of the way at the beginning in a controlled fashion instead of making it a drawn out affair or relying on chance. If one genin was unable to kill it was better to learn that fact sooner rather than later when the lives of others might depend on it.

Anko shook her head to clear her mind. Choji had recruited some of the villagers to build improvised stretchers and was already putting the wounded on them. Others were now beginning to check the mercenaries' remains; probably to part the dead from their valuables. She and her team were just leaving with the unconscious bodies of Team 7 when some of the more hardened villagers found the body of Gato. She heard some of the conversation before she was out of earshot.

"Hey, is that Gato? He looks far smaller than I thought." "Everyone looks small when half their body is crushed you dimwit.""No way that is Gato, the man is far too rich to be so easily defeated." "Idiot, having a heap of money doesn't make you harder to kill." "Yeah, these Konoha shinobi were really badass even if some of them were only children." "The woman especially was hot; scary as hell but hot." "Don't let your wife hear that or you will be sleeping on the couch for months." "Enough of that banter, what do we do with the corpse of the greedy bugger here?" "I have an idea, let's…"

As they were leaving the battlefield behind Anko relished the clean air. She wondered how Naruto and his enhanced sense of smell dealt with the stench. Or how the Inuzaka did it for that matter. Speaking of Naruto, the boy seemed to be increasingly nervous while looking at the body of the fake hunter nin. Perhaps a case of after-battle jitters? It was probably the wisest move to investigate immediately. She fell back until she was walking right beside him.

"Hey Naruto, what's the matter? Having any problems with the battle you care to share?" she asked in a low voice.

Naruto looked at her and sighed. "No, it's not that. You remember the kunoichi in disguise I met while gathering herbs that I told you about? Well, this one", he pointed at the fake hunter nin," has the same scent she did. I only noticed now when my nose finally stopped being overpowered by the smell of blood and guts. Before the battle I really only paid attention to the scent of our primary targets."

Anko patted his shoulder. "Don't worry; it wasn't important in the end. There are always more things in a battle that you should have paid attention to than the amount of concentration you can actually spare. The trick is to instinctively prioritize, and you're doing fine in that area."

Having nothing more to say they continued to Tazuna's house. Anko entered the house alone to prepare the space for the wounded. There she found an exhausted Hinata drinking tea while an overjoyed Tsunami was tidying up the room.

"Judging from your mood you were able to save the life of the kid?" Anko asked.

"It was very difficult and touch and go for a while, b-but the child will live. He will have an i-impressive scar though. I'm simply not g-good enough yet to prevent the scarring of such a large wound. I even had to sew the w-wound shut, my medical chakra wasn't enough. He is sleeping now." Hinata replied tiredly.

Tsunami said sternly "Hyuuga-sama, don't sell yourself short. I know nobody who could have done what you did. Even at the time when we still had a doctor, he would never have been able to save my son." Tears started appearing in the woman's eyes."I know without you my son would have surely died. We will be eternally in your debt." The implications of the presence of the female jonin finally registered with Tsunami and her eyes widened. "You're back. What happened at the bridge? Is my father okay? What of the enemy ninja? Was Gato really there? Oh god, is that blood on you?"

Anko chuckled. "In reverse order: Yes that is blood but not mine, Gato is dead together with the army of thugs he brought with him, the enemy shinobi are either dead or captured, your father is fine and is in fact waiting outside. I didn't tell him about the danger you and your son were in by the way. We arrived at the bridge in the nick of time and were able to turn the battle into our favor." She turned to Hinata. "All member of Team 7 were wounded and are currently unconscious. We also have a captive with us who has an arrow wound with the arrow still not removed. I know you are tired, but would you look them over? You are already a better medic than I ever was."

Hinata nodded while Tsunami left the house to speak to her father. In the doorway she almost collided with Naruto who entered the house in that moment, followed by the stretchers with the wounded. Hinata sighed and got to work. She first checked the three genin of Team 7 but quickly moved on to Kakashi.

"Good work with the b-bandages. Kakashi has mainly flesh wounds and b-bruising. Some of his ribs have cracks b-but are not in danger of breaking. His injuries l-look worse than they are, but his chakra levels are very l-low. I think he experienced severe chakra exhaustion a s-short time ago and fought again before he was completely ready. Additionally there are t-traces of a paralyic poison in his bloodstream. He will h-hurt for a few d-days but should m-make a complete recovery." Hinata commented while examining Kakashi.

Then she moved on to their prisoner.

"This one h-has no immediate life threatening injuries, but the a-arrows did some internal d-damage. Aside from that the p-patient has a severe concussion." She looked up from the injured towards Anko. "I c-can't do anything for these four at the moment, we should let them awaken naturally. Tomorrow I w-will heal their wounds further, but I need to conserve my chakra for now. The prisoner I need to operate, the s-sooner the better."

After Anko gave her assent, the boys put the enemy kunoichi on the freshly cleaned table. After making sure they weren't needed anymore the villagers left the house to talk with Tazuna and spread the word of Gato's defeat. After taking care of the arm wound Hinata assisted by Naruto and Choji had to cut away the enemy kunoichi's clothing to properly treat the arrow wound in her torso. As she removed some tight chest wrappings of their prisoner two perfectly formed medium-sized breasts came into view. Choji's eyes widened in surprise for a moment and both he and Naruto blushed and tried to ignore the kunoichi's assets.

'_Right, Choji didn't know the fake hunter nin is a girl. Well, no hiding that fact now. It's even a good learning experience, can't have my genin easily distracted by some exposed flesh._' Anko thought.

Hinata removed the feathered rear end of the arrow and had the boys turn the body on the side. Then she proceeded to carefully push the arrow through the remaining flesh out of the other side. With arrow wounds it was always a judgment call if it was better to cut the wound open directly and remove the arrowhead or push it through in case it was a barbed arrow that might do more damage if you tried to pull it out. Hinata's byakugan offered a priceless advantage, as she could see directly into the body and adjust accordingly. It really was a shame the Hyuuga were so exclusively hung up on their fighting style that none of them became medic nins. After Hinata finished removing the arrow she cleaned the wound with some alcohol probably raided from the client's sake supply.

"Good, the w-wound is relatively clean; n-nothing important was hit that I can't fix. S-Some light internal damage, but I can handle it. It probably won't even leave a scar. " Hinata commented while she used her medical techniques to stop the bleeding.

While she observed the young Hyuuga bandage the prisoner Anko was already busy planning their next actions. Out loud she said "After you finish here, go and clean up. That goes double for you, boys. We'll meet again in half an hour; I have some prisoners to secure." After her genin gave their acceptance she left to a certain beach to relieve her summoned snakes.

* * *

><p>Sometime later the wounded were placed in the rooms upstairs, the wounded kunoichi was secured in an extra room and the still paralyzed prisoners that Anko had retrieved were bound and locked up in a shed nearby. Tsunami was tending to her son and Tazuna was out somewhere in the village attending the spontaneous festival upon Gato's death. The last Naruto had heard, the villagers had nailed Gato's corpse to a pole and paraded him around the village. He idly wondered if they intended to keep him for a while or burn him in a bonfire.<p>

All team members had cleaned themselves up and were sitting in Tazuna's living room. Naruto and Hinata shared a couch with Hinata on the verge of dozing off, her head secure on Naruto's shoulder. He was quite happy with this arrangement and was busy checking his knifes and assorted weapons for damage. Choji sat in an armchair munching on the contents of one of his ever-present bag of chips. Anko had commandeered a chair with a high backrest and was sitting the wrong way around, with her arms supported on the backrest.

"I only have only a few words to say before we turn in for a well-deserved rest. Good work from all of you. The mission was unexpectedly difficult, but your conduct was exemplary. Unfortunately, there are still a few things we have to do tomorrow." She paused for a moment. "Naruto, you are the freshest of us as well as the one with the least need for sleep and have first watch. Wake me around midnight so you can grab a few hours of shut-eye. I will wake you all at four o'clock. Hinata will check the wounded before she, Naruto and I pay a little visit to Gato's mansion on the island. I got the location from one of the villagers, and it is distant enough that nobody should have gotten around to plundering it yet. We should be back before noon if we use our full speed. Choji, you have guard duty at the house until we return. Now off to bed with you!"

* * *

><p>Choji watched the first signs of dawn slowly creep over the sky. Guard duty was rather boring, but he appreciated the free time. It gave him the opportunity to come to terms with what he had done yesterday.<p>

He didn't think he had any problems with killing per se, but yesterday had been a massacre. It was different from before. His first kill had been over before he had really time to process it. On the last mission he had been far too busy with staying alive to think much about it. This time he had slaughtered men who were effectively defenseless against him. Oh, they hadn't been innocents, but it was still difficult for him.

'_I suppose I'm just too kind-hearted, but it won't keep me from doing what must be done.'_

The Akimichi heir sighed. The feeling of him rolling over the bodies of the mercenaries, their bones breaking under his weight and their pained cries were still etched into his memory. Shaking these thought off he completed another round and decided to check up on the other inhabitants of the house.

Tazuna was sleeping off the alcohol he had imbibed during yesterday's festivities; Tsunami had finally fallen asleep after spending the night at the side of her unconscious son; Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke would be out until sometime tomorrow according to Hinata. The only one who might wake earlier was Shikamaru, but his old friend was still sleeping soundly when Choji checked his status. Perhaps they would get some answers out of him how Team 7 came to be in this mess. Anko's five prisoners would remain paralyzed until someone applied an antidote and the kunoichi named Haku wasn't waking anytime soon either. Hinata had made sure of that before she left.

Two hours later Tsunami had woken and made herself busy in the kitchen. Choji used the opportunity to unobtrusively question her a bit. Yesterday's questioning had been rather hectic, but now there wasn't much else to do. Soon enough he knew her entire story of her life. There were a few interesting facts about Team 7 and her father's plans among the information Choji gleaned, but mostly it was an exercise in information gathering.

Tsunami was already preparing lunch when Choji noticed people approaching the house. To his relief it was the rest of the team. "Did you find something interesting?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged. "A whole lot of documents about Gato's businesses, his diary and some cash. There wasn't that much there; apparently Gato didn't spend much time at his mansion. We managed to find Zabuza's hideout on the way back. It was mostly empty, but Hinata found some scrolls with water and ice techniques. How are things here?"

"Nothing to report; Tsunami is up but all the others are still out. She seems to be dealing okay, all things considered." Choji answered.

"Good, that will give us time to go over this stuff. Hinata, I would like you to check everyone again. Choji, you can help Naruto and me with the documents." Anko commanded.

Most documents were of a rather complicated financial nature, but Gato's diary helped him understand everything. Apparently the whole Wave situation was part of a complicated plot of the diminutive shipping magnate. He never truly wanted to control Wave; it was only the bait in a trap. When he began isolating Wave from the outside world it served to drain the land of funds. Interestingly the creation of his monopoly did cost him more than he could ever hope to regain from the populace. No, the real purpose was that the natives could no longer fund the building of the bridge even if they wanted to.

Through careful control of information he made the bridge project appear as a worthwhile investment, causing several of his business rivals to spend a lot of money to complete it. Through a series of complex financial maneuvers that made Choji's head hurt Gato had achieved a position that allowed him to take control of his rivals' companies if they didn't manage to get the bridge up and running at a certain date. In the past he had used different nuke-nin to sabotage the project and gobble up the involved companies several times after they failed their deadlines. After that he had always disposed of those shinobi, both because of simple greed and to silence them. Zabuza had only been the last in a long line of victims of that policy.

One thing became clear: Gato didn't really want the bridge destroyed. That would have been easily possible for a long time. After all, there had been no shinobi around to defend the bridge until Tazuna hired Team 7. He was pretty clear in his diary that once he had milked this project for all it was worth he was perfectly content in completing the bridge and loosening his economic chokehold. Tazuna's assassination had only been ordered because he had the necessary knowledge to unveil all the sordid details about his dealings with different financiers if someone started digging. Well, that and he was no longer necessary to complete the project. The bridge builder had been a mostly unwitting pawn in Gato's plans. That wasn't to say that the man was innocent. Far from it, he had been playing one financier against another to get the money. If they still had been in business the bridge would have belonged to seven different owners – each convinced that he was the sole owner. Without Gato's interference the bridge would never have been built in the first place. Tazuna's web of lies and false promises would have come crashing down long before that.

Sitting up, Choji shook his head. "I can't say I'm not impressed. Gato's plan wasn't bad, but he overdid it with the oppression and atrocities. If he had been less greedy and needlessly cruel he would have gotten away with everything without anyone important noticing."

"Umm, what are you talking about? I can't make heads or tails out of these numbers." Naruto said.

A look at Anko-sensei and Naruto showed him that they really didn't understand. Choji blinked. Apparently helping his father deal with the clan's finances and economic enterprises had given him more insight into these things than he had thought. A lengthy explanation later Anko and Naruto did understand the general plan, even if the financial details eluded them.

"We have to trust your word. I don't really understand enough economics and finance to make sense out of these documents. It sounds logical though. Anything else we should know about?" Anko asked.

Choji leafed through the remaining documents. "Well, there are a lot of illegal deals. Drug dealing, smuggling, things like that. Oh, and a whole lot of tax evasion. I don't think we will be in trouble for killing Gato if the proper authorities learn of this. It seems Gato paid less than half the taxes he should have, even accounting for bribes."

Anko nodded thoughtfully. "Good. I have access to the proper channels to do that. Anything we can take without rousing suspicion?"

Rubbing his chin, Choji took a moment to think about it. "Perhaps. Most of the funds and companies are on file elsewhere, meaning we can't take them over. They will be either given to Gato's heirs or confiscated by the Fire daimyo's government. There are a few black funds we can access with the documents I have here. Oh, and we will get the tolls of the bridge traffic. That is obscured by so many layers that nobody will know. Everything is already set up for the establishment of a toll station at the mainland side. The money will be funneled into one of the black accounts we have access to. We don't even have to do anything. Access is a slight problem, but I believe we can solve that. There isn't enough information about Gato's other illegal activities her to make use of them."

"Good. I know it isn't exactly by the book, but I want you to keep these things to yourself. We might need these funds in the future. Is that a problem for you?" Anko asked.

Choji shared a look with Naruto. "I don't think so, sensei."

In the early afternoon Shikamaru finally woke up. Choji was just checking up on his childhood friend when he opened his eyes and blinked at his surroundings. "Ugh. What happened? Did I dream everything?"

Choji smiled. "Welcome back in the land of the living, Shika. You had me worried when we saw you at the bridge. How are you feeling?"

"I'm hurting all over. How troublesome."

"Well, you gave a pretty good impression of a pin cushion. Are you up for an interview? Anko-sensei really wants to know what happened. Your teammates are all unconscious." Choji said.

Shikamaru sighed. "I guess it can't be avoided. Bring her in."

A few minutes later Choji, Hinata and Naruto sat nearby while Anko questioned the young Nara and uncovered an unbelievable string of idiocy. Tazuna had lied about the mission as they had suspected. Team 7 had discovered that fact two days out of Konoha when the Demon Brothers had attacked them. After the revelation of the real background of the mission Kakashi had decided to continue their mission while leaving the Demon brothers tied up behind.

Anko had visibly problems with controlling her temper before calming down. "That irresponsible idiot. You simply don't leave enemy shinobi behind without guard. Judging from the fact that the two were on the bridge they managed to free themselves. Why in the world did you continue the mission?"

Shikamaru seemed very uncomfortable. "Kakashi-sensei gave us the choice. Sasuke wanted to continue and Sakura always supports him. It would have been too troublesome to argue."

It continued in that vein. They had been ambushed by Zabuza upon entering Wave and only quick thinking on Shikamaru's part and a lot of luck saved Kakashi from dying inside Zabuza's water prison. Then they had been deceived by Zabuza's accomplice who had posed as a Kiri hunter nin and disappeared with Zabuza's body. The genin hadn't been injured, but Kakashi had come down with chakra exhaustion. When he had woken up he had made no effort of getting his team to safety or calling for help. The only thing he did do was showing his team tree walking.

"Tree walking? You are telling me he just taught you tree walking? What good was that supposed to do you against someone like Zabuza? More importantly, what the hell did he teach you in the three months he had you?" Anko asked flabbergasted.

Shikamaru seemed to shrink onto himself when he mumbled something like "teamwork exercises".

Anko was now becoming visibly angry. "That's it. I'm going to the Hokage as soon as we get back. This behavior is criminal. Kakashi should be sacked immediately. Was he trying to get you killed?"

After their sensei had calmed down a bit she continued asking Shikamaru about the details of the fight on the bridge. He had seen hardly anything of Kakashi's fight with Zabuza; the ice-user had taken them out on her own with ease. Apparently Sasuke had awakened his sharingan, but that didn't help him when the girl created a dome of ice mirrors. Shikamaru and Sakura had been on the outside, but nothing they could do had been able to damage the mirrors. After wiping the floor with Sasuke Haku had disabled both of them. Shikamaru didn't know why he had stayed conscious, but he had been able to observe how Kakashi had whipped out a scroll. Just as he had been opening the thing the Demon brothers had attacked, surprising the jonin. With his hands full and already wounded he hadn't been quick enough to dodge. Then he had just slumped over and Team 11 had arrived.

"Their w-weapons were coated in a paralytic poison. I found some traces in Kakashi's body. It wasn't difficult to neutralize." Hinata interjected.

"Good work, Hinata. Now Shikamaru, I want you to tell me exactly what Kakashi did with your team since you graduated."

* * *

><p>Naruto kept his eyes on their five prisoners as they were roughly shoved into their place in the hold of the ship. It had been two days since the battle on the bridge and it was time for them to leave Wave. It wasn't their mission to guard the bridge and the danger had passed anyway. The genin of Team 7 were combat-capable again, even if Kakashi was still confined to bed. He and Anko had had an ugly confrontation after he woke up. Oh, there had been no screaming, but the tone was icy and formal. There was no love lost between the two jonin. Even with his enhanced hearing Naruto had been unable to hear everything, but he overheard enough to know that their relationship was well and truly ruined.<p>

He sighed. Team 7 was really a problem case. Sasuke didn't seem to really appreciate Team 11 saving them, even if he uttered some half-hearted words of gratitude. Somehow he seemed to take the entire thing as a personal insult. Sakura had thanked them profusely, but a few hours after she woke up she was already back to fawning over Sasuke. Shikamaru was the only one of them who was truly grateful.

'_Well, he was the only one who saw us fight. Choji spent an awful lot of time talking with him. Perhaps he is finally coming around. I don't think he realized before how bad Kakashi truly is as a sensei.'_

It was one thing to glean that information from a vision of the future; seeing it play out in real life was quite another. Hinata had occasionally spied on Team 7 from afar like she did with practically all things that caught her interest, but even she hadn't suspected how bad things truly were.

'_More than three months and he taught them practically nothing. To think I would have ended up on his team without Mizuki's help…'_ Naruto shivered.

"What is the m-matter, Naruto-kun?" sounded the voice of Hinata from behind him.

"Just thinking about Kakashi and Team 7. It would have been nice if our assessment of Kakashi had been wrong. How's Haku?" he asked her while she took up a position at his side.

Hinata sighed. "Still unconscious. She took a p-pretty heavy blow to the head. There doesn't seem to be any o-obvious internal damage. If she doesn't wake up in the n-next three days I will have to take some additional measures."

Despite their prisoner's injuries Anko-sensei had decided to take her with them, probably because she didn't trust the genin of Team 7 to keep her secured. They watched in silence as the loading was finished, the lines were cast off and the ship slowly left the harbor. Some people were waving from the shore, Tazuna among them. He had spread the word of their part in Gato's defeat. The man probably hoped that all his shady dealings would be forgotten in the festivities. They had refrained from confronting him. Since the danger was over it would be the Hokage's decision on how to proceed in the matter of his deception. Tsunami's son Inari had wanted to come too, but he was still not able to leave his bed. Hinata had really worked a miracle on the boy. Naruto had hardly talked with the kid, but apparently he had taken him and Choji as his personal heroes for killing Gato.

In fact, the entire population treated them as heroes. From what Naruto had heard they even wanted to name the bridge 'The great Konoha Bridge.' Now that Gato was dead the isolation of Wave was already crumbling. Their current ride was an example of that. The ship belonged to an independent merchant who had visited the port in hopes of making a good bargain. Normally he would have been driven off by Gato's thugs, but with almost all of them dead that was a thing of the past. Wave still produced some trade goods, but there wasn't enough to fill the ship's hold. It had been a good opportunity for Team 11 to book passage along with their 'guests'.

Two and a half days later the merchant dropped them off at a beach near their destination. The man didn't want to enter the harbor - he had loaded nothing to trade there and the harbor fees were steep – but he had been amendable to interrupt the voyage to bring them ashore just out of sight of the town. Choji was carrying the still unconscious Haku while the other three kept an eye on their prisoners. They had taken no chances and chained the five together. It made traveling rather slow.

None of them had told the mercenaries what fate awaited them. In fact, the five didn't even know where they were headed. From overheard discussions they even thought themselves lucky to survive the slaughter at the bridge and expected to be thrown into jail for theft or something. Anko thought it funny to leave them in the dark. It would make guarding them much more difficult if they knew who exactly wanted them and what he would do to them.

The sun was already below the horizon when the town finally came into sight. Since the gates would be closed their sensei decided to spend the night in the woods. The next morning dawned brisk and clear.

"Okay, delivering our prisoners shouldn't take long and we are already over our planned time for this mission. I don't want to take Haku inside the city. Does one of you volunteer for guard duty?" Anko asked.

"I don't mind to do it, sensei. Choji and Hinata had to stay behind the last times; now it's my turn." Naruto said.

With no objections forthcoming Naruto was soon left alone with their unconscious prisoner. Naruto carefully checked the ropes binding the girl. It might have seemed unnecessary to tie up an unconscious prisoner, but none of them wanted to take any chances. They had even completely replaced her clothing. After making sure that all was well he busied himself with tidying up the camp.

Suddenly Naruto's ears twitched. Something was wrong. The faint noise that had gotten his attention was completely unfamiliar, but somehow it reminded him of water freezing followed by the parting of cloth. Naruto's eyes widened.

'_Ice… Shit, Haku.'_

Before he could turn around he felt an icy cold blade touch his throat.

"What did you do to Zabuza-sama?" a female voice hissed into his ear.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> And that concludes Team 11's visit to Wave. It was rather quick, but I didn't want to rehash too much of the Wave Arc. That gets done often enough. Zabuza's end was unglamorous, but considering that Gato had apparently pulled the same trick before it shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. Additionally I wanted to show that even top shinobi can be killed by normal forces under the right circumstances.

So long.


	23. Chapter 22: An unwelcome surprise

Disclaimer: Look elsewhere for ownership rights of Naruto; I don't have them.

**Chapter 22: An unwelcome surprise**

"What did you do to Zabuza-sama?"

Just as the last syllable reached Naruto's ear he completed the last hand seal necessary for a kawarimi. A moment later he found himself hidden in the foliage; just where he had originally placed a log when they made camp. It was a security feature, really. If the camp was attacked already knowing where a suitable target for a switch was located could save lives. He had started performing the jutsu as soon as he noticed something was wrong, but it had been almost too late. The burning sensation on his throat made that clear. When he carefully touched the spot he could feel blood at his fingertips. Luckily the wound was minor; Haku had only started cutting when she felt the kawarimi take effect.

'_How did Haku get free? I just checked her bounds a few minutes ago; she shouldn't have been able to make hand seals.'_

From his vantage point he could see the girl standing in the midst of the camp, holding a kunai made of ice in her right hand. As he watched mist condensed out of the air, forming several ice senbon in her other hand.

'_Well, that answers that. Apparently she is good enough to use her ice powers to form small weapons from the air moisture or create water directly. That makes things tricky.'_

"Calm down. I don't want to fight you. We don't have to be enemies." Naruto said, using his voice projection technique to prevent Haku from locating him.

Haku snorted contemptuously. "Oh? And what was I doing tied up in your camp? No, you are my enemy. I saw your headband. You belong to Konoha. Now tell me, what did you do to Zabuza-sama?"

'_What to do? She obviously doesn't remember what happened; probably because of the head injury. No sense in lying; I don't think I can come up with something convincing out of the blue.'_

Naruto hesitated for a moment. "Zabuza is dead. Gato betrayed you and killed him and your other two friends. My team arrived after that and killed Gato's men along with him. You were rendered unconscious."

Haku's tone of voice grew icy. "You lie. We checked Gato's forces. He only had a few dozen unskilled thugs in his employ. There is no way they could have won against four shinobi of our skill. Zabuza-sama had already subdued the Copycat and I had disabled the genin. The only possible explanation is that you ambushed us. Since you are alive and I'm a prisoner that means Zabuza-sama is either dead by your hand or on the run. NOW TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO HIM!"

Naruto carefully considered his options while the increasingly enraged kunoichi was standing in the middle of the camp. Haku obviously wasn't calming down. If the last thing she remembered was fighting and winning against Team 7 her actions weren't really unreasonable. Well, she seemed completely focused on Zabuza, but Naruto had no idea what the personal dynamics between the four nuke-nin had been. From Zabuza being Haku's lover, brother or father figure to beloved mentor; everything was possible. Unfortunately Naruto couldn't think of a way of resolving the situation peacefully. Zabuza was dead; there was no way around that.

He couldn't let Haku go free even he wanted to. She had attacked shinobi of the Leaf. Kakashi knew they had her prisoner. If she escaped it would constitute a black mark on their records, especially his. That was something they had to avoid. In contrast, bringing her back to the village reasonably intact would get them recognition, which would be useful for their plans. He sighed mentally. _'It seems I'll have to beat her down.'_

As soon as he came to this conclusion he left his hiding place. "Zabuza is dead. You attacked shinobi of the Leaf without provocation. Surrender and no undue harm will come to you."

Haku's anger seemed to evaporate and all emotion left her voice. "You murdered Zabuza-sama. I will kill you for that." A second later she launched her ice senbon at him, but he could dodge them easily. Then he counterattacked with his knives. Metal collided with ice and the real fight was on. The first few seconds of the battle consisted more of trying to gauge the opponent's skills than of any real attempt to harm each other. Haku fought on the level of a high genin. She was really fast and very accurate with the ice senbon she created and launched at him constantly, but her other skills were lagging behind. Her speed was actually not so fast that he couldn't keep up, but his safety margin was uncomfortably small. Fortunately he was much stronger than her and far more skilled with his weapons.

He could kill Haku with few problems, no question. His steel knives were far superior to Haku's improvised ice weapons. The difficulty was that he wanted her intact. If he could get her to switch sides she and her bloodline would serve to strengthen Konoha. The village would need all the strength it could get in the next years. Suddenly Haku's ice kunai shattered after his latest blow. She threw the shards at his eyes, forcing him to evade.

Haku used the opportunity to create some distance between them and form an unfamiliar hand seal. "I must congratulate you. You are much better than the Uchiha. But this fight ends now. Ice release: Crystal Ice Mirrors"

Suddenly big slabs of ice materialized all around him, forming a dome of mirrors. Before he could act Haku stepped inside another mirror that had formed directly by her side.

Staying inside these things didn't seem to be a good idea; Naruto remembered Shikamaru telling them about how Haku had used something like this to take down Sasuke after his awakened sharingan made it too difficult to fight him conventionally. Quickly forming the hand seals for a kawarimi he tried to escape. A moment later he cursed under his breath. He couldn't connect with any object outside the wall of mirrors.

Suddenly Haku's image appeared in every mirror. "There is no escape. You might as well give up."

Naruto gave her a mocking smile. "I don't think so, Haku-chan."

'Underground Move technique'

It was a close thing, but Naruto managed to sink underground before a mass of ice senbon impacted on the spot he had just vacated. He returned to the surface at what he judged to be a safe distance. Haku's image was now scowling at him.

'_Time for a little bit of psychological warfare.'_

"Aw, is little Haku-chan angry? Seems like your technique has a teeny tiny little weakness." Naruto taunted.

Instead of answering Haku attacked again. She seemed to jump between different mirrors, each time launching a volley of ice senbon. Interestingly she often emerged from a different mirror than the one she entered last, but only attacked when she was outside the mirrors. Her speed was now up to chunin-level, but since he was quite a distance away and the attack came from only one direction he had no trouble evading or deflecting the senbon.

'_I hope she keeps doing that. Maintaining these mirrors can't be cheap chakra-wise. It must be a bloodline technique. That means I can't be gentle in disabling her. Who knows what else is possible.'_

Another sound caught his attention; it seemed that Haku was creating another mirror in his back to attack him from behind. Naruto was careful to keep his face an unreadable mask, giving no indication that he had noticed what Haku was doing. In the exact moment her image disappeared from the mirrors belonging to the dome Naruto sidestepped and turned around.

Haku had already emerged from the mirror and was completely in the air, flying at his last position at high speed with an ice kunai in her right hand. A surprised expression briefly crossed her face before Naruto grabbed her as she passed by him and drove the tip of his knife into a specific point of her right shoulder with full force. A moment later he had to let go of her to avoid getting kicked. Haku managed to turn her tumble into a controlled roll and jumped back to her feet.

"Do you have enough?" Naruto asked. He could see that the dome of mirrors was slowly collapsing. Apparently Haku wasn't sustaining the technique any longer.

Haku grunted in pain and anger, her right arm hanging limply at her side. "I won't give up until you lie dead at my feet. I'm far from finished."

Naruto was surprised when Haku used her left hand to make seals. Before he could react a thick mist blanketed the clearing, hiding Haku from his sight.

'_Shit, that's the hidden mist jutsu again. I once read about one-handed seals but didn't think anyone was using them. Most people would rather go directly to seal-less techniques than invest the effort of learning to form seals one-handed.'_

"Eight choices. Liver, lungs, spine, cervical vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, heart. Which one should I go after?"

Naruto cursed himself silently while he tried to anticipate Haku's next strike. He should have immediately gone after Haku. It was to be expected that Haku had learned silent killing from Zabuza. Still, if this had been a normal mist Naruto would have had few problems. A fox locates the precise position of his prey via his hearing, after all, and he had regularly spent long stretches of time as a fox. His human hearing was inferior to that of his fox-form, but it should have sufficed to pinpoint Haku's general location. Unfortunately this mist was filled with Haku's chakra, warping the sounds irregularly.

'_What should I do? Using mom's chakra would be overkill, but I don't want to risk Haku getting the drop on me.'_ he pondered. _'I guess I could hide under the ground, but Haku could use that to stage an escape. Now that she is injured it's the most likely course of action, especially if she gets the opportunity to think. If I try using my jutsu blindly I will either miss or kill her; neither option is acceptable.'_

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a slight movement in the air. He barely managed to dodge a few senbon aimed for his kidneys. His mind worked furiously until he arrived at a solution. _'That could work. Improvisation is king.'_

'Wind release: Shield of the Four Winds'

The mist began to churn wildly as the air whirled around him, trying to form a stable construct. A moment later the unfinished jutsu collapsed, sending a strong gust of wind in all directions. The chakra-saturated pressure wave had only the strength of a strong breeze, but that was enough to disperse Haku's mist.

Haku was barely three meters away from him and blinked in surprise as her cover was blown away. Before she could react Naruto was already on top of her, disabling her remaining good arm in the same manner as he had before and kicking her legs out from under her. She still tried to kick him back, but Naruto was having none of that. He knew enough about human anatomy to disable her legs without doing permanent damage now that she couldn't defend herself properly. She cried out in pain and tried to struggle, but without proper control of her limbs it was futile.

Naruto slowly relaxed now that the battle seemed to be over, but he didn't let his guard down completely. Who knew what tricks a kunoichi like Haku still had in reserve? She would need a medic-nin's help to fix her arms and legs, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a last-ditch attack.

Haku seemed to realize that she had lost after a short while and went still. Naruto could see how all the fight went out of her eyes. "You have won. I give up. Now, please tell me what happened to Zabuza-sama before you kill me. Did you lie back then when we met in the forest?"

Naruto sighed. "I told you the truth, now and then. I won't kill you. We are from Konoha but didn't know about the other team. At that point in time we only wanted to catch five mercenaries Gato had hired. It was only several days after our meeting in the forest that we heard of them and tried to meet up. When my team arrived the battle on the bridge seemed to be over, but Gato arrived with about a hundred thugs in tow."

"That shouldn't have been a real problem. Zabuza-sama was wounded, but Gozu and Meizu were fresh and I was still in a good shape." Haku said with narrowed eyes.

"You didn't pay attention to their end of the bridge. They had bows." he answered bluntly. Haku flinched. Arrows flew faster than the typically thrown ninja weapons. If one didn't see them coming evasion was pretty much impossible. "Your two friends died without realizing what happened. Zabuza got hit several times, crippling him. You had two arrows stuck in your body, making one of your arms useless. The same was true of Zabuza. He didn't know how to make one-handed seals, did he?"

Haku sighed. "No, he didn't. Zabuza-sama never got the hang of it. Let me guess, we were too seriously wounded to retreat safely. Then we decided to take Gato out in hope of dispersing the thugs, but something went wrong."

Naruto nodded. "At first it seemed like you would succeed, but one of the thugs got a lucky hit past Zabuza's defense. You abandoned your advance and tried to help him, but you were clubbed from behind. Zabuza died there. After that my team took out Gato and his thugs."

"It… it might have happened as you said." Haku finally conceded. "What did you do with Zabuza-sama's body?"

"I can show it to you, but it isn't in a good shape."

"Please do." Haku pleaded. "I want to see for myself."

Naruto did as requested and retrieved the scroll with Zabuza's body, keeping Haku in his view the entire time. He carefully propped her against a tree before he unsealed the cruelly mutilated body. When Haku saw him she let out a wail of anguish. Tears were running freely from her eyes when she descended into sobs. Naruto felt very uncomfortable. He didn't have anything personal against Haku or Zabuza. Apparently they had really been very close.

"I wanted to protect someone precious to me. To work for that person. To fight for that person. To make that person's dream true. That was my dream. For that I became a shinobi. For that I maimed and killed. And now there is nothing left. I can't even take revenge anymore." she said in a grief-laden voice between sobs.

The blond boy would have liked to give her some privacy under other circumstances. Instead he patched up Haku's wounds. They didn't bleed much, but Hinata would need to heal the tendons and muscles he had damaged later. Haku didn't react to his ministrations; she stared at Zabuza's corpse and continued sobbing.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Naruto said when he was finished, placing his hand gently on Haku's shoulder.

It seemed to reach Haku for she turned her head and looked at him with empty eyes. "I always thought when a person has something important to protect they become truly strong. Now that Zabuza-sama is gone my strength has left me. Please kill me."

Naruto shook his head. "You know I can't do that. I will bring you to Konoha. Your fate will be decided there. Tell me, what was Zabuza to you?"

"Everything." Haku said sadly. She continued telling him about her life in a dead voice. Her mother had been a simple farmer's wife. She had possessed a bloodline, but kept that fact secret. The civil war in the Land of Water had created a lot of enmity against bloodline users in the normal population and she feared for her life. One day Haku had accidentally discovered her inherited ice powers. Her mother had tried to hush it up, but her father had witnessed the event and gathered a mob. Her mother had been killed by her own husband. Haku would have died, too, but she had instinctively used her bloodline powers to slaughter the mob including her father. After that she had been forced to live on the streets.

"I had and was nothing. Zabuza-sama found me and gave me purpose. He said I had the same eyes as him and took me in. I agreed to become his weapon; his ultimate tool." Her tears started again. "But in the end I was of no use to him. Now he is gone forever. Why won't you let me join him in oblivion?"

The blond boy just looked at her without answering. There wasn't a good answer that he could give. The girl returned to her mourning after a while. Naruto was deep in thought. Haku was obviously psychologically dependent on Zabuza. He didn't know enough about the Devil of the Mist to decide if he had deliberately manipulated Haku or if she had latched onto him to this degree herself. In any case, they would have to watch out for her attempting suicide.

'_I hope Hinata and the others return soon.'_

* * *

><p>Homura was rather bored. The planning session between him, Hiruzen and Koharu dragged along without them making much progress. Most of it should have been handled by someone else lower in the hierarchy, but Hiruzen was somewhat of a control freak and tried to do everything personally. It was one reason his desk was always overflowing with paperwork. When he was younger he had always used some shadow clones to better distribute the workload, but Homura had noticed that the clones became fewer in number after the Hokage passed fifty. Around four or five years ago he had stopped using them completely.<p>

"Have you considered the proposal from-…" The Hokage was interrupted by the door banging open, clearing the way for an attack run by his grandson.

"Fight me, old geez- URK!" Konohamaru's shout was cut short as he was yanked back by his scarf and collided with the floor.

"You are in range of my divination. Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms!" a white-eyed girl of about Konohamaru's age shouted before she hit the boy with what looked like Juuken strikes. Judging from the boy's mostly limp form he was now effectively paralyzed.

"Ow, ow, ow! Stop it, Hanabi!" he shouted.

The girl gave Konohamaru a knock on his head. "Be silent! It's your own fault! How often have I told you not to skip class? I won't have you running off again, Konohamaru." The Hyuuga girl bowed deeply after a moment to compose herself. "Honored Hokage, honored elders, I apologize for this intrusion. With your leave I will now take this delinquent back to the academy."

After an amused nod of the Hokage the girl grabbed a protesting Konohamaru by his scarf and dragged him out of the room.

"Does that happen often, Hiruzen? Normally it was Ebisu who came after your grandson. He was less… forceful." Koharu asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Hokage chuckled. "Not as often as it used to. That was Hiashi's daughter Hanabi. Apparently she made it her task in life to reform my wayward grandson. There even seems to be progress."

"The girl reminds me of your wife Biwako. I clearly remember her beating you up and dragging you home when you goofed off. It seems some things stay in the family. Do you think we should ask Hiashi to arrange a wedding?" Homura asked.

Koharu laughed and Hiruzen coughed slightly. "I think that would be a little premature. Now, back to the task at hand. The renovation of the stadium is on schedule, but Haruno-san brought it to my attention that we might not have enough accommodation for all expected visitors. I propose…"

* * *

><p>Hinata was still mulling over the developments on their way back to Naruto and their camp. The captured mercenaries had been delivered to their client. They would be entertained in his dungeons for a long, long time until they would be allowed to die publicly. The client's granddaughter had awoken and was on the road to recovery. It would take months until she fully recovered, but the young woman would suffer no lasting damage. The mayor had thanked them profusely and promised to pay them for two C-ranks, one for healing his granddaughter and the second one for capturing her assailants.<p>

'_Zabuza's corpse, his sword and his two dead helpers will yield a good bounty. Unfortunately we will probably have to share it with Team 7. It's standard practice if several teams are involved in an engagement and Kakashi did injure Zabuza quite a bit.'_

Even divided by eight it would be a tidy sum. Unfortunately she would have to relinquish about half to her clan, as would Choji. It was one of the main sources of income for all shinobi clans. Still, the money would be nothing to sneeze at. High-quality equipment wasn't cheap. Each member of the circle was building her own war chest. They might need it in the future.

Hinata had to suppress a gasp when their campsite came into range of her byakugan. Chunks of melting ice were lying around. A sobbing Haku was sitting amidst the destruction near the unsealed corpse of Zabuza, oblivious to everything around her. Naruto was standing a short distance away, his eyes never leaving the form of the girl.

She faked activating her bloodline for a moment before she addressed Anko. "Sensei, there seems to have b-been a problem at the camp. Apparently the kunoichi got f-free and put up a fight, but Naruto seems to have things under c-control."

Anko scowled before nodding in acknowledgement. A short time later they arrived at the campsite.

"Naruto, what happened here?" Anko asked.

Naruto answered without turning his head. "I'm glad you're back, sensei. Haku woke up and immediately started attacking me. It seems she doesn't remember anything about the thugs showing up. Oh, she can form ice weapons without hand seals. I didn't want to knock her out directly. She's been unconscious for days and I didn't want to aggravate whatever damage she suffered. I had to beat her down conventionally. Hinata, could you please take a look at her and make sure she can't use any chakra?"

Hinata complied immediately and closed some specific tenketsu points of the girl. It would prevent the use of jutsu but allow Haku to move around with some difficulty. Or at least she would be able to move around as soon as Hinata healed the girl's other injuries. Naruto had apparently tried to keep the raw tissue damage to a minimum. It would still have left Haku crippled if she hadn't been there. Hinata really didn't like having to patch up the same patient multiple times. As things were she quickly mended the severed muscles and tendons. It was always easier when the injuries were fresh.

Haku let out a small wail when they resealed Zabuza's body. After that she went completely unresponsive. Hinata sent a questioning glance towards Anko. The jonin thought for a moment, then signaled her to sedate Haku. A quick tab on some pressure points and Haku slumped unconscious on the ground.

"Now that we can't be overheard I would like a more detailed report, Naruto."

'_What a sad story. Haku got dealt a crappy hand.' _Hinata thought after Naruto finished his retelling of the battle.

"Good work, Naruto. You didn't do anything wrong, but there is one matter that caught my attention. I thought you only worked on lightning techniques?" Anko asked.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I did, that one is an older project I never got working right. It always fails after a few second without really doing anything. What it should do is encase me in a cocoon of super-fast air currents, optionally combined with pure wind chakra. The only thing it does now is guzzling a whole lot of chakra and producing a short-lived breeze. Still, I have the chakra to spare and it's useful for dispersing mist and perhaps a few other area techniques. "

Anko nodded in acceptance. After updating Naruto on the events in town they broke camp. Luckily the fight didn't destroy any of their supplies. The journey back to Konoha was uneventful. Their prisoner slowed them down, but they kept her mostly unconscious to make transporting her easier. If they kept doing that long-term it would cause health issues, but for the few days of their journey home it wouldn't have any negative effects. Hinata always closed the girl's tenketsu before she woke her up, just to be safe. Even when Haku was conscious she mostly stared into empty space. It seemed the girl had lost her will to live. The only one who got her to speak at all was Naruto, but even then he mostly got monosyllabic answers. Even that happened less and less.

They needed four days to reach Konoha. Instead of entering the city they made a stop at their usual training ground.

"Okay, wait here and guard the girl." Anko instructed. "We don't want anyone knowing we have her. I'll notify the right people and will get back to you as soon as I can. It shouldn't take long."

With these words Anko left, leaving them alone with their unconscious prisoner.

"What do you suppose will happen to her?" Choji asked.

"Most likely they will keep her in one of the secure cells of the Torture & Interrogation Division. With her bloodline she is too dangerous to be kept anywhere else." Naruto answered.

"I think you're right. They will ask her all s-sorts of questions, but they won't torture her. Her m-mind isn't stable enough for that. If y-you think about what people work there they m-might even be the most qualified to help her." Hinata added.

Choji looked at the unconscious form of Haku. "I can't help but wish we could have let her go. She lost everything and doesn't deserve to be locked up."

Naruto raked a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry for her too, but she did attack a fellow team. That makes her an enemy. If we hadn't arrived Team 7 would be dead. Now, Haku didn't actually kill or permanently maim any Konoha shinobi. That will earn her some amount of leniency. They might let her out after some time if she behaves reasonably. From what she told me she never was a regular Mist kunoichi."

Hinata nodded in understanding. "That means she c-could theoretically join Konoha. Her b-bloodline makes her very valuable."

It was then that Anko returned with three shinobi in tow. The apparent leader was a large, imposing man clad in a grey uniform and a black trench coat. Black eyes situated in a scarred face swept over them. "What do you have for me, Anko? You said it was urgent."

Anko gestured towards the unconscious and bound girl. "She is why I called you. Her name is Haku. She was the subordinate of the nuke-nin Zabuza Momoichi. They attacked Kakashi's team on their last mission. Their employer betrayed them shortly after they subdued Team 7. All of her accomplices died in the ensuing struggle. We took out the survivors, rescued Team 7 and recovered the bodies. Naruto here found the prisoner still alive and secured her."

Naruto met the man's gaze unflinchingly. "Interesting. Anything important I should know immediately?"

"She's high genin level, borderline chunin. Additionally she has a bloodline that enables her to use the ice element with some unique jutsu, making her far more dangerous than usual. She can even create ice weapons from thin air without hand seals and use one-handed seals. Don't ever let her move freely or use chakra. Her psychological condition is delicate so handle her with kid gloves. She's mostly unresponsive, possibly suicidal. Looks like standard conditioning pattern seven centered on Zabuza to me, but due to some unique circumstances in her past it was extremely efficient. The worst she did to us was beating some genin up and paralyzing them with senbon. That's all immediately relevant information; I'll try to get a full report to you as soon as possible." Anko explained.

"Shimon, Mozuko, you heard the lady. Take the prisoner to a free cell on level three. No one should see you arrive. Do a full medical check-up but keep her sedated for now." the man commanded. The two grey-clad shinobi that had accompanied him saluted and approached Haku. One of them did a short check of her status before they carried her away.

The still unnamed man turned back towards Team 11. He scribbled something on a piece of paper that he handed Anko. "Here's your receipt. Congratulations, seems like you made a fine catch. Your team seems to be shaping up nicely, too. I always said you had a knack for dealing with youngsters." Suddenly he broke out in a wide smile. "The whole department misses you, Anko. Don't be a stranger and drop by some time."

Anko nodded. "Thanks, I will. Give Shinobu and Tonbo my regards."

The scarred man's gaze swept once again over them. "If you think they're ready you can bring your genin along. I'll be happy to give them a tour." With a last nod towards them the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Who was that, sensei?" Naruto asked curiously.

"My old boss Ibiki Morino, the head of the Torture & Interrogation department. He's a great guy and very good at his job." Anko answered smiling. "It's too late today to write our reports. After we report in at the gate you can return home. Meet me again tomorrow morning at eight o' clock here. You all did very well on the last mission; I'm proud of you."

A few minutes later they arrived at the main gate. It didn't take them long to conclude their business with the guards and Anko left towards her home. With a sigh Hinata said goodbye to her teammates. She didn't look forward to seeing her clan again, with the exception of her little sister. Especially unsettling was that Naruto's parents still hadn't made contact. In the past there had been sometimes delays, but now they had already missed two of their scheduled visits.

Hinata really didn't appreciate missing out on her Naruto time. She already felt the stress building up and really needed a break. The situation wouldn't be critical for a while, but that didn't make it easier. It would be nice to not have to worry about this world for a time again.

'_I wonder what is taking them so long.'_

* * *

><p>Unimaginable images of what had been, what was, what might be and what could have been swirled chaotically, bathing the surreal surroundings in an orgy of otherworldly light. The entity known as Daiki had united all parts of himself and was now digging deeper and deeper into his own being in search of the oldest part of his existence. It had been buried under untold other layers during the merging with the then-Kyuubi, but they would soon have need of it. Originally they had planned to do that gradually, but with their new insights a faster approach was called for.<p>

He could feel his mate straining to keep their world stable against the pressure he exerted in his quest. This world was too confined for what he was doing, but they had no other available. Reality bent and broke under his unbridled presence. The cottage and everything else a mortal mind might have recognized had lost form long ago and were now an unidentifiable part of the not-space he and his mate occupied.

The memories of a thousand lifetimes as a mortal whirled by, a reminder of his long imprisonment before he entered this world.

_Deeper._

Images of the moon and the starlit night danced around and through him as he dove deeper into his own structure. He soon left his divinity and the connection to his mate behind.

_Further still._

A myriad different worlds and universes, experienced by countless avatars.

_Still not there._

Pearls of knowledge and skills he could no longer use drifted by, waiting for a time when he might have again the capability to understand them.

_Soon._

Deeper and deeper he delved in the search of the oldest part of his being. That which had always been there from the beginning, long before his rise and fall.

_There._

**He knew the gate. He was the gate. He was the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present and future, all were one in the gate.**

* * *

><p>Anko wasn't angry. She had passed the bounds of white-hot fury long ago and was now filled with an ocean of icy rage. Naturally she didn't give any outward sign of that; such a blatant display of inadequate emotional control before the Hokage wouldn't help her case. The last comment from the old man had been almost enough to drive her over the edge, though. Almost.<p>

"I believe that concludes our business. Mitarashi-san, I thank you for your time. You may leave." the Sandaime said in his kindly voice.

Never before had Anko wished so much to possess the power to wipe that false, condescending smile from the old man's face. The cursed seal on her neck was throbbing in tune with her heart beat, enticing her with the promise of power. Kakashi gave her one of his eye-smiles, mocking her further. With all these things fanning her wrath Anko did the only thing she could.

She bowed respectfully.

"As you command, Hokage-sama."

After the door closed behind her she traversed the Hokage's tower at a leisurely pace. Even when she left the building behind her pace didn't quicken. Only when she left the city zone behind did she break into a run. A few minutes later she arrived at the currently deserted training area number thirty-six.

'_No one is here. Good.'_

Finally safe from potential observers Anko let out her penned up fury. With a scream of boundless rage she attacked one of the biggest trees with her bare hands.

* * *

><p>Naruto ran through the woods at high speed with Mizuki by his side.<p>

"I don't know what is wrong with her. When we arrived she had already reduced three big trees to splinters and was working on another one. She didn't react to anything we said. None of us wanted to approach her, so I tried to get hold of you while Hinata searched for Kurenai and Choji stayed with her." Naruto explained.

Judging from his expression the white-haired chunin didn't have the slightest idea either. A moment later they arrived at the site. Anko had obviously finished with her bout of violence and was now standing amidst the ruins of a fourth big tree, breathing heavily.

Choji waved them over to him. "I think she has calmed down somewhat, but I didn't want to do anything without you here."

Mizuki nodded. "It's good to be careful. I take it from here. If she attacks me I can hold her off long enough for you to get away. I hope."

He carefully approached Anko, careful to stay in at least her peripheral vision. When he was about to touch her Anko seemed to snap out of whatever problem she had. "Mizuki? What are you doing here?"

The man relaxed somewhat. "Naruto called me. Your genin found you occupied with reducing trees to kindling. What in the world happened to get you riled up like this?"

Anko looked around, taking in the sight of the destruction and the position of the sun. "Oh. I just wanted to let out some steam. I didn't realize how long I was at it."

"That doesn't answer me question, Anko."

Their sensei breathed deeply before answering. Her voice was barely above a whisper at first, but grew steadily louder. "He got away with it. THE DAMNED ASSHOLE GOT AWAY WITH IT!"

"Who got away with what?" Mizuki asked calmly, showing no signs of being perturbed by Anko's outburst.

In that moment Hinata arrived with Kurenai in tow. "Anko, what is the matter? Hinata here dragged me here because you freaked out or something." the sensei of Team 8 asked.

Anko tiredly held her hands up. "I'm okay now; I just had to get rid of a lot of penned up anger. Let's sit down; I have some things to explain. They affect your team, too."

A minute and an introduction between Mizuki and Kurenai later they were all seated on the grass in a small clearing a short distance away from the destruction.

"You all know what happened on Team 7's last mission. Earlier today I had a meeting with the Hokage and Kakashi to clear things up." Anko said before pausing for a few seconds before she continued with a sigh. "It was a complete whitewash."

Kurenai's jaw dropped. "Kakashi got away with needlessly endangering his team?"

Mizuki didn't seem surprised. "Of course he did. Can't punish the famous Copycat Kakashi Hatake, master of a thousand jutsu and the Hokage's most trusted man, can he?" he said bitterly.

"I have to agree. Either the Hokage is becoming senile or he thinks avoiding the morale effects of any punishment are worth letting Kakashi off. If it becomes known that one of the top jonin of Konoha was punished for incompetence it would cast doubts on his ability to lead. Kakashi was an ANBU captain and is one of his most trusted men, after all. The worst thing that can happen to him now is a slap on the wrist behind closed doors. The Hokage signed off on his report, thereby endorsing his actions." Anko shook her head. "Do you know what Kakashi answered when asked why he didn't abort the mission after the client's deception became clear? It wouldn't have been courageous. Then he spouted some crap about the Will of Fire and not abandoning comrades. I still can't decide if the Hokage actually agreed with him or only feigned approval. Most people will lap it up, though."

"Is the old man insane?" Kurenai asked aghast. "That sets a catastrophic example. If the story spreads even more clients will begin to lie about the mission parameters. Things are bad enough as they are."

Naruto and his two teammates had stayed silent until now, but now he voiced a question. "Excuse me, but how can Kakashi claim to be a jonin after that? He made blatantly stupid mistakes. From leaving the Demon Brothers behind without guard after their initial encounter, continuing the mission after the deception was revealed to not calling for help after it became clear that Zabuza wasn't operating alone. Heck, we are only a few months out of the academy and know better."

Mizuki shrugged. "Who can say? Kakashi has a pretty impressive record. By all accounts he is one of the strongest jonin of Konoha. Maybe he has simply gone off the deep end."

Anko shook her head. "Now that I had time to think about it I'm sure this isn't a recent development. The entire thing reeks of unbelievable overconfidence. I have a theory. What makes Kakashi famous? I don't speak of any individual battles but the one thing that's always there."

Kurenai had a look of realization in her eyes. "The use of his sharingan."

Anko nodded. "Yes. In all the years since the third shinobi war he coasted along thanks to a bloodline that isn't really his. He used it in all his important fights. Not once did he engage an enemy of special jonin rank or above without it. Don't misunderstand me; a shinobi should always use all the tools at his disposal. That's just common sense. Unfortunately Kakashi has become completely dependent on it. Oh, he is still a jonin skill-wise. He's just not as good as everyone believes, including himself."

Mizuki looked thoughtful. "That sounds plausible. He burned out early. It happens. Think about it. He was hailed as a genius when he was a child. If I remember correctly he became a genin when he was five, which is frankly insane. At that age no one is mentally and physically ready, prodigy or not."

"He wasn't the only one. That was a desperate time in the war. We mobilized everyone who could hold a kunai. The losses among the children were grievous." Kurenai added. "Around twelve he was made jonin. By then he had been Minato Namikaze's pupil for a while and came up with that original jutsu of his. There was this business with the Kannabi Bridge. He was never the same after it by all accounts."

"Since then he has spent his time in ANBU or on high-profile missions. I don't think he can relate to normal genin at all. He actually asked his team after the encounter with the Demon Brothers if they wanted to continue the mission. It was Team 7's first C-rank; new genin simply do not have the experience to make such a decision. No offense to the genin present." Anko said in their direction.

Choji responded with a smile. "None taken. We know our limitations."

Anko chuckled. "Right. As I was saying, Kakashi is so used to working with fellow professionals that he can't deal with the situation properly. Most chunin for example would have had a realistic grasp of the situation and aborted the mission. Kakashi not sending for help in Wave is another sign of his mindset. ANBU are the ones who are called in if a situation is too delicate to be handled by other forces. At most times they can't call for reinforcements if they are out of the village. I'm not sure the possibility even entered Kakashi's mind."

"That sounds suspiciously like you are excusing his actions, Anko." Mizuki said.

"Partly. Oh, make no mistake, I still blame him. As a jonin he should be able to recognize that he is doing an abysmal job and do something about it. Some people are just not suited to teaching or leading teams of fresh genin. There is no shame in admitting that. He has clearly psychological issues, like always being late. Unfortunately the Hokage and other people let him get away with it." Anko said. She paused for a moment before continuing. "That's not the only thing. He is ruining his team. I've only had a few hours contact with the girl and the Uchiha, but the Nara boy told us a lot. Kakashi just started them on tree walking on the mission, which is another problem. Not only is that one of the first real chakra exercises after the kiddy stuff with the leaves which he should have taught them in the first few weeks, a mission in unsecure territory is the worst place to start training new things. According to Shikamaru the team's skills have made no true progress since graduation. He wastes all their time with so-called teamwork exercises and some sparring. None of them has the necessary knowledge to properly train on their own."

Naruto had to agree silently. Hinata spied on everybody and had shared her observations with him. Shikamaru was just too lazy to do anything on his own and Sakura had an aversion against physical exercise. They weren't mature enough to be sufficiently motivated on their own. It was a sensei's duty to take the appropriate measures to remedy that. Sasuke trained on his own, but he wouldn't grow significantly stronger without someone guiding him properly. In short, Kakashi wasn't doing his job.

"Can we do anything about it?" Mizuki asked.

Kurenai sighed. "Not with the Hokage backing him. A jonin-sensei is almost completely free in how he teaches his team. Kakashi can't interfere in our teams and we in his. Oh, we could get a lengthy investigation going, but it would take months and would be delayed at every turn. You know, Anko, I always doubted you when you spoke about the Hokage's policies weakening Konoha. I think I'm coming around to your view with this madness."

Anko chuckled mirthlessly. "Then you will really like the next tidbit. It concerns my team, too. Have you spoken with your genin about the upcoming chunin exams?"

"I have. They said they didn't feel ready and I have to agree. It's far too early for that; they are only a few months out of the academy." She looked at Anko suspiciously. "I really don't like where this is going. Why do you ask?"

"Because the Hokage all but ordered me to enter my team into the exams. He mentioned he would speak with you and Asuma in the next few days, so you can expect to be summoned by the old monkey. Kakashi's team will likely enter too, for that matter."

'_Fuck.'_

Aside from the fact that it was too early for them Naruto really didn't want to enter this particular chunin exam thanks to the visions of the futures he had seen. Not only was it the most likely point in time for an attack by Orochimaru, but it would almost inevitably lead to an encounter with Jiraiya. Which meant signing the toad contract. The very toads he suspected having a hand in the formation of Minato's plan to create a savior. And he didn't have a believable reason to refuse signing the contract; summoning contracts were highly coveted, after all.

Meanwhile Kurenai had regained her voice after a moment of shocked silence. "You're surely joking? Please tell me you're joking."

Anko shook her head. "No such luck. Apparently Konoha made a weak showing in the last exams and there aren't any promising candidates lined up this time either. Our batch of genin consists mainly of clan heirs and has enormous potential, so I think the Hokage wants to make use of the home advantage. He apparently figures that will make up for any shortcomings on the genin's part."

"B-But sensei, isn't the p-participation voluntary?" Hinata asked.

"In principle yes, but what the Hokage wants the Hokage gets. I'm probably supposed to manipulate you into entering." Anko looked she had bitten into something sour. "I fear we have no choice. We can't afford to land on the old man's shit list. Not when he practically ordered me to get you to participate."

Kurenai stood up, shaking her head in disbelief. "I have to get back to my team. I really hope you're wrong about the exams, Anko."

After Kurenai had left Choji posed another question. "Can we put up a show and fail deliberately at the first stage?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, that would make us look like idiots and damage our reputation. Now that we have to compete we have to give a good showing. The chunin exams are to start in little more than a month, aren't they sensei?"

Anko nodded. "That's right. What do you want to do in the meantime? Thanks to our last few missions none of you should have any cash problems. Do you want to go on another mission or spend the entire time training?"

Choji and Hinata seemed to think for a moment before turning to him for guidance. "I think we should go on a last mission. If some of us make it to the final round we'll be stuck here for a month."

Their sensei raised an eyebrow questioningly. "How do you know there will be a one month interval?"

Naruto shrugged. "There are always three rounds with the last round being an arena fight. I heard some workers talking about at what date they had to complete the renovation of the stadium."

"I saw some special food orders for the banquet after the final round of the exam in my father's study." Choji added.

"I looked at the appointment c-calendar of the Hokage's secretary when we last v-visited the tower." Hinata explained.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if there are any village secrets that are safe from you three." Anko said, shaking her head.

The three genin shared a look before answering at exactly the same time. "No."

Mizuki gave Anko an amused look. "It seems they did their homework. I really pity their adversaries in the exams."

* * *

><p>Kankuro was happily entranced working on one of his new puppets in his personal workshop when his sister's voice disrupted his concentration. "Kankuro, father wants to see us immediately."<p>

With a sigh he put down the part he had been examining and turned to his sister. "Any idea what he wants?"

Temari shrugged. "I have no idea, but he seemed agitated. We have to pick up Gaara on the way."

After wiping his hands clean of the fine oil he had used to lubricate some of the joints of his latest creation he reluctantly followed his sister out of the workshop. _'Just when I was making progress.'_

In the past months Kankuro had made great strides in the art. _That_ mission had completely changed his outlook on life. No longer would he rely on the puppets another man had created. No, he wanted to be recognized for his own contributions to the art. His knowledge of puppetry and the related sealing arts was steadily increasing. He had even gotten the Honored Siblings Chiyo and Ebizo to give him some lessons. By now he was regularly conversing with other master puppeteers. Some of them were rather reclusive, though. For example, he still didn't know who the man (or woman) was who signed his letters with a black scarab. The insightful letters that simply appeared in his mailbox had given him much to think about.

His sister's voice interrupted his musings. "Gaara, the Kazekage requires our presence."

Apparently they had reached Gaara's training area while he was deep in his thoughts. Their youngest sibling stopped doing his physical exercises and just looked at them. None of them had a good relationship with their father, but Gaara had by far the worst. That was one thing that hadn't changed. After their catastrophic mission Gaara had turned into an outright slave driver and forced all of them to change their ways. On the positive side he had stopped threatening to kill them.

Kankuro wasn't sure, but for a moment something different seemed to be looking out of Gaara's eyes. Then he nodded in acknowledgement and the moment passed. Despite everything that had changed his little brother was still scary.

* * *

><p>Dosu listened attentively as he was given his orders. A personal audience with the leader of Otogakure was a rare honor.<p>

Finally the figure asked "Do you understand your task?"

"It will happen as you command, Orochimaru-sama."

* * *

><p>Naruto examined the gathering of his friends. Full meetings of the circle had been a rare occurrence in the last few months. "That's all we know about the exams. Did Kurenai or Asuma mention anything?"<p>

Yakumo nodded. "Kurenai-sensei explained it to us. She said she would back our decision if we didn't want to participate."

"We immediately assured her that while it was earlier than expected we felt ready enough to give it a try. The fallout of refusing wouldn't be worth it. Even Shinji agreed. He has made enough progress that he's no longer a liability." Ino explained.

"Okay, that's good to hear. Shino?"

"Asuma-sensei did not make any direct mention of the chunin exams, but he dropped some hints. I expect him to spring it on us in a few weeks. Asuka and Kiba will most likely enter without giving it much thought considering their personalities. Despite my attempts and some progress they still are overconfident. Barring bad luck they should be able to survive the first two stages with my help." the young Aburame reported.

"P-Please, be careful. Avoid any i-injuries or hopeless fights. The exams are o-only about promotion; they aren't w-worth risking too much at this point." Hinata counseled.

Choji cleared his throat. "I would like for us to give Shikamaru a heads-up. Kakashi most likely won't tell his team anything until immediately before the exam. If he has time he might find a way to avoid participating. Neither he nor Sakura are anywhere near ready for the exams. "

"Choji is right. Shika will need all the help he can get. He wasn't a very good friend in the last years, but I still don't want anything happening to him." Ino agreed.

"Anyone against?" Naruto asked. No one spoke up. "Okay. Ino, Choji, we have to work something out that doesn't throw suspicion on us if it falls into someone's hands. I think an anonymous note is the best idea; I can slip it into Shikamaru's pocket at the next opportunity."

With all the serious topics out of the way the group just socialized a bit until the members had to leave. Naruto enjoyed the company of his girlfriend Yakumo a bit longer when all the others had left. With both of them on different teams and busy with training they didn't have much opportunity to spend time with each other. Naruto cherished their time together all the more.

It was very different from his secret relationship with Hinata. For one it was far less intimate in a physical sense. They still hadn't progressed to full kisses, much less the things he and Hinata did in the world of his parents. Additionally Naruto still wasn't sure if he truly loved Yakumo. He certainly enjoyed her company greatly and found her desirable, but they just couldn't spend enough time together to explore their feelings. Not like the years he had spent with Hinata. Then there was the thorny matter of him effectively cheating on her. Naruto had not the slightest idea how Yakumo would react if she ever learned about that. Not that it was likely that she ever would. She didn't have the safeguards against someone plucking the information out of her mind that Naruto and Hinata enjoyed. He simply couldn't risk telling her about his true parents and all that entailed.

'_No sense fretting about it now. I have to take things as they come.'_

It was already late evening when he took his leave. Naruto's thoughts returned to the most pressing matter at hand. He needed a summoning contract of his own if he wanted to avoid signing the toad contract. It wasn't absolutely guaranteed that Jiraiya would approach him, but he didn't want to take the risk. Not any contract would serve, though. The summons would need to be strong enough to fend off any attempts of the toads to contract him too, like they could do if he only signed a minor contract. Likewise, they couldn't be on friendly terms with the toads.

From the visions of his father he knew where several summon contracts without current summoners were located. Most encounters in the other timelines had been random, but a few contracts were always in the same locations. Unfortunately he couldn't simply go and collect them. They had to find a mission that led them in the vicinity so he could 'accidentally' stumble upon it. Until now they didn't have much luck.

'_Well, I can always hope.'_

That night he finally felt the pull he had anxiously awaited for so many days. When he next awoke he found himself cuddled up to his mother. Hinata was similarly cuddled up to his father but seemed still asleep.

"Welcome back, kit." Youko greeted him. "I'm sorry that it took so long, but what we did was incredibly important."

"You have to tell me all about it." Naruto said.

His mother chuckled. "We plan to."

* * *

><p>Sasori of the Red Sands was not an emotional man. Ever since he had replaced his original body his emotions had been even fainter than before. Nothing in his demeanor gave any indication that he was in a state that would be described as beyond furious in more emotional men.<p>

A few days ago he had done maintenance on the seals that allowed his puppet body to perceive sound and accidentally set the sensitivity far too high. Luckily headquarters had been mostly silent. It had been purely by chance that he overheard a particular conversation between Akatsuki's leader and an unknown man. To his surprise the man had given their leader directions that were promptly accepted.

Even more surprising were the contents of the conversation. The secret goal of their mercenary organization had always been driving the other villages into ruin and attaining world domination using the power of the tailed beasts. Apparently that was only the façade for their leader's true plan. He wanted to create an unprecedented weapon of mass destruction out of the fusion of all the bijuu in an effort to establish world peace. Sasori didn't know how the unknown man fit into the grand scheme of things, but that wasn't truly important.

What was important was that Sasori hadn't signed up for the pursuit of a pipe dream. Additionally he didn't like being deceived. Outright defection seemed unwise, though, considering the power of Akatsuki's members. He would play along for the time being, taking precautions and laying the groundwork for his eventual disappearance. Patience was important, even if he hated waiting.

'_I should discreetly send a few observers to Konoha. Both the Ichibi and Kyuubi will be there. Their interaction will yield much useful information.'_

Perhaps he should return to the place of his birth after he left Akatsuki. By now he was far wiser than the angry young man that had turned his back on Suna. He had killed the Sandaime Kazekage long ago, the man who had sought to limit his art. His successor was not a wise man. Sasori's spy network had brought him notice of the plans concerning the Konoha chunin exams. Even if he succeeded the inevitable losses would weaken Suna a great deal. It was unlikely he would retain the title of Kage after that, creating an opening to take the village into a new direction.

There already was a promising young puppeteer he had been in contact with under a false name. That meant a cover identity was already in place and would only have to be fleshed out further. He had suborned enough people in the right positions to create an impeccable back-story. Then, when the time was right, he would put the final piece of his plan into action.

Sasori would have to die.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Too much work and not enough time to write make me an unhappy author.

Haku will have a long and difficult recovery. There's no way I'll have her functional so soon after the center of her universe died.

I let Kakashi get away with his irresonsible actions, but in contrast to canon more people know what actually happened. His reputation will take some hits among the people in the know.

Concerning the chunin exams: I always wondered why all of the rookie team participated. In my version of the story the Hokage 'suggested' to each jonin they should nominate their teams. We only ever get a good look at Team 7 in canon, but at least Sakura and Naruto were completely unprepared for the exams. Judging from their fight Ino was in a similar shape. It just seemed premature for the rookie teams to be there.

The next chapter will have a whole lot of Shikamaru in it.

So long.


	24. Chapter 23: A slacker's decision

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto despite my best efforts.

**Chapter 23: A slacker's decision**

Naruto yawned, closed his eyes again and decided to spend a few more minutes in his mother's embrace. Sometimes he thought he was growing a bit too old for cuddling with his parents considering he would turn thirteen in a few weeks. That feeling always vanished after a few days of separation in the real world. Apart from his initial long stay with his parents when he was a small child the real world always ripped him away from them after a few days. The first few years when he had been friendless had been especially difficult. It caused him to cherish their time together even more, although his parents had given him increasingly more space as he grew older.

With a content sigh he relaxed and snuggled closer to the warm body of his mother. The world of his parents was perhaps the only place where he felt completely safe. Some part of his mind constantly feared and expected the Sandaime discovering all of his secret activities, the masked man with the sharingan materializing from thin air or Pain leveling the entire village without warning. Since their encounter with the Jashinists dreams about the dark god descending on Konoha had joined his occasional nightmares, but for now that didn't matter. Naruto felt truly safe and secure for the first time in weeks.

Later that morning the family assembled on the grassy hillside near the cottage.

"So, what did you keep busy for so long? We missed two visits." Naruto asked curiously.

"It's a bit complicated. You remember the remnants of the scythe you brought us?" Daiki asked.

Naruto nodded. "Sure. Anko-sensei mentioned the thing was indestructible, but I had no problem breaking it when I used mom's chakra. It felt strange and crumbled to dust after I took care of the priest. Have you figured out what that was about?"

"We have. A part of the priest's soul was encased in the scythe."

Hinata and Naruto blinked in confusion. "That's interesting, but why would anyone do that?"

Youko let out a low chuckle. "Souls are not easily influenced. It is extraordinarily difficult to affect them with mundane means like jutsu and some of that carries over. As long as the priest lived the scythe was nearly indestructible. Naturally that doesn't apply to demonic or divine powers, meaning you had no problems destroying it while using my chakra. An indestructible weapon is nothing to sneeze at, but the truly interesting part is that the scythe acted as a conduit to Jashin. These kind of conduits have to be attached to a soul."

"The scythe contained part of the priest's soul, but not his mind. It's a very neat way to circumvent the effects exposure to divine power has on mortal minds, even if it has some limitations." Daiki explained.

"So that is why he could call upon Jashin's power several times in short succession." Naruto said in realization.

His father nodded. "Yes. While we can't replicate the effect for you because of our special situation we learned a lot about what a god can do with the soul of a mortal. Most things we already suspected, but without access to mortal souls aside from yours we can't exactly test it."

"Most importantly we learned something that we didn't expect to learn for years. We have found the correct way to transfer parts of us permanently to the outside world." Youko announced.

Naruto was shocked into silence for a few moments before he jumped up and hugged his mother. "That's wonderful, mom. Does that mean you have found a way to escape the seal?"

Daiki shook his head. "Unfortunately no. The parts of us we can transfer are miniscule in relation to our spiritual size. It would be like trying to drain an ocean through a drinking straw. Furthermore we can't move our chakra in this way. What it will do is give us a permanent, conscious presence in the sanctuary even if it will take months."

It was hard for Naruto to hide his disappointment. For a moment he had thought one of the major problems of his life had been solved, but he should have known better.

"How exactly does that work? You don't seem too surprised." Hinata wondered.

Youko smiled. "That's right. We have expected something like this for a long time and made preparations, but in our original projections we would still have needed several more years to figure every detail out. It wasn't a sure thing by any means, but our new insights thanks to the scythe dust you brought back allowed us to eschew further research. The sanctuary doesn't only harbor the spring of magic we created. By now it is also holy ground for both of us. Naruto, you remember what we had you create shortly after your graduation?"

Naruto had to think for a moment. "That strange flower thingy, wasn't it? That was when I was learning to call upon your power."

Daiki gave him a nod of confirmation. "Exactly. It shows who claims that place and how strong the individual divine powers are. The reason we locked you out was that we had to make changes on this side. It required our undivided attention. We wouldn't have been able to shield you from our true nature."

Naruto and Hinata shuddered. He loved his parents, but he knew very well that he might never be able to completely understand what they were. He knew the words, but that didn't mean he could truly grasp the concepts. Each time he learned something it only enabled him to see that there was so much more he didn't understand about them. That wasn't even touching the times when he made not completely shielded contact with their true nature, as it had happened a few times inadvertently when his father channeled his power through him. They were truly not human. That didn't mean he couldn't ask questions and try to understand.

"What changes did you make specifically?" Naruto asked curiously.

Instead of answering his father gestured to the side. A giant door materialized a short distance away. When Naruto tried to examine it his gaze always slipped away, making it impossible to properly focus on the thing. It was quite frustrating and reminded him of the strange things his parents had shown him when he was beginning to learn about magic and training his mental durability.

"This is the Gate. It is what I am at the very core of my being. I made it more accessible." Daiki explained.

Hinata looked strangely at him. "How can you be a gate?"

Youko chuckled. "In the same way a water spirit is a lake and a humanoid person at the same time. Our being transcends the bounds of conventional identity. I'm a goddess and a bijuu and light and life… well, you get my meaning. It's more of a metaphysical concept than an actual gate."

"What is behind the gate?" Naruto asked.

"Everything."

The blond boy frowned. "That doesn't explain anything."

"It connects to every place at every time, but stands outside of time and space itself. Knowledge and truth can be gained by those that manage to pass it and return, but they will be irrevocably changed. It holds every possible future that ever was, even those that never came to pass and those that didn't exist in the first place." The black-haired men paused for a moment before sighing. "I am greatly diminished from what I once was, and so is the gate. It still connects to everything, but I can no longer use it to anything remotely resembling its full potential. Nonetheless it will still have to suffice for our plans."

"What would happen if I enter the gate?"

Daiki kept his face neutral. "You might cease to exist. You might end up on the other side of the world. You might cast off your mortality and ascend. Everything is possible."

The group fell silent for a minute. There had been hints for a long time. Tales of heroes and villains who attained godhood in other worlds, references to humans and other creatures who had tried to attain a destiny far beyond everything a mortal could hope for. Most had failed. They had never spoken about it directly, but Naruto wasn't stupid. He knew he would live for several hundred years if he managed to avoid getting killed. Still, he would die one day. Humans weren't made for true immortality, but his parents had hinted that there was more possible for him.

"You mean I could simply walk through the gate, that is a part of you, mind you, and if I'm lucky I'm a god when I return?" Naruto finally asked.

The ethereal gate dissolved into nothingness. "No. You aren't ready. I have control over the gate and can waive the toll as well as control what will happen to a degree. That doesn't mean you can survive what is behind it." He let out another sigh. "This isn't the right time to speak about it. For now I will use it only to establish a presence on the outside, but it will be some time before there is enough of us there to communicate. Now, what happened to you in the meantime?"

Naruto would have liked to continue speaking about the subject, but his parents expressions left no doubt that they were unwilling to discuss it further at this time. Instead he and Hinata brought them up to date on the happenings of the real world.

"I'm really worried about the chunin exams. We haven't picked up any specific indications, but there is a real danger of an invasion. From what you showed us it's one of the most dangerous situations we could encounter." Hinata said.

Youko shrugged. "There's nothing we can do about it. As long as it isn't a scenario where several of the major villages team up Konoha should be able to weather the storm. If things go too badly you will have to retreat into the sanctuary. What we can do is go over the known locations of the summoning contracts again. I don't want you to be bound to the toads."

* * *

><p>In the outside world Naruto's possessed body stood straight and unmoving while Daiki made the necessary adjustments to the sanctuary. Luckily the boy had decided to spend the night here; it would have been troublesome to have to move the body. Hinata's body was still in the Hyuuga compound, meaning that his mate would have to sit out this opportunity at visiting the waking world.<p>

After almost an hour of work Daiki left the body behind and sent his ethereal construct for a quick survey of Konoha. As usual he discovered nothing that interfered with the magical spring. Aside from the initial two occurrences there had been no magical anomalies in Konoha that he could detect. The Kurama incident had been cleared up immediately, but sometimes he wondered what exactly had happened under the Nara compound. When he had been able to investigate on the following visit everything appeared normal.

His best guess was that some clan ritual had gone slightly awry, but there were no blatantly catastrophic effects like with Yakumo Kurama. The draw on the magic had been very slight, meaning that even the people involved probably didn't notice a thing. It was only years later that he became aware of Shikamaru's changed behavior in comparison to his original visions. He never told Naruto or Hinata about it; there wasn't anything they could do.

It bothered him that he didn't know what exactly had happened, but he would have to exist with that.

* * *

><p>It was a warm and sunny day with the occasional white cloud leisurely drifting across the blue sky. A boy was stretched out in the grass on the side of a hill near the Nara compound. His friends and family would easily identify him as one Shikamaru Nara, the laziest genin of his generation. To a casual observer Shikamaru looked like he was dozing in the afternoon breeze, or perhaps pursuing his usual favorite activity of cloud watching. In reality he was neither asleep nor did he really observe anything in the sky through his half-closed eyes. His complete attention was focused inwards as his mind was working overtime.<p>

He was currently reevaluating his actions in the majority of his short life, from the days in the academy to his current troublesome situation. He was coming more and more to a very unflattering conclusion. He, the supposed genius and most intelligent of his classmates, had colossally fucked up.

From the beginning he had only worked the absolute required minimum; any more effort would have been _too troublesome_. Heck, he had only done so much because of the constant nagging of his mother, troublesome woman that she was. He had mostly milked the Nara reputation for being lazy geniuses for all it was worth to avoid hard work. Most teachers had bought that hook, line and sinker and mostly left him in peace. Not that he was lying; he had indeed an enormous amount of brainpower. The problem was that he had never really applied his intellect to the problem of becoming a successful shinobi; instead he had used it to slack off as much as possible.

In retrospect he now saw that his laziness had caused the rift between him and his friends. When Choji approached him with an invitation to a study group he had declined because it was _too troublesome_. He honestly hadn't seen the need at the time. Sure, they weren't the best students, but they could surely get through their academy years without investing too much work, couldn't they? There would always be time later to get serious with their training. Obviously Choji had a different opinion, and he had spent more and more time with Naruto Uzumaki who apparently had an endless supply of energy and determination. They still spent time together, but over the years they drifted more and more apart.

The estrangement from Ino had begun with her transformation into a full-blown Sasuke fan girl. Sasuke this and Sasuke that had become her main focus, and he couldn't stand it. There simply wasn't much common ground anymore. But somewhere along the line she had changed a second time. He didn't know exactly when and why, but she stopped running with the fan girl crowd and instead associated with Hinata Hyuuga and Yakumo Kurama who were the only girls not obsessing over the Uchiha. It had been a prime opportunity to mend the rift with one of his early childhood friends and renew their friendship, but he squandered it. The effort required had seemed _too troublesome_.

Shikamaru remembered one final incident that stood out roughly one month before the final exams. Naruto had approached him and warned him not to graduate dead last. "_Otherwise_ y_ou might not like the people you are assigned as teammates."_ he had said. But as usual he had dismissed the words and they were soon forgotten. Actually exerting himself in the exams would have been _too troublesome_.

Once again he did the minimum amount of work required and graduated dead last as predicted. At the team assignments he received his just rewards; he was assigned together with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno to Team 7 led by one Kakashi Hatake. The looks of pity on the faces of his classmates were still etched into his memory, together with the shrieks of the fan girl horde who were disappointed to be separated from their precious Sasuke-kun.

It had gone downhill from there. His sensei was several hours late, a habit he would soon learn was standard practice for Kakashi. To his shame he had initially enjoyed the increased opportunity for napping and cloud watching. The introductions gave him some further insight into his teammates. He was not impressed. Nor were they with him.

The real genin test on the following day was an example of idiocy. Shikamaru saw through it pretty much immediately. Unfortunately he was unable to convince his fellow genin of that little fact. Admittedly there were extenuating circumstances. They were drilled during their entire time at the academy to trust their superiors and follow their orders. To deliberately doubt the words of their superior was something that simply wouldn't occur to the overwhelming majority of fresh graduates; you needed quite some life experience for that. Furthermore Shikamaru doubted it was advisable to teach them to question every word that came from their sensei's mouth straight away. Such a thing would only breed mistrust. He himself could confidently say that his trust in Kakashi had taken quite a hit. Whoever had designed that particular test had to be a complete moron.

Predictably they had failed the test after their sensei effortlessly wiped the floor with them. Sasuke had been tied up to a pole while Kakashi lectured them about his teamwork crap. As if people without experience that didn't even particularly know or like another would instantly work together when the conditions of the test were specifically build to set them against each other. After giving them orders not to feed Sasuke for some made-up reason Kakashi had seemingly left. Shikamaru had naturally seen through it but hesitated to feed Sasuke. He had seriously pondered to purposefully fail the test. His team didn't look especially promising. Returning to the academy would certainly have been far less troublesome. Before he could come to a decision Sakura had already given her lunch to Sasuke after he said he couldn't sense Kakashi anymore. Aforementioned jonin had chosen that moment to return and pass them.

To this day Shikamaru was convinced the outcome was staged from the beginning. The biggest Uchiha-fan girl in Konoha giving food to said Uchiha even if it was against orders seemed hardly an outstanding example of great teamwork. In any case, from that day on he was stuck with his team.

He still had some hope left that they could somehow made it work, but to no avail. For all the crappy D-rank missions and inane teamwork exercises they were put through they improved only marginally if at all in the teamwork department. In fact Shikamaru had developed a thorough dislike for both Sasuke and Sakura. After a few weeks he gave up hope of learning anything useful. Granted, he shared a big part of the blame. His sloth had once again gotten the better of him. After a few times asking for serious training from Kakashi only to be brushed off he had let the matter slide. Investing more effort or actually doing something about his crappy situation had seemed far _too troublesome_.

His attention was drawn to the real world by the crackling of paper. Clutched in his left hand was an innocuous looking note. It was one of the reasons for his current occupation of rethinking his entire life. He found it in his pocket earlier today after a visit to the mission office where they had met the other rookie teams. Naruto had been very agitated after picking out a mission scroll and had barged against him. When he next put his hands in his pockets the piece of paper had been there. It had only three short sentences written on it.

_Kakashi has inquired after the necessary forms for participation in the upcoming chunin exams. Exams are scheduled to be held in one month here in Konoha. Thought you should know._

The interesting part was that judging from the handwriting not a single person but three had written the note. The first sentence had been written by Ino, the last one by Choji. He hadn't immediately recognized the handwriting of the middle sentence even if it seemed somewhat familiar, but after some searching of his old school stuff he attributed it to Naruto. The blonde boy always seemed fiendishly well informed about things he normally had no business knowing, although he rarely exposed the true extent of his knowledge. Ino was well on her way to becoming their generation's spy mistress and had probably information sources all over Konoha. The different handwriting indicated which piece of information came from whom. Shikamaru guessed he had only received that warning because of his erstwhile friendship with Choji and Ino.

'_Troublesome. What to do, what to do? In our current shape the chunin exams are as good as a death sentence._' he mused.

Each chunin exam had quite a number of career-ending crippling injuries and deaths. And Shikamaru was virtually certain that he would be one of the casualties. Seriously, his team was probably one of the weakest in existence and it showed. Their competitors would be all over them and rip them to shreds at first opportunity.

He mentally went over his teammates, or rather the people he was forced to work with, as he had come to consider them.

Sakura. She had no jutsu knowledge outside of the academy three. Hell, even if she somehow miraculously acquired some useful jutsu she would almost certainly be unable to use them due to her negligible chakra reserves, which had to be one of the smallest in existence. What use was her frequently touted perfect chakra control if she had neither the techniques where it would be useful, the reserves to power said techniques, or the slightest idea how she should employ her skills in a combat situation? She was physically so weak that she posed no threat to the majority of other genin. In every fight so far she had proven to be completely useless. While she had some impressive academic knowledge it translated poorly to practical application, and she made no attempts at improving her skills.

To top it off she was constantly fawning over Sasuke and had anger management issues as well as an inferiority complex. She had on several occasions tried to hit him for some insignificant comments while their sensei watched and did nothing to curb her violent tendencies. Additionally Shikamaru had witnessed her talking to an imaginary person multiple times when she believed herself unobserved. That indicated some pretty severe mental issues, possible schizophrenia or something similar. All in all, she was a sorry excuse for what an aspiring kunoichi should have been. The worst part in his opinion was that she could have been competent, perhaps even great if she was given reasonable instruction and an attitude adjustment. Being on the same team as the object of her obsession really didn't do her any favors.

Shikamaru's face twisted into a bitter smile. Not that he could really complain on the attitude part, he himself was really no better, if in a different way.

He had below-average physical strength and his taijutsu was nothing to write home about. His chakra control and reserves were alright if a bit substandard for a relative new genin. Apart from the academy three he only knew a single ninjitsu; his clan's basic signature jutsu, the shadow possession technique. He could use it to immobilize an opponent by catching them in his extendable shadow. As soon as he became more proficient in the technique he could even control his target's movements or capture several enemies at once. Regrettably that was still a long way off; first he would have to work on his overall strength and complete some more rigorous clan training that he had eschewed so far.

Perhaps his greatest strength was his sharp mind. Unfortunately he fell short in the practical application of his planning ability mainly thanks to his laziness. Additionally he had been painfully made aware of a fatal flaw in his signature move. The strength of his hold basically depended on his own physical strength amplified by the power of his shadow. The second one wasn't really a problem; he had probably the strongest if largely untrained innate connection to the shadow of all Nara currently alive.

Shikamaru shuddered when he remembered his first time in the meditation cave underneath the Nara compound. The shadows cast by the countless flickering candles had seemed alive when they engulfed and permeated him. He couldn't have been more than five or six at the time, but the memories of being alone in the cave still seemed fresh. It had felt like all life was being drained out of him. Nothing seemed to truly interest him after that; he just wanted to have peace and quiet. The world of shadows was always one of silence and stasis, but none of the subsequent visits affected him so strongly. After that experience he had needed hardly any effort to control his shadow. Unfortunately, instead of using that natural advantage he had cut back even more on his training.

As it was the holding power of his technique was far weaker than he was comfortable with. A strong genin could break the jutsu within a few seconds while enemies with skill upwards from an average chunin would hardly notice the effects.

Perhaps his greatest weakness was his laziness. His entire life had been under a cloud of sloth. Not only had he slacked off in his personal training for a long time, it had landed him in his current shitty situation and prevented actively searching for a solution as that would have been _too troublesome_.

Sasuke. Where to start? The boy was good in taijutsu and proficient in ninjutsu while possessing above average chakra control and reserves. He knew the Uchiha taijutsu style, several fire jutsu and some supplementary capabilities involving ninja wire. Overall he was a very strong genin. Those were his good points.

To compensate for his capabilities as a shinobi his disposition was as bad as it could get. The boy was an arrogant jerk with an ego the size of the Hokage Mountain. He was a loner, not a team player. Most of the time he hid in a shell of silent superiority that he only left to make a disparaging comment. Part of the problem was that their personalities didn't mesh well. Sasuke saw him as the useless dead last the universe had saddled him with to hold him back from his destiny. He constantly belittled him by calling him dobe, loser or similar names. The fact that Shikamaru didn't rise to the bait seemed to make Sasuke despise him even more. Shikamaru suspected that a more active person could have gotten trough Sasuke's shell in time, but he just wasn't cut out for being persistent in pursuit of things if they proved _too troublesome_. All attempts from his side to at least create a working relationship had been spectacular failures, much like Sakura's constant efforts to garner Sasuke's romantic attention.

After he got to know Sasuke better over the course of the last months Shikamaru even suspected the boy was mentally unbalanced. In combat he would overestimate his own capabilities and attack opponents far above his level. You could even drive him into a violent rage if you pushed his easily reachable buttons with pretty standard taunting, like his skill as shinobi, his family or especially his brother.

Shikamaru snorted in bitter amusement. _'They should have called us Team Mental Disorder. My laziness certainly qualifies.'_

When Sasuke wasn't brooding he left them no doubt that he thought the only thing they were doing was holding him back. The most galling thing was that Shikamaru had to admit that this statement was true. Sasuke was a much better shinobi than them. Like them he suffered from Kakashi's neglect, but he made no effort in helping them get better. Nor was he good at accepting advice from those of perceived lesser skill.

Following one of the strategies that Shikamaru thought up was out of the question for Sasuke who saw it as an attack on his claim of leadership, with Sakura following his lead. Shikamaru pretty much felt superfluous on the team. Granted, he could have done more for them to function as a team, but it had just seemed _too troublesome_. Sometimes he wondered who had the bright idea to assemble a team based on their academy scores while disregarding their actual skill sets and personalities.

Lastly, their so-called teacher. The man might have been a famous A-ranked elite jonin with years of experience with a stint as ANBU captain to boot, but he was perhaps the worst choice possible as the sensei of a fresh genin cell. He couldn't or wouldn't teach them anything useful. At all. The infrequent spars he had them doing didn't do much for their skills. Sasuke was so far ahead of Shikamaru who in turn was equally ahead of Sakura that none of the participants learned anything to improve. When he wasn't wasting their time by being hours late every day or doing D-rank missions he had them do these inane so-called 'teamwork exercises'. Yes, teamwork was important, but Shikamaru doubted these exercises did anything to actually improve it. To work effectively as a team each member needed some individual skills, but Kakashi refused to work on them until their teamwork got better. He could rarely be bothered to pay them his full attention, mostly ignored him and Sakura and left them to their own devices. His treatment of Sasuke was even more counterproductive. He alternated between indulgence, ignoring him and some strange form of discipline that only alienated the boy more. There seemed to be no pattern to his behavior that Shikamaru could figure out.

After a few weeks on his team Shikamaru had practically given up even his feeble efforts at getting some training from their sensei. He basically coasted along and was counting the days, hours and minutes he had to wait before he could either apply for a transfer to a different team or the six month review of the teams came up. In hindsight this was one of his biggest mistakes. He should have tried to move heaven and earth to gain some external training or bring attention to his situation. Unfortunately his father Shikaku had been extremely busy with some problems in his job as jonin commander that required him to work almost day and night. He even had to leave the village several times for lengthy visits to the capital. His mother Yoshino was preoccupied with nursing one of his aunts. The old lady had been practically a surrogate mother for Yoshino after her biological mother had died in childbirth when she was only four years old. Her health had been suffering for a long time and her end was drawing near. It had been a drawn out affair until she finally died a few days ago. Yoshino had almost never left her bedside for the entire time since she fell ill shortly after his graduation. None of his other available clansman he felt close enough to discuss his problems. He had squandered away his time, unaware of the danger he was in.

His last mission had been a rude awakening. In retrospect neither he nor Sakura had been anywhere near ready to carry out even a regular C-rank mission, much less the nightmare of the blatantly misranked train wreck they ended up doing. Granted, they had easily dispatched two chunin-ranked missing nin, but after some thought he attributed it more to luck on their side and lack of skill on their enemies part. Honestly, what kind of idiots used a genjutsu-created puddle on a road made out of dirt not two days worth of travel from Konoha in the middle of a dry spell as their hiding spot? It was to his immense if private shame that he hadn't recognized it then, but he hadn't really paid attention to his surroundings out of laziness. It would have been _too troublesome_. They should have aborted the mission right then and there, but Sasuke had demanded they continue, and after a sob story from their client Sakura and Kakashi agreed. His own objections had been disregarded. Granted, Shikamaru himself hadn't objected too strenuously, that would have been _too troublesome_, and he still trusted Kakashi enough to vaguely know what he was doing.

Their survival on their first encounter with Zabuza Momoichi after their arrival in Wave country was again largely owned to luck. Zabuza had underestimated them and instead of finishing them off quickly he had played around with Kakashi. After their teacher managed to get himself imprisoned in the Kiri nin's water prison technique all seemed lost. Luckily Shikamaru had convinced Sasuke to go with one of his plans, by itself an extremely rare event. He had used the shadow of a kunai with attached wire thrown by Sasuke to extend the reach of his shadow possession technique and immobilized Zabuza. The missing nin broke his hold almost immediately, more stunned from surprise of being hit with a technique than from the actual technique's effect. Fortunately this short time was long enough for a barrage of kunai and shuriken to close the distance to such an extent that Zabuza couldn't block them all and was instead forced to jump away, thereby releasing Kakashi. The fight had soon ended in Team 7's favor, but Zabuza's body had been removed by a hunter nin and Kakashi had collapsed from chakra exhaustion. His team had proceeded to Tazuna's house to seek shelter. In the following week a recovering Kakashi had even finally taught them something useful, a chakra control exercise named tree walking.

On their second encounter on the bridge Zabuza's little helper had effortlessly wiped the floor with them while Kakashi and Zabuza battled it out. He shuddered remembering how the fake hunter nin shrugged his shadow possession off like it wasn't anything more than cobwebs. Initially Sasuke had seemed to make progress in his fight with their enemy. It lasted until the masked nin brought out the big guns and enclosed him in a dome of ice mirrors, pelting him with senbon from all directions. At the end all of them looked like pincushions. They had again been exceptionally lucky that the fake hunter nin had been unwilling to kill them and be done with it. Sasuke had been knocked unconscious shortly after activating his sharingan for the first time while Shikamaru was almost completely unable to move but still conscious enough to observe the fight. In retrospect the missing nin probably wanted to capture sell Sasuke; he was very valuable as one of the last two Uchiha.

Zabuza and Kakashi had more or less maintained a stalemate while giving each other several light to medium wounds. The fight looked like to continue for some time until Kakashi whipped out a scroll. He was about to unseal it when he was hit from behind and lost his grip. The Demon Brothers had returned, and they wanted revenge. Kakashi had left them bound to a tree to await capture by one of the patrols monitoring Konoha's vicinity, but they had obviously managed to free themselves in time to escape. The following battle had been a brutal 3-to-1 beat down in which a wounded and tired Kakashi had no chance. Then Gato and a horde of mercenaries had appeared.

If Team 11 hadn't arrived when they did it would have been the end for all of them. They had been on a different mission and only come to Wave country in pursuit of their target, some of the mercenaries in Gato's employ. With surprise on their side they took out Gato and most of the mercenaries' most dangerous members with precision long-range attacks from afar before slaughtering the rest of the confused group. Shikamaru still had the occasional nightmare about Choji using his family's human boulder technique to ground the mercenaries into paste. A narrow bridge with no way to escape was a place as close to perfect one could get for that jutsu. The seawater had turned a sickly red color from all the blood flowing from the bridge.

Shikamaru snorted in disgust. _'They showed us how proper shinobi should act. We were practically begging for being picked off by either the shinobi or Gato's thugs. Funny how none of us thought about the possibility of Gato taking direct action.'_

The following conversation with them had brought another chilling discovery. His team had left Tazuna's daughter and grandson unguarded. A few of the thugs had taken them hostage and were about to rape the woman, but Team 11 had rescued them at the last minute. Still, Tazuna's grandson Inari had suffered a grievous wound while trying to defend his mother. Hinata had managed to save his life, but a large scar stretching across his entire torso would forever remind him of his close brush with death. It just added to the things Shikamaru felt guilty for. He was a supposed genius; he should have thought of the possibility of a hostage-taking, especially with a scumbag like Gato. But again he had been too lazy to think the situation through.

The rest of the mission was quite unpleasant. As he was the only member of Team 7 still conscious it fell to him to brief Team 11 on their mission. Their reactions had been eye-opening. It had been this conservation that shattered his confidence in Kakashi's leadership beyond repair. His team had woken a day later, after all traces of the battle had already been cleaned up. They had been quite disbelieving in his account of the battle. Sasuke in particular had refused to believe that the members of Team 11 were so strong. After some more days of recovery they had returned to Konoha. He expected some sort of reprimand from the Hokage for their conduct on the mission, but nothing really happened. The old man asked a few questions and then sent them on their merry way.

The mission should have been a wakeup-call. They had all made some improvements during the mission, but it didn't last. As soon as they were safely back in Konoha they all slid back into their old behavior patterns. Shikamaru had even approached Kakashi for some extra training, but had been rebuffed with some half-hearted excuse about their teamwork not being good enough. If it wasn't for the note he was holding in his hand he would have coasted along without making much of a fuss. He had planned to request a transfer to a different team as soon as possible and somehow acquire additional training from external sources like his family, hoping Kakashi had learned his lesson and wouldn't endanger them beyond reason. Unfortunately, the note in his hand was proof that his hope was in vain. With a sensei and team like this chances were very good that he wouldn't survive the year he was obligated to stay under Kakashi's command.

To sum it up, his future looked bleak whatever he did. He was severely undertrained, his team was almost completely dysfunctional and his sensei was useless. That didn't stop Kakashi from throwing them in life and death situations they were completely unprepared for, like the C-rank mission or now the chunin exams. Even if he somehow managed to secure extra training he doubted it would make enough of a difference in the available time before the exams. Miraculously surviving the exams wouldn't solve anything, as he would still be on Kakashi's team. He knew he could simply refuse to participate in the exams, but that would cause him no end of grief. Even if he dodged the particular bullet of the chunin exams the lazy jonin would continue to assign them missions they were unprepared for, a disaster with deathly consequences waiting to happen. Promotion to chunin was a possible way out, but he could honestly say that he had neither the necessary skills nor the experience for the rank at the present time, nor would he gain them in the foreseeable future. Therefore his chances for actual achieving the promotion were effectively nil.

He could request an extraordinary transfer, but the permission of the transfer would be dependent on his sensei's approval or required some special circumstances. Unfortunately he didn't believe in his ability to convince the responsible authorities that these circumstances applied. Kakashi had too much political backing for that. There was no chance in hell he would get an approval of transfer from Kakashi himself, as a genin wanting to transfer would reflect badly on his reputation as a teacher. There weren't any free positions on the other active genin teams anyway.

He couldn't request retirement without a good medical reason at his age, and even attempting to resign from the shinobi force would inflict enormous damage on his clan's reputation. It reeked of cowardice. He couldn't do that to his family.

Shikamaru was mentally checking all laws and regulations pertaining to his situation, searching for a way out that couldn't be blocked for one reason or another. He was about to give up after several hours of hard thinking when he suddenly got an idea. With renewed vigor he reviewed the regulations. The idea had some serious drawbacks, but it should work. He only needed approval of one particular man in Konoha's hierarchy. As fate had it that man was his own father.

'_I really have only one choice. It will probably set my career back for several years and bring me no end of trouble, but trouble is still better than death._' he thought.

Shikamaru stood with a heavy sigh and left in the direction of his home. He had to talk to his parents and he was sure he wouldn't enjoy the conservation.

* * *

><p>"YOU ARE GOING TO DO WHAT?" Yoshino Nara shrieked.<p>

Shikamaru cringed internally at the volume and tone of his mother's voice, but managed to keep his outward calm. "I said I want to request reassignment to the basic training program and return to the academy."

"Why?" his father Shikaku calmly asked while his momentarily speechless mother looked at him with sheer incomprehension. "You are part of the elite training program under the personal tuition of a famous jonin-sensei who never accepted a team before, meaning you are on the fast track to promotion. Why would you throw that away?"

"Because my team is a complete catastrophe, both my teammates as well as Kakashi. I won't learn anything from them." Shikamaru answered with a sigh.

A hint of suspicion entered his mother's eyes. "This isn't just a scheme allowing you to continue lazing about, is it?"

"Why don't you ask me what Kakashi taught us if you think him so great a teacher?" Shikamaru replied, traces of bitterness leaking into his voice.

"I don't see what you're getting at, but I play along for now. What has Kakashi taught you?"

"Tree walking." Shikamaru answered.

Yoshino nodded. "One of the basic chakra control exercises, appropriate for new genin. What else?"

"That is all he taught us."

This unexpected answer shocked both Shikaku and Yoshino into silence for quite some time.

"What do you mean he taught you only tree walking? Usually that is the first skill a sensei teaches his pupils, most often in the first week after passing the team test. To get the full benefits of the technique you have to use it daily at least for several weeks after you got the basic exercise down. It is only considered mastered after you can fight for an hour on a vertical surface. You have been a genin for several months, what has that man been doing in the meantime? Hasn't your team returned from a C-rank mission just a few days ago?" Yoshino asked in a disbelieving voice.

"It is as I said. And he didn't teach it to us several months ago but rather in the middle of the troublesome C-turned-A rank train wreck of a mission we recently returned from. Which we only managed because Team 11 turned up when we were about to be killed. Oh, and he neglected to tell us that bit about the mastery." Shikamaru replied bitterly.

Shikaku's face had turned dead serious. "I want to know everything that happened since your graduation. Now."

Shikamaru launched in a full scale recounting of the past months and a mercilessly honest appraisal of his team's skills. Time passed quickly until it was well beyond midnight. His mother flinched on several occasions during the retelling of the mission to the Land of Waves. As he reached the final battle she couldn't take it anymore and jumped from her chair to embrace Shikamaru. His father's face had become so motionless it seemed to be made out of granite.

"That… That imbecile! Taking a team of barely trained genin on a C-rank mission. In your current state you would have been hard-pressed to deal with a small group of common bandits. Even after encountering hostile shinobi he continued on. At least he should have immediately sent for help if he was so dead-set on continuing that blasted mission. I don't even want to think about what happened later. I almost lost you." The last sentence was said in a far softer voice intermingled with a sob.

Shikamaru was surprised to feel tears on his face. He had never seen his mother display much emotion besides irritation during one of her nagging sessions. Her crying was virtually unprecedented. His father was obviously busy with thinking of ways to punish Kakashi. From his darkening expression he came to the same conclusion Shikamaru himself had reached days ago, namely that he couldn't do anything to the lazy jonin. After waiting a few minutes for his mother to calm down, he completed his tale with their return to Konoha and Kakashi's further reluctance in training them.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier? We might have been able to do something." Yoshino asked.

He sighed. "There are several reasons. You both were incredibly busy, Dad with his job and you with Aunt Himiko. Partly because of my own laziness, and I'm sorry for that. But to tell you the truth, the severity of my troublesome situation simply wasn't clear to me before the mission. I knew something was wrong, but I had no comparison what a sensei should have been doing. I wanted to simply bide my time until I could legally request a transfer without making a fuss."

Yoshino looked guilty. "You're right, your father and I were both too busy to have time for you. I might have done the same as you in that situation. We must do something, if the man acts that irresponsible on a relatively simple matter there's no telling what he might do next time. I think if we talk with him…"

"That's not all." Shikamaru interrupted. "A reliable source told me that Kakashi plans to nominate our team for the upcoming chunin exams, and we are nowhere near ready. The only one of my team that might possess the necessary combat skills to become chunin is Sasuke, and even that is only because of his sharingan. Mentally none of us has what it takes to become chunin at the current time."

"WHAT? Not only does the idiot neglect your training, he wants to throw you into the chunin exams in your state? What is he thinking? Husband, first thing in the morning you will sack Kakashi because of incompetence. And don't give me some crap about it being too troublesome. Then you will charge him with dereliction of duty, reckless endangerment of his students and violation of whatever other regulations he broke on this damned mission. If the man still walks free at the end of the week, I will…" Yoshina raged.

"Dad can't do that." Shikamaru interjected. Yoshino stopped her tirade and looked disbelievingly at him for a moment before turning to her husband for confirmation.

Shikaku sighed. "Our son is right; I can't do anything about Kakashi. All jonin-sensei are outside my authority while they participate in the elite training program. They report directly to the Hokage. By signing off the after-mission report without reprimanding Kakashi he formally endorsed his behavior, meaning I can't take action myself as jonin commander. I wasn't even aware of the details of our son's mission. Regarding his training regime, or rather the lack of one, a jonin-sensei has unfortunately a lot of leeway in how he handles and teaches his pupils. External interference is forbidden because of some nasty incidents in the past. We could file a complaint, but it would take months to properly process it. Too many people are convinced of Kakashi's proficiency as jonin and teacher; they would simply not believe the allegations, especially if he has the backing of the Hokage. Heck, I wouldn't believe them if it wasn't our son telling us. I confess I always held Kakashi in the highest regard. I've even seen him as eventual Hokage material. The complaint would probably be perceived as some sort of political maneuver on behalf of our clan to damage Kakashi's reputation and opposed and delayed endlessly. Given time we could eventually convince enough people to start an inquiry, but considering what Shika told us, by then it might be too late. The entire situation is far too troublesome."

"But… but… there must be something we can do?" Yoshino asked.

"Believe me, I wish there was. I have been thinking over the situation for a long time now, and me transferring back into the academy is the only solution I could find. Kakashi won't listen to reason and I just don't want to take the risk." Shikamaru nodded to his father. "We should go over the laws and regulations together, but I don't believe I overlooked anything. My idea only works because of several loopholes. Apparently nobody has ever considered the possibility of an already apprenticed genin willingly going back to the academy."

Dawn was already approaching when they finally wrapped up their planning session. Books and scrolls containing the laws of Konoha were strewn across the room. Yoshino had succumbed to sleep some time ago and was now snoring gently while her head rested on the table in an imitation of her husband's and son's usual napping pose.

Shikaku tiredly rubbed his eyes. Pulling all-nighters had become a far too frequent occurrence for his taste. "That should cover everything. I will send Kakashi a message to excuse your absence because of undisclosed clan business for a few days. I will pick up the necessary forms while I'm at work and bring them with me. Tomorrow or rather today I will file them in the appropriate places and speed up the administrative work by calling in a few favors. This evening you should be free of Kakashi and be once again enrolled in the academy in a few days time."

"Thanks dad. I think … I will … go ... to sleep…now…ZzZzZz."

Shikamaru's head hit his folded arms with a dull thud, the positioning of his body virtually identical to his mother. Shikaku chuckled while observing his sleeping family. Then a realization struck him. He was the only one still awake, leaving him to clean up the room. And he had to leave for work in less than an hour.

"Troublesome."

* * *

><p>Asuma Sarutobi looked up from his glass when the sound of a door opening caught his attention. It was already late in the night and he was catching up with a few of his old friends: Tekuno Kanden the trap master, the sword master Hayame Shirakumo, his apprentice Hayate Gekko and the elite bodyguard Genma Shiranui. Said catching up involved a lot of alcohol. Being a sensei was an interesting job, but contact with his fellow shinobi wasn't as frequent as during the time before when he went on high-ranked missions. He along with several other patrons of the bar watched curiously as Yoshino and Shikaku Nara entered the bar and turned towards Kakashi. The masked jonin had retired to his own table near the door earlier in the evening and was clearly surprised of being approached. The two Nara seemed angry, though.<p>

None of them were close enough to overhear the increasingly agitated conversation. It ended with Shikaku pressing a bundle of paperwork into Kakashi's hands. Kakashi's one visible eye widened in disbelief when he scanned the documents. A furious but still hushed conversation later the Nara pair was about to leave.

The two Nara had almost reached the door when Kakashi said something that caused the pair to stop and turn around. Asuma shuddered internally when he saw the expression on their faces. Whatever Kakashi had said must have angered them further. Yoshino shook off the arm of her husband and went back to Kakashi until their noses were almost in contact. Kakashi clearly didn't like the invasion of his personal space.

This time Yoshino's voice was loud enough for all of them to clearly hear the words. "If you so much as approach my son without supervision I swear to Kami I will neuter you with a dull spoon, the orders of the Hokage be damned. You have done enough damage."

Kakashi's reply was again inaudible, but Yoshino's face smoothed into an unreadable mask. A second later she slapped him hard, sending the documents in his hands flying. All conversation ceased at once. The man clearly had not been expecting that and hadn't seen the slap coming from his blind side. He seemed more perplexed than actually hurt, though.

"I don't care. Run and hide behind the robes of the Hokage if you like. If you ever endanger a member of my family again they will never find your body." Yoshino said before returning to the side of her husband.

Shikaku's voice was soft, but everyone heard the words. "What my dear wife said. Oh, and Kakashi. Should you bring up assault charges we would be forced to start a formal investigation. That would include matters you would prefer to stay buried; like what happened on your last mission. If it were up to me you would be spending a lot of time in a psych evaluation. How the Hokage can trust you with a genin team after your stunt is beyond me." A moment later the pair left the bar and the various conversations started back up.

Genma and some others went to help Kakashi, picking up the stack of documents that had fallen to the ground during the confrontation. Asuma shook his head. Something was clearly up. He knew something had happened on Kakashi's last mission that caused Anko to no longer speak with him unless absolutely necessary for their jobs, but he didn't know details. Kurenai seemed to share the sentiment, but Asuma still hadn't found the opportunity to talk with one of them in private. All he knew was that there had been some trouble with a nuke-nin that had been resolved without losses on Konoha's side.

"What was that about?" Tekuno asked when Genma returned to their table. Kakashi had left the bar in a hurry.

"You know Kakashi had Shikaku's kid on his team? Well, he has him no longer. The boy went back to the academy."

Asuma had trouble not spitting out his drink in surprise. He quickly swallowed. "He did what?"

"You heard me. The boy went willingly back to the basic academy program with his genin rank suspended. I didn't even know you could do that voluntarily, but I scanned some of the forms when I picked them up." Genma answered, shaking his head.

The bearded jonin tuned out the conversation for a moment when he went over the regulations in his head. He had brushed up his knowledge when his father asked him to take over a team, even if it didn't end up being the reincarnation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio he had been told to expect. He came to the conclusion that it was possible, but it was a very strange way to withdraw from a team. It would probably ruin the boy's career despite his father being the jonin commander. Then he connected the dots. That was the only way that only required the approval of one person, and that person was Shikaku himself. It was the only foolproof way to get the boy out of the team as quickly as possible.

"Any guesses why the boy would want out?" Asuma asked.

Hayame and Genma shrugged. "No idea. You have far more contact with genin and Kakashi then I do. I heard Kakashi's team encountered the Devil of the Mist on their last mission. They took him down, but perhaps the Nara boy got cold feet?"

Tekuno shook his head. "That isn't what I heard. You didn't hear that from me, but Kakashi fucked up massively. Got them all almost killed. Would have gotten them killed if Mitarashi's team hadn't shown up. Not the usual stuff, but really stupid mistakes."

"How do you know that?" Hayate asked before coughing.

"A pal of mine over in T & I told me the story when I was checking on some of the equipment and security measures there. It isn't really classified, though. At least not yet. Zabuza wasn't alone; he had three chunin as help. One of them survived and is imprisoned there after Mitarashi's kids caught her." After ordering a new drink Tekuno continued with the chilling tale of what had happened in the Land of Waves. A quick glance around showed Asuma that they had attracted a lot of listeners. Half an hour later Asuma and the other listeners could only shake their heads.

'_What in the world did Kakashi think he was doing? Now I know why the boy wanted to get away. I wonder why dad did nothing official about it. Did he want to keep everything under wraps? No wonder Anko does no longer speak with Kakashi after that stunt.'_

For a moment he pondered why Anko hadn't said anything to him. She probably didn't want to be seen as badmouthing another shinobi, but too many people knew what happened. Gossip was already spreading. It was obvious the Nara knew. The Akimichi and Hyuuga would know, too. If his father was unwilling to take action Kakashi's career would survive, but his reputation would take a heavy hit.

Asuma tried to get their original conversation back on track after the crowd dispersed. "How are you holding up, Hayate? Now that the medic-nins finally left you out of their clutches you look much better. That poison gas really did a number on you."

"You tell me, man. I still have to take it easy for a few months, but I'm cleared for limited duty inside the village. I will probably help with the chunin exams. It shouldn't be too taxing and they need a lot of people."

* * *

><p>Koharu scowled slightly while she examined the shogi board. Was Homura trying to lure her into an ambush or did he only want her to think he did? Making the decision to ignore the opening she moved another piece before she looked back at her old friend, teammate and fellow councilor.<p>

"It seems the stories about Kakashi's behavior are spreading. Did you plan for that?" she asked.

"No, I had nothing to do with it. The entire messy affair was completely unplanned." Homura sighed. "It will cause no end of trouble for all of us. I honestly didn't expect Kakashi to fail that badly in his duties. His past record is impeccable. Shikaku asked some very pointed questions why Kakashi was allowed to retain his position. He's out for the man's blood, but I think I was able to placate him. We will declare the detailed happenings of the Wave affair a secret to clamp down on the open gossip, but that won't prevent the rumors from spreading further. It's already too late for that."

Koharu's scowl deepened upon hearing that. They were in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'-situation. Kakashi was one of their top jonin, but he had acted like an utter incompetent in the last months. If the story about his behavior became common knowledge faith in Konoha's prowess would take a heavy hit. If they openly reprimanded him that would be unavoidable. If they did nothing official they would catch flak for letting that behavior slide. Hiruzen had opted for the latter option and had given Kakashi a fierce tongue-lashing behind closed doors. Koharu had to agree, it was the better of two bad choices. While she would enjoy embarrassing one of Hiruzen's closest supporters in public the reputation of the village came first.

Homura suddenly chuckled. "You know, we were really lucky Anko's team stumbled upon them when they did. Losing the Nara heir and especially Sasuke would have caused us enormous problems. I don't even want to imagine what Itachi would do."

The old woman grimaced. "Don't remind me. The Nara boy was the one who got the ball rolling. Without him pulling out of the team we would have been able to keep things under wraps."

"Now, now, you can't really fault him for that. He did cause us problems, yes, but without him we would never have looked into the matter. If Kakashi's team had been composed as originally planned we might still labor under the misconception that Kakashi is a great teacher. Young Sasuke doesn't appear to talk to anyone, the Haruno girl doesn't really speak with her mother about her job and the Uzumaki boy doesn't have parents."

That was true. Encounters with missing nin were a frequent enough occurrence that they wouldn't have investigated too closely without the Nara boy drawing attention to it. Some people would know thanks to Team 11's involvement, but it would have been manageable. If Kakashi had managed to defeat the missing nin on his own they might never have learned about his abysmal conduct at all. It wasn't as if they had the time to review every C-rank mission, especially when Hiruzen handled it himself.

After a moment of silence Homura continued speaking. "It's too early to say for certain, but we might have another problem. We let a client get away with blatantly lying about the mission parameters. It was one of the reasons Shikaku was so angry aside from the involvement of his son. Wave sees enough traffic that the story will spread too quickly for us to contain it. It sets a very bad precedent. He expects other people will be encouraged to try the same. We might see a not inconsiderable increase in misranked missions and shinobi losses."

Koharu rubbed her brow tiredly. "I know. What will happen to Kakashi? I was too busy with arbitrating between two squabbling minor clans to pay it my full attention. Will he be reassigned quietly?"

"For now Hiruzen plans to let him stay in charge of Team 7. I think he either wants to give him another chance or gradually phase him out when things have calmed down. Unfortunately he is the only one who can teach young Sasuke about the use of his sharingan; that didn't change. They are still scheduled to participate in the chunin exams. Hopefully the rumors will have died down by then. They are short a genin now, though, and the other participating genin teams have already been assembled." Homura explained.

That was interesting. She might just know someone who would take the position. That would put Kakashi and Hiruzen in her debt; always a useful thing. Koharu knew Homura didn't like the entire idea of the chunin exams that Hiruzen had introduced more than a decade ago. While she had her own misgivings (She would never have invited foreign shinobi onto village grounds but built a tournament area some distance away, like the other villages had done) the idea in general appealed to her. It gave them an opportunity to show their village's skill before the eyes of the public. Hiruzen's talk about them replacing war was nothing more than wishful thinking, of course, but they would be able to gauge the enemies' prowess.

"You aren't happy that all the rookie teams are to compete, are you?" she asked after Homura finally made his move on the board.

Homura sighed. "It's too early, but I understand Hiruzen. All new teams have reported very good skills. The teams from half a year ago are neither remotely ready nor skillful enough. That leaves only Team Gai as established working unit from the elite program. All other participating teams were specifically created for the exams; they can't be expected to excel in the teamwork department. We simply can't have another disgrace; not when we are hosting the exams. By getting all the teams to participate we increase the chances of success. It's a gamble, but a necessary one."

This time she didn't have to think long before she moved another of her pieces. "Hiruzen wanted to have ANBU help our teams subtly. Do you think he will go through with that?"

Her counterpart shrugged. "I don't think it will be necessary for the teams aside from Kakashi's. I have full confidence in their abilities. The risk that we are accused of cheating if we manipulate too blatantly is always there and should be minimized. Oh, and checkmate."

* * *

><p>Shikamaru paused for a moment before entering the gate of the secondary academy building. A bare few months ago he would have laughed if somebody suggested he would voluntarily return to the academy, let alone participate in the basic training program. Now the thought wasn't quite so funny.<p>

He would have to face a lot of scorn and probably attempts at bullying. His contemporaries that hadn't been accepted by a jonin wouldn't take kindly to him, a genin who had achieved what they all desired and threw it away. At least that was how they would see it. Most would have better skills than him by now, thanks to his useless sensei and his own laziness. Not to mention the larger part of the student population who were placed in the basic training program from the beginning. There was always some tension born out of envy between the factions, and he belonged to neither. His rank of genin was still on the books, but it was suspended upon successful completion of the training program.

After he graduated for the second time he wouldn't be getting a personal jonin-sensei, such a thing as a personal teacher existed only for those genin produced by the elite program. Normal shinobi were responsible for seeing to their own training. Shikamaru was in the lucky position to belong to a great clan which simplified the acquisition of additional training enormously. He would be assigned some relatively low-profile duty and stay there until he managed to prove himself capable of more sensitive duties. His leaving of the elite program would work against him there. Promotion would be several years off and was far from secure. One thing was certain; he had to do a lot of hard work before he managed to compensate for the hit his reputation had taken.

Saying goodbye to his team had been a quick affair. His parents had been there when he had talked with Kakashi, but they had barely exchanged a dozen words. The masked jonin seemed still to be reeling under the development. Sasuke had been his usual loveable self, but at least he had wished him good luck. Sakura was the only one who seemed to be truly sorry to see him go. He had pondered for a moment to offer her his way out, but he was certain she wouldn't accept. Sakura was still hung up on Sasuke and wouldn't leave her crush. She probably didn't even realize how badly Kakashi had failed them.

Shikamaru straightened and resumed his walk. Yes, he had a difficult time before him, but he would persevere. He got a second chance. Not many people did. He would not squander it away. He was through with lazing around and watching the clouds for hours a day. It was time to get serious.

* * *

><p>A young man awaited anxiously the decision of the five person promotion panel. He had trained long and hard to make up for his erstwhile failures. By now he hoped he had corrected everything wrong with him. To his surprise only one person reentered the room, the village elder Koharu Utatane. Her presence had surprised him; the elders were normally not a part of promotion boards.<p>

His anxiety increased when the woman sat down without a word and fixed him with an expressionless stare. After almost a minute of silence she began speaking. "Genin Idate Morino, I'm sorry to say that the majority of the board doesn't feel that you are qualified for the rank of chunin yet. The session is still running, but I felt you should now the current status."

Idate clenched his fist tightly. "May I ask for a distribution of the votes, Utatane-sama?"

"Two voted against you, two in favor of you. One abstention."

He was about to ask another question when he noticed something. The old woman was looking at him expectantly. She wanted something from him. _'Okay, calm down. Big brother Ibiki talked about that. I can play that game.'_

"I see. In exactly what area was I deemed lacking? Would there be a way of swaying a vote?"

The old woman smiled. "It is mainly your ability to work in a team that is in question. Fortunately for you there is an opportunity for you to prove otherwise. Rookie Team 7 is missing a member for the upcoming chunin exams. It would be a shame if the poor dears don't even manage to complete the second stage. Volunteering to fill that void and helping out fellow Konoha shinobi might just be seen as the display of camaraderie necessary."

Idate felt his mouth go dry. He hated chunin exams. The aftermath of his last try was what had led to the desertion of his sensei and death of his two teammates. And now that woman wanted him to play babysitter to two snot-nosed brats or she would derail his promotion.

He put a smile on his face. "This is wonderful advice, Utatane-sama. Tell me more."

After that it was only haggling over the details.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes<strong>: Over 300 reviews! My thanks to all the people who took the time to write a review.

Apparently no one caught the reference with the gate. While I did give it some properties of the gate of truth from FMA in this chapter, I alluded to a specific entity from Lovecraft's works in the last one.

I hope I gave sufficient explanation for Shikamaru's behavior. He got increased capabilities with his clan's jutsu out of the magical interference. Unfortunately his laziness was likewise increased, meaning he didn't make use of it. Until now he wasn't able to muster the willpower to overcome his sloth. Sasuke is a bit worse off in terms of personality than in canon, mainly because Naruto wasn't working fulltime to draw him out of his shell. Kakashi did start out as an appalling sensei, but he got better later (though it's debatable how much). Unfortunately for him far more people know about his failings than in canon.

Chunin exams should start either at the end of the next chapter or the one after that.

So long.


	25. Chapter 24: Bird catcher

Disclaimer: Nothing funny about me not owning Naruto comes to mind

**Chapter 24: Bird catcher**

Tenten carefully set the brush aside and examined her latest creation. At first glance the seal seemed to be fine. It was time for the practical test. After placing the scroll inside a sturdy wooden box with an opening just large enough for her hands she set a small, soft leather ball in the midst of it. She didn't want to risk an accident if things went wrong. Slowly channeling chakra into the seal she took painstakingly note of the chakra flow. With a small puff of smoke the ball disappeared. The formerly empty center of the scroll was now filled by the symbol for 'projectile'.

'_So far so good.'_

Once again the brown-haired girl began to channel chakra into the scroll, her attention even more focused on the process. With a somehow sad sounding 'phut' and another cloud of smoke the ball was launched out of the scroll, hit the top of the box with barely any momentum and fell back to the bottom. Tenten let out a disappointed sigh.

'_Still not good enough by far, but I'm getting closer.'_

She removed the scroll from the box and ran a diagnostic technique on the seal. The degradation of the seal matrix was clearly discernable. It would be good for around a dozen launches, not that the current results made it worth it. With another sigh Tenten made an entry in her notebook before cleaning up her workroom.

Learning the sealing arts was incredibly hard, especially without anyone to teach her. Gai-sensei had done what he could, but he hardly knew anything about fuinjutsu. None of the people he or she had approached had been willing to teach her more than the basics, at least at rates she could afford. She had turned to the sealing arts after her attempts at learning medical techniques had proven fruitless. It had been a damper on her efforts of emulating the great Tsunade of the Sannin, but she wasn't to be deterred. The basics of sealing had been simple enough; especially storage seals came easy for her. But now that she was trying to advance beyond the utmost basics it had become enormously difficult to make progress. Oh, she had received all the sealing-related possessions of her grand-uncle after he died almost a month ago, but it wasn't helping much. Most of the stuff was either supplies or incomplete drawings of complicated seal designs. She wasn't ready to experiment with such high-level things yet; the danger was too great. The books and scrolls were helpful, though.

The old man had been one of Konoha's last seal-masters, but since an accident around nine or ten years ago his mind had been addled. All he did was creating storage scrolls of all kinds, but he couldn't really speak or interact in a normal fashion with other humans anymore. Tenten had watched him occasionally when she was younger. It was probably one of the reasons why she was so proficient with storage scrolls. All of his pupils had died in the Kyuubi attack and his accident occurred before he had been ready to choose new ones. It had been a painful loss for her family and Konoha.

They weren't exactly a clan; more an extended family that worked loosely together. Most of her relatives worked either as artisans or as shopkeepers (mostly selling the products the others created). There had been some shinobi over the generations, but not many. Currently Tenten was the only one. Her parents had been shinobi, too, but they died on a mission when Tenten was seven. She had stayed with one of her uncles, but she had already been enrolled in the academy by then.

With a last look over her now clean and orderly workroom she closed the door and proceeded to her bedroom to change clothes. It had been a relief when she had finally been able to afford her own apartment. She loved her uncle and his wife, but they had been driving each other spare. Now that she only visited (even if was quite often) they got along much better.

'_Which blouse should I wear? Blue or pink?'_

After a moment of indecision she chose the blue one. Clothing wouldn't matter much for the upcoming mission. After grabbing several sealing scrolls full of weapons and supplies she was ready. A few minutes and a quick chat with the apartment manager later she left the building and headed into the direction of Konoha's southern gate. Team Gai would meet up with one of the rookie teams for the first part of a double mission.

'_I wonder what they are like.'_

Tenten didn't know much about the four elite teams that had graduated a few months ago. Some names and she thought she had seen some of them from afar, but there had been no closer contact. In her graduation cycle only one other team had been formed, but it didn't last long. Somehow the two kunoichi on the team had managed to get pregnant in the first few months, leading to the disbanding of the team. Well, she had never liked the two girls in question anyway. The three teams from half a year later were all thoroughly unremarkable. Basically competent, but unremarkable. Well, Team 9 had lost their jonin, which was the reason they were still called Team 9. Usually the team name changed to the jonin's name after half a year. For example, Team Gai had been originally Team 5.

In contrast, four teams were the most that had been formed of all graduating classes in the last three years. She had heard some rumors in the last few days that Team 7 and Team 11 had managed to bring down one of the last two swordsmen of the Mist. That certainly sounded impressive, but she wondered if it was true. Well, perhaps she would get a few answers soon.

When she arrived at the meeting point a short distance in the woods outside the gate she saw three people already awaiting her. Three backpacks lay on the ground. Tenten used the last few seconds of her approach to unobtrusively seize them up.

A boy with blond hair and three thin lines on each cheek looked at her from blue eyes. He wore a mix of leather and cloth in brown and green. The look wouldn't be out of place for a huntsman or woodworker, but the multitude of weapons and weapon pouches gave him away. '_Probably a weapon user. Might be interesting to talk with him.'_

Another boy. Rather rotund and with swirl marks on his cheeks. Green jacket worn over an off-white shirt. Less weapon pouches, but if she wasn't mistaken he wore several additional layers of clothing that could hide who knew what. _'I think there was an Akimichi on that team; that's probably him.'_

Finally the only girl among them. Her eyes marked her as a Hyuuga. Dark trouser and a sleeveless leather vest worn above a long-sleeved mesh shirt. _'I think she's Neji's cousin.'_

"Hi everybody! I'm Tenten from Team Gai. Are you Team 11?"

The blond boy was the one who answered with a charming grin. "We are. I'm Naruto Uzumaki; these are my teammates Choji Akimichi and Hinata Hyuuga. A pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. Did they tell you what this is about? We were supposed to head out a day ago for a mission, but Gai-sensei said something about a double mission that came up."

Choji nodded sagely. "Yeah, our sensei told us a bit about it. Apparently we are to transport something to its destination together before we split up for our individual missions. I have no idea about the details, though."

Tenten continued to make small talk with the rookies. She had heard that all rookie teams had been entered into the chunin exams and wanted to learn more about the competition. In her opinion it was probably the four jonin of the rookie teams that had some sort of rivalry going; there was no other explanation for volunteering all rookie teams for the exams so soon. They were all friendly, but to Tenten's frustration she wasn't able to extract any useful information.

'_That fact alone is telling. They may be rookies, but they have good information security. This team might not be the easy target I thought them to be.'_

The next one to arrive was Neji. The introductions proceeded normally until he faced Hinata. The girl's formerly friendly face had morphed into an emotionless mask. Neji's face in contrast was showing subtle signs of contempt and hate. For a moment the two Hyuuga were only staring at each other before Neji bowed slightly and the girl gave a short, regal nod.

"Neji-san."

"Hinata-sama."

The icy tone of voice caused Tenten to wince. Neji's family was a sore point with him, but she hadn't suspected that it was this bad. Social obligations observed, he immediately retreated a few meters and simply stared into the woods. When Hinata turned back to her the face of the Hyuuga girl had returned to its friendly expression with just a hint of sadness.

"S-Sorry about that. We d-don't get along."

Before Tenten could answer Lee arrived at a full run. "Yosh, I'm late! I will do one hundred pushups to make up for it!"

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Lee, relax. You're still early. We were just a bit earlier than you."

Another round of introductions later they were back to waiting. Neji was still staring into the forest, ignoring Team 11. Lee was doing pushups. Naruto and Choji were talking about something in a low voice. That meant it was up to her to make conversation with Hinata.

"So, how do like life as a kunoichi?"

Hinata shrugged. "It's p-pretty much as I expected. Anko-sensei has us training hard."

They continued talking about this and that. Hinata seemed to take being a kunoichi seriously despite her shyness. To Tenten's frustration it was still impossible to learn anything definite about Team 11's skills, but she found that she liked the Hyuuga girl. She strongly suspected the shyness was an act, at least to a degree; no one with that personality would have been able to deflect her questions so skillfully.

A few minutes later Gai-sensei arrived in a swirl of leaves. The sensei of Team 11 appeared not even a second later in the same manner. Tenten eyed the woman curiously. Dark purple hair, a vest and mesh top that emphasized her ample bosom without actually being indecent. No indication what her specialty might be. If Tenten wasn't mistaken she had seen the woman hanging around the academy immediately before the time of her graduation more than a year ago, but the memories were indistinct.

"Greetings, my youthful students. I see you have already become acquainted with your comrades from Team 11. At my side is the lovely Anko Mitarashi, leader of Team 11 and my second-in-command for this mission." He turned towards the genin of Team 11 and gave them his 'Nice Guy' pose, complete with sparkling teeth. "I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey and leader of Team Gai."

The female jonin favored Gai-sensei with a smile that seemed just a little bit strained. "Thank you, Gai-san. As you all know our teams were scheduled for separate missions, but someone in the mission office noticed that both teams were headed in the same direction. At the same time a delivery mission came up; the teams that originally had the mission came down with some sort of illness after they stopped in Konoha on the way from the original starting point. The objects are sealed in a scroll in Gai-san's possession; we expect no trouble. As soon as we drop it off at the client's home we will split up and go about our own business."

Lee's hand shot into the air. "I have a question, Mitarashi-sensei. Why are two teams committed to this mission if no trouble is expected?"

"A good question. The answer is simple: The client requested and paid for a level of protection that is equivalent to two teams. Since there were no problems meeting the request we got the mission." the jonin answered.

"Yosh, I will strive to show my comrades the flames of youth! We will run day and night to fulfill the client's request!" Lee shouted

Gai gave him a thumbs-up. "That's it, Lee! Let the power of youth explode!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Tenten felt the edges of Gai-sensei's sunset genjutsu wash over her as they hugged. Even after more than a year on the team she still found the display somewhat disturbing, so she averted her gaze. The three genin of Team 11 were staring at the sight with a look of mild curiosity while their sensei kept a straight face.

"I give that a four on a creepiness scale from one to ten." Naruto said after moment.

Choji and Hinata nodded. "That s-seems about right."

Tenten blinked. "You know, most people have a stronger reaction when they see it for the first time."

The three shrugged simultaneously. "Our friend Yakumo specializes in genjutsu. She's always in need of guinea pigs and we're the most readily available. Her imagination is… very vivid and strangely creative."

"I'm not sure I want to know." Tenten said, shaking her head.

"You're better off not knowing. Trust us." Choji agreed.

A few minutes later Gai-sensei and Lee had calmed down and they were underway. To her surprise Team 11 kept up with them without problems. _'They are stronger than expected. Of course, that doesn't say anything about their combat capabilities.'_

When they made camp that evening (much to Gai-sensei's and Lee's chagrin) she sat down next to Naruto after finishing her part of the chores. She had seen him nail a deer (that was now cooking above the campfire under Choji's watchful eyes) with a throwing knife from quite a distance away. That together with how he handled his knives in disemboweling the dead animal had perked her interest. He had just finished cleaning the blades and was now sharpening them. From what she could see they were made of high-quality steel and in excellent condition.

"You take good care of your knives. Are you a weapon specialist?" Tenten asked.

Naruto nodded. "I'm pretty good with my knives and other weapons. Not as good or accurate as Anko-sensei, but I'm working on it."

That started an in-depth conversation about weapons, the materials they were made of and their possible applications in combat. Naruto was surprisingly knowledgeable and she enjoyed speaking with him greatly. There was no trace of the condescending tone she had to face sometimes because she wasn't a boy. That seemed to make no difference to Naruto. His interest for weapons wasn't quite on the same passionate level as hers, but he knew more than anyone from their age group she had talked with. Time flew and soon it was time to eat.

After they finished the meal Tenten debated with herself if she should bring up the matter of the Wave affair. There were countless rumors flying around and it was impossible to ascertain which were true. Some said that Kakashi had completely failed as a sensei and almost got his team killed because of overconfidence and blatant stupidity, but Gai-sensei had refused to believe that of his rival. Now she had the chance to learn more.

"Say, I heard you encountered the swordsman of the Mist Zabuza Momoichi on your last mission. Can you tell me about it?" she finally asked the blond boy sitting to her right.

"Sorry, we aren't allowed to talk about that. What happened on that mission has been declared a village secret, even if I don't know exactly why." Naruto answered apologetically.

"Oh." Tenten was disappointed. She had hoped to get a first-hand account. "Could you tell me at least about Zabuza's blade?"

Naruto sent a questioning glance towards his sensei who nodded. "Okay, I can do that."

He began describing the weapon in vivid detail and Tenten leant closer so she wouldn't miss anything. The massive zanbato that was one of the most famous blades in the world came to life in her mind's eye. Made from dull grey chakra steel, one side of it was sharper than a razor while the other was reinforced to catch and deflect enemy blades. Two holes were cut in the blade, one circular and the other a semi-circle with sharp edges. Tenten could almost feel the steel under her fingertips. To actually wield such a weapon… it would be a dream come true. She imagined fighting with the sword, the envy of all kenjutsu users.

Suddenly Naruto's voice pierced her daydreams. "Umm, not that I really mind but could you please give me a bit more space?"

When Tenten became aware of her surroundings again she noticed that she was practically sitting in Naruto's lap. Her upper body was pressed against the blond boy's side, her chin rested on his shoulder and her left hand was touching his upper leg. Both teams were staring at her.

Immediately after that realization she hastily backed off while blushing furiously too embarrassed to speak. Naruto had a light blush on his cheeks, but good-natured amusement was clearly visible in his eyes.

'_Oh Kami, I'm acting like one of those stupid girls.'_

Anko was the first to regain her voice. "My, my, what a forward little kunoichi you have here, Gai-san. It seems she is very interested in weapons. It almost looked like she couldn't wait to take my pupil's sword into her sheath." she said in a teasing tone.

Everyone needed a moment to get her meaning, but then Choji erupted in roaring laughter. Tenten's blush intensified. Hinata added her pealing laughter while Lee didn't seem to understand the insinuation. Even Neji's lips curved upwards. Gai-sensei came to her rescue. "Anko-san, please don't speak about such un-youthful things."

"Oh, don't act all stuffy like an old man, Gai-san. Why, if anything I think that it would be very youthful behavior. I clearly remember the stories about you at that age. Didn't you make that bet with Kakashi who could outlast more kunoichi? The gals in the seduction department couldn't walk straight for a week."

If Tenten hadn't been so occupied with her own embarrassment she would have greatly enjoyed Gai-sensei's helpless spluttering that he wasn't acting old. After awhile the amusement died down and the conversation returned to more normal matters until it was sleeping time. When she was about to lie down Naruto approached her.

"I wanted to say sorry for Anko-sensei's behavior. Her humor is at times a bit crude."

Tenten shook her head. "It's nothing I can't handle. I'm the one who should apologize."

"Nah, I didn't mind. Your thoughts were clearly far away." Naruto gave her wink. "On the other hand, if that happens again you'll need to have a talk with my girlfriend about a time-sharing agreement."

They shared a laugh before Naruto returned to his sleeping place.

Later that night Tenten was trying to get some sleep, but her thoughts were returning to the blond boy again and again. She had clearly felt the muscles under his clothing along with what could only be additional hidden weapons. The close contact had felt nice and some part of her wanted to feel it again.

'_Well, he is kind of cute. Pity he's already taken.'_

Suddenly she shook her head violently. She wasn't one of those girls who fantasized about boys to the detriment of their training. She just wasn't.

* * *

><p>Idate took a deep breath. It was time for him to meet his temporary teammates. Until the exams he would be under Kakashi's nominal command, but they wouldn't leave the village. There were some disturbing rumors, though. His big brother had refused to tell him the truth until he had the opportunity to see for himself. He spotted them as soon as the bridge designated as the meeting spot came into sight.<p>

The black-haired boy clad in white shorts and a blue short-sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest was leaning against the railing of the bride and was staring broodingly into empty space. _'I hope he wears something different on missions. That symbol tells everyone beforehand from what clan he is. He's practically begging to have his eyes gouged out by anyone who wants a sharingan and it marks him as a kidnap victim for people who would like to start their own breeding program.'_

The pink-haired kunoichi was wearing a red dress and stared at the Uchiha with a dreamy expression. _'Uh oh. It seems she has the hots for the boy; never a good thing on a team. At least the dress looks like it doesn't hamper her mobility.'_

When he walked up to them the boy noticed his approach early, but the girl only snapped out of her state when he was practically standing before them. _'Not good.'_

"What do you want?" the Uchiha asked.

'_So much for friendliness.'_ Idate thought before answering. "Hello. I'm Idate Morino and I've been temporarily assigned to your team."

"So you're the replacement for the dead-last who got cold feet. My name is Sasuke Uchiha." the boy said.

"I'm Sakura Haruno. A pleasure to meet you."

Idate took the girls hand and kissed it. "Charmed."

The blush spreading across the girl's features signaled his success. _'I still have it in me.'_

"Say Idate-san, could you tell us a bit about you?" Sakura asked when she had recovered.

Shrugging, he answered "Sure. I've been a genin for almost four years now. My team was discontinued around two years ago; I've been working in different departments since then. When the opening on your team came up I decided to help out."

Sasuke gave him a respectful nod and looked far less dismissive than before. He even participated in the conversation from time to time. _'So the brat has at least some respect for experience and skill. That will make things easier.'_

"Where's Kakashi? Shouldn't he be here by now?" Idate asked curiously after half an hour.

"He's always late. Usually he turns up one to two hours after the meeting time, but it can get up to four on bad days." Sakura said apologetically.

Idate was sorely tempted to say something snarky, but refrained. If he had to play babysitter he would try to get through this with the minimum amount of fuss.

"So, what do you think about our chances in the exams?"

Both genin looked at him in confusion. "What are talking about? Which exams?"

Idate blinked, a feeling of dread spreading through him. "Do you mean to tell me Kakashi didn't tell you anything about the chunin exams? The exams taking place in three weeks we are scheduled to participate in? Haven't you been training?"

Somehow he dreaded the answers to these questions very much.

* * *

><p>Naruto carefully tied the last corner of their tent to a stake before he used a big stone to secure it further. It was raining and windy; he didn't want their only protection against the elements go flying due to some especially strong gust of wind. The tangle of trees both broken and intact they had chosen as their camping spot offered some cover on its own, but not enough. The group entered the tent as soon as he was finished, seeking cover from the rain. Naruto and Hinata proceeded to set up their sleeping arrangements while Anko and Choji busied themselves getting a meal ready.<p>

Warming a pot full of water with camping jutsu was easily possible, but at most times it was easier to use wood. A conventional wood fire didn't need to be constantly maintained and didn't require chakra, after all. Unfortunately it would be impossible to find dry wood under these conditions. Sometime later they sat together wrapped in blankets, their clothes drying on a clothesline overhead. The hot soup certainly made the situation much better.

"So, now that you have met Team Gai what do you think of them?" Anko asked.

The teams had parted ways early this morning after delivering the scroll to the client. There had been no problems of any kind. It was a welcome change from their last two missions.

Naruto asked the question that had been on his mind for a while. "Is Maito Gai sane?"

Anko laughed lightly. "Probably not completely, no, but don't let his act fool you. He is the strongest taijutsu fighter in Konoha. Since he took his team he hardly uses ninjutsu or genjutsu anymore, but he is average in both fields. Average for a jonin, that is. I meant to ask about the genin, though."

"They certainly seem strong." Choji said. "I didn't get much information from Neji or Tenten, but Lee was less guarded than he ought to have been. Lee is incapable of using his chakra for techniques; he relies completely on taijutsu. His goal is to prove you can become a top shinobi with taijutsu alone and that hard work beats natural genius. To me he seemed far too overenthusiastic, though, which can be very dangerous."

"He's wearing v-very heavy training weights." Hinata added. "In fact, they are far heavier than what is considered h-healthy for a boy his age, especially because he doesn't seem to take them off. I didn't get to perform a m-medical scan, but from what I could see he has several half-healed injuries from overtraining under his bandages. There are t-traces in his chakra network that i-indicate he has opened at least one of the inner gates several times."

At hearing that Anko got serious. "Are you sure about that, Hinata?"

Hinata shrugged. "As s-sure as I can be without an outright examination."

"That might be problematic. He didn't seem like he would always be responsible in the use of such a dangerous skill." Anko mused. "On the other hand I don't know him well enough to pass judgment. He might be very different in a combat situation. What about the others?"

Naruto answered that. "Tenten is obviously a weapon specialist, but I don't know on what range she concentrates. Judging from the number of sealing scrolls she had on her she at least dabbles in the sealing arts. If I had to take a guess I would say that she is more comfortable at mid-to-long range; that would give her the necessary time and space to utilize her sealing scrolls to get more weapons. That's only an assumption, though."

"I think she's the most analytical and observant of the three. She was trying the entire time very hard to learn more about our skills without making it obvious. Oh, and she has a crush on Naruto since the first evening. I never thought talking about weapons would be such a good pick-up strategy." Choji said with a laugh.

Naruto shrugged. "What can I say? I'm just that awesome. At least I misled her about my skills. I don't think she realizes that my specialty is ninjutsu."

Anko nodded. "That was indeed a very good example for deception without lying. What about the Hyuuga?"

A shadow seemed to cross Hinata's face. "Neji is m-my cousin, but we hate each other. He m-makes my life as difficult as h-he can. He's a genius with the G-Gentle Fist; much better than I could ever hope to be. I observed him t-training in main house techniques back in Konoha when h-he thought himself unobserved. At close r-range he is deadly, but his arrogance t-tends to get the b-better of him and blind him t-to possible dangers. If he gets the chance I e-expect him to try and cripple or k-kill me."

That seemed to unsettle Anko. "Is it really that bad?"

"I cannot be s-sure, obviously. He might c-content himself with humiliating me, but I would r-rather not take the chance. Neji is obsessed with f-fate and resents his p-position in the clan. It isn't unfounded, b-but I can't condone that he is t-taking it out on me. In the last f-few years my situation in the c-clan has improved, but Neji h-has done his utmost to undermine my efforts."

"From my observation they work very well together under most circumstances. There is some tension between Lee and Neji, but I wouldn't expect that to become a critical problem. All in all they seem to be serious contenders for the exams." Choji said to break the ensuing silence.

Naruto stared at the ceiling thoughtfully for a minute. "Two close range fighters and one long range supporter. Normally I would say this is a good balance, but something bothers me. They all seem to use purely physical attacks. Oh, Neji's Gentle Fist uses chakra externally, but he has to touch his opponent all the same. It just seems like dangerous overspecialization to me. Tenten seems to be the only one who has an additional skill set, but I don't think she uses fuinjutsu for anything other than supporting her weapon skills."

Choji agreed after a moment. "It seems that way from the available information, but we don't know everything. Neji as a Hyuuga definitely won't use anything aside from clan techniques, but Tenten and Lee are wildcards. The team already exists for more than a year; I simply don't believe they could be such one-trick ponies, especially when they want to become chunin. It would be safer to assume that each one has at least one secondary skill set for combat that they keep secret. Do you know anything else, Anko-sensei?"

"Not really. I rarely interacted with Gai in the last years." Anko sighed. "Once upon a time I hoped to take Tenten as a personal apprentice. Just like me she is very accurate with thrown weapons. I observed her a bit during the end of her academy time. Originally there would have been only four graduates that had any hope of getting a jonin that term; Tenten, Neji and a girl and a boy whose names I have forgotten. One full team and a personal apprentice. What I didn't know was that Gai had taken an interest in Lee and pulled strings of his own. Normally Lee would never have been able to pass the elite exam; his inability to use techniques at all would have seen to that. I don't know what favors Gai had to call in, but somehow he managed to get an exception for Lee. Then he picked the other two for his team. He doesn't know about my interest in Tenten, though." She drank the rest of her soup before continuing. "Enough for now; it's time to get some sleep. You know, you never told me why you picked this particular mission."

Naruto shrugged. "It just seemed nice to take a vacation in the mountains. I didn't want anything combat-related and we aren't likely to run into any delays or complications. Besides, we can test some of our new jutsu without any danger of someone spying on us. The training grounds around Konoha aren't completely secure, after all."

Anko seemed content with that explanation. It wasn't that far off the truth. Just as they spied on other people those other people tried to spy on them. Now, between Naruto' senses and Hinata's byakugan that was very difficult to pull off, but it wasn't impossible and the attempts were irritating. The mission would provide them some truly unobserved time.

Their client was a wealthy scholar at the Daimyo's court. From time to time he hired shinobi to search an area for lost cities and the like. As soon as he learned the location of something worthwhile he would assemble a true archeological expedition. Apparently it was cheaper that way. The current mission was to find one of the lost cities of the Fire Empire, the long disintegrated precursor of the Land of Fire. Naruto doubted they would find anything, but he wouldn't complain about it.

The true reason for accepting this mission was the area they had been hired to search. It was an extension of the same range of hills they had crossed during their first mission out of Konoha, but currently they were far to the west. Here the hills had changed into true mountains. He and Hinata knew exactly where several summoning contracts were located, and this area qualified. The long-extinct Yamaguchi clan had made his home here, not that anyone knew this fact. The Yamaguchi had been soundly defeated in the Clan Wars and disappeared from the face of the earth. It was assumed they had been destroyed completely. In truth they had simply retreated into their secret mountain stronghold.

At this time Naruto didn't know the reasons, but the clan had died out nonetheless. What was important to his current situation was that they had possessed a summoning contract. The timeline where he had discovered it had been one of the worst. Konoha had been destroyed early, leading to him being on the run ever since he was six. The group he was with had simply tried to find shelter in these mountains and stumbled upon the stronghold. A very few times he or someone else had found the hidden contract. Now they had only to lead Anko and Choji to the right location. It wasn't as if they could simply walk directly to it; that would have caused far too many questions. Luckily they had already made a plan.

Several days later Team 11 was camping in a large, sparsely vegetated valley. They had already searched their assigned area and were just training a bit before returning to Konoha.

"You can do it, Hinata!" Naruto shouted in encouragement.

Said girl just nodded determinedly and carefully began another string of hand seals. Once she could perform the technique successfully she would cut down on the number of hand seals, but for now she used the large number intended for learning the technique. Nothing seemed to happen for a moment, but then a section of the small stream running through the valley bulged up. The watery construct became more defined by the second, limbs sprouting from the main mass. A few times quivers ran through it, but finally it assumed Hinata's form. Clear water became opaque and a second Hinata seemed to stand on the water.

Naruto was quick to congratulate her. "You did it! Good work, Hinata."

"Thank you. Now to see what it can do." Hinata replied before she returned her concentration to the clone.

Anko-sensei was currently helping Choji with his fire techniques, leaving Naruto and Hinata alone. The water and ice techniques recovered from Zabuza's hideout had proven very interesting, but naturally the ice techniques were unusable for them. Unfortunately most of the water techniques had been high rank and practically impossible to learn without access to more basic techniques and a water user as instructor. Both Naruto and Hinata had memorized the scrolls thanks to their memorization spell, but it wasn't enough. From simply knowing the instructions of a technique to actually being able to use it was a big step. Once learned you had to train it until you became able to use it under battle conditions. Even then there was still room for improvement, like further omitting hand seals and the like.

Hinata had already learned the Water Needles and the Wild Water Wave, both C-rank jutsu. Nominally the Water Clone was a C-rank jutsu as well, but in truth it was closer to B-rank thanks to its complexity. Naruto had tried his hand at the Water Needles, but soon given up. Lacking a water affinity as well as water elemental training C-ranked water jutsu were difficult for him to perform successfully. The C-rank earth and fire jutsu of his repertoire had been difficult enough to master, but now they were pressed for time. He doubted he could get the water clone to work without at least several months of basic water elemental training. For now it was more important to get the jutsu of his own affinities to work. Their forced participation in the chunin exams had played merry hell with his timetable.

The visit to the shinobi library some time ago had yielded basic jutsu of each element (with the exception of wind), but most of them were too ineffective to bother with in combat. How many different ways to throw fiery doom at an opponent did one really need? Most techniques accomplished the same thing in different and sometimes quite convoluted ways. It was the same with Anko-sensei's lightning techniques. Too complicated for what they did; too many hand seals. Chakra consumption wasn't really a problem for Naruto, but it just irked him to use horribly inefficient techniques. Since he could feel his own chakra very precisely he was acutely aware of those facts each time he performed a jutsu.

His thought were interrupted when Hinata plopped down on the ground at his side. "Already finished?"

"For now, yes. I can give the clone basic instructions, but it isn't very good at performing them and has no real mind of its own. I guess it operates at around a tenth of my own combat abilities and naturally it can't use my jutsu, juuken or my byakugan. Considering how integral the last two are to my fighting style that causes further problems. On the other hand I can control its actions myself, but that costs a lot of concentration. In that case its raw performance is almost on a level with my own. Still, the technique will have its uses." Hinata explained.

"How do the jutsu hold up in comparison to your direct water manipulation?" Naruto asked.

Hinata looked thoughtful for a moment. "It's easier if it's a technique. For example, I could form several water needles on my own, but it's simpler if I use a pre-existing technique. I suspect at some point in the future my water manipulation will become good enough that it will reverse the situation. For now though the fixed techniques are better."

They enjoyed a few minutes of silence before Anko and Choji returned. When the jonin saw two Hinata's present a smile appeared on her face. "It seems congratulations are in order. I'm proud of you, Hinata."

Hinata acknowledged the praise with a nod and dispelled the clone.

Anko turned towards Naruto. "How are things going with your projects, Naruto?"

"Good, Anko-sensei. I finally have the Shocking Grasp technique down. It will come in useful if I can't use weapons for one reason or another." Naruto got to his feet. "As for the other technique I'm working on…"

Naruto performed a string of eight hand seals and a bright disc of actinic light appeared above his palm. It emitted a faint humming noise and some tiny bolts of lightning arced along its surface, but none got far enough away to actually touch Naruto's flesh.

"I present to you the Thunder Disc; electric death in a small, efficient package. You can look, but don't touch." he announced proudly.

"How long can you hold it in your hand?" Choji asked curiously.

"Effectively indefinitely. I still have to feed it chakra, but not overly much. The containment isn't as good as it could be yet so it slowly loses power in contact with air. If I decide to not use it I can dispel it, but that's rather unpleasant." Naruto answered.

Choji had another question. "Why is it such a thick disc?"

The blond boy shrugged. "I tried a sphere first, but I found that it flies easier in this form along with improved accuracy. Any other questions before I launch it?"

When no one spoke up he thrust his arm forward. The disc immediately left his hand and streaked towards a man-sized boulder some distance away at a respectable speed. It hit with a resounding boom, shrouding the impact area in a cloud of dust. When the dust cleared the group could see that the boulder was completely blown into small fragments.

Anko let out a low whistle. "Not bad. I don't think many people are creating their own techniques so soon and so successfully. From what I've seen I would class it as a C-rank technique."

Naruto smiled at the praise. "It's still a work in progress. I can adjust the destructive power within limits, but since it's lightning it's most effective again rock. Against humans or wood there will be some loss of destructive power. Mainly it's a flexible, basic technique I can improve on later. I already have several ideas for other modifications like making it guided and derived techniques. With a bit of practice I should get it down to two hand seals for combat application. For now it gives me some destructive power at mid-range."

For a while he had considered developing a higher-rank technique first, but his father was right. First a solid foundation, then the good stuff. The more experience he got with lower-ranked techniques the easier the complicated ones would be. With a bit of refinement the Thunder Disc would become his lightning jutsu of choice when had to fight at medium distances and didn't want to cause massive collateral damage. Well, he had a technique in development for that, too. Unfortunately the chunin exams had come too early for everything to be finished in time.

Suddenly he became aware that Anko was very close to him and looking at him with a strange glint in her eyes. "Say, could you blow up some more stuff?"

* * *

><p>Hinata watched Naruto tossing Thunder Discs at various objects, urged on by Anko-sensei. Something in the process of blowing things up seemed to be deeply satisfying on some level for both of them. Anko was acting almost giddy; cheering whenever a new explosion occurred. Well, Naruto had promised her to teach her the jutsu once he perfected it. Even Choji seemed to slowly get into the spirit of things.<p>

"Look out; here it comes a max power!"

The disc didn't look any different, but the explosion was much bigger. The area of broken ground left behind had a diameter of almost a dozen meters and the sound of the explosion was still echoing in the valley.

'_That should do it.'_

Suddenly Naruto's expression grew serious and he turned his head from one side to the other. Anko and Choji noticed the change immediately. "What's up, Naruto?"

The blond boy threw another Thunder Disc and listened carefully to the explosion. "Something is wrong with the echoes."

After a few second of silence Anko shook her head. "I don't notice anything unusual."

"I'm certain of it." Naruto continued causing explosions, listening to their aftermath and slowly wandering through the valley. After about a dozen explosions the group ended up before a steep rock face. "Hinata, can you see anything unusual?"

Hinata knew her part of the plan and activated her byakugan before frowning. "You're right, this isn't n-normal. I didn't notice it when we were f-farther away, but this isn't rock." She tried to touch the rock, but her hand went right through it. "This is some sort of illusion, but not a n-normal genjutsu. I can't see through it. Should we explore?"

Anko gave them a nod. "Do it, but be careful. We don't know what to expect here."

Taking a step forward Hinata completely entered the fake rock face. Encountering an illusion that was able to deceive her bloodline was rare, but not impossible. The Hyuuga's all-seeing eyes weren't as infallible as most people believed. Whoever had designed this illusion had weaved a chakra-masking technique, elements from a spacetime jutsu and the actual ninjutsu illusion together. If she tried to look past the barrier her viewpoint would end up inside one of the mountains to the side. Since there was no light inside the rock that meant she couldn't see anything. Hinata idly wondered what was powering the barrier after all these years.

'_Probably some sort of robust sealing matrix.'_

Not even a second later she left the darkness of the illusion, entering the bottom of a chasm. When she looked up she could see a tiny speck of sky, but the cliffs were enormous. Now that she had left the illusion behind her byakugan could work unrestricted. Some distance away the chasm opened into a small basin. If one looked carefully one could see the overgrown remains of what had once been fields and gardens. Several small brooks emerged from different points of the cliffs, flowing into a lake at the center of the basin. Even more interesting were the houses built into one of the sidewalls.

Hinata turned around. "Can y-you hear me? It seems to be safe."

"Okay. We're coming through." came the answer. A few moments later the rest of the team emerged from the cliff behind her.

"Do you see anything interesting, Hinata?" Anko asked.

She nodded. "There's a b-basin complete with a small abandoned settlement about a kilometer away. No s-signs of human life."

There were a few traps in the chasm, but Hinata always warned them in time. Most had fallen apart long ago anyway. When they reached the basin they split up to explore but didn't find anything. Hinata could see the remains of field boundaries under the dense vegetation, but anyone else would have seen only wilderness. They met again at the houses. At some point there had been a fire that had destroyed most of the buildings, but since they were made of rock the walls were still standing. The houses had been built almost atop each other, partly carved out from the rock wall. Once upon a time there must have been ladders, but in the present day none were left. It wasn't difficult for them to walk up the walls, though. They found some remains of tools and weapons, but nothing intact.

That lasted until they entered one of the few intact houses. A skeleton was lying on the bed, a clay tablet by the side. A symbol was scratched into it above an inscription.

Choji read the inscription out loud. "I am the last one left and the time of my death draws near. Defeated in the field we retreated here to recover our strength. Unknowingly the warriors brought the illness with them. At first only a few were affected, but then it spread quickly. Our healer was the first to die. Part of the clan tried to escape. No one knows what happened to them. I hope they survived and you are one of them. Our clan's treasure is safe in its hiding place. I am unworthy of using it. Goodbye." Choji looked up. "An illness killed them all? Who were they?"

Hinata knew the answer to that. "I remember that s-symbol from a history lesson. It b-belonged to the Yamaguchi clan. The last report of the Yamaguchi w-was from about 120 years ago. That is the s-same time as one of the outbreaks of the g-great plague. Some villages d-died out completely."

The entire team suppressed a collective shudder. Epidemics had always been a problem even medical jutsu had difficulty dealing with. The last great outbreak of the plague several decades ago had cost Konoha almost half its population; practically the complete Senju clan had been amongst the victims.

"We should leave here. This is a tomb." Choji said.

Naruto shook his head. "I disagree. We are obviously the first to explore. Perhaps something valuable is left. There was a mention of treasure, after all."

"I agree with N-Naruto." Hinata said.

Anko looked at the position of the sun. "Okay, I agree to spend the rest of the day exploring. Tomorrow we return to Konoha."

They split up in two groups, Hinata and Naruto in one, Choji and Anko in the other. As soon as they were far enough away Naruto turned to Hinata. "Is the door where it should be?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes. Everything is like in the vision."

Determinedly the two made their way to a specific, completely unremarkable wall in a corner behind several buildings. If you didn't know it was there it was very easy to overlook.

"There's empty space behind it." Hinata said.

"Good. Here goes nothing." Naruto replied and proceeded to push against the wall. With a low grinding noise a section slid backwards. The bricks had been fitted so skillfully that the seams had been completely invisible before. Behind the door a dark stairway led into the mountain, going steadily upwards.

Naruto took her hand and they began to climb the stairway. There was a light in the distance. It enabled Naruto to see enough to lead her without them having to use a torch. Not that she minded the contact; they could rarely risk such a display normally.

Finally they arrived at a sort of gallery looking out over the mountainside. Hinata approached the edge and looked down. "Don't get too close. It's a long, long way down." she said to Naruto when she stepped back. Still, the view was breathtaking. When she turned around she saw what they had come to collect.

A niche was cut into the wall besides the stairway. There was a stone box there, adorned with the clan symbol of the Yamaguchi. Hinata examined it carefully before she allowed Naruto to approach. "No signs of traps, but please be careful."

Naruto patted her hand. "I'm always careful, love."

She watched anxiously as he approached the stone box and conducted a meticulous examination of his own. After a few minutes he was finished and opened the box with a grunt of effort. As soon as light fell into the interior Hinata could see that there was only a big scroll inside. It wasn't a normal scroll, though. She could easily see that it was laced with chakra. There wasn't even the slightest sign of decay.

Naruto carefully took the scroll out of the container and unrolled it. There were quite a lot of names, but the symbols had turned black, signifying the summoners' death. Taking a deep breath, Naruto cut one of his fingers with a knife and added his name to the scroll. For almost a minute Naruto made no further movements until he suddenly nodded. Moving a short distance to the side he made the hand seals necessary and put his still bleeding hand to the ground.

"Summoning Technique!"

* * *

><p>As soon as he wrote his name Naruto felt it. Something established a tentative connection to his essence. It wasn't quite chakra, nor was it magic even if his soul was involved. Until the summons formally accepted him the bond was tentative, but once confirmed it would be very difficult to dissolve. It was one of the reasons Anko was still a snake summoner; she literally had no means of ending the contract. Oh, she could do it by deliberately killing her own summons, but that would lead to them actively hunting her down to take revenge. After they reverse-summoned her to their home, of course. The designated master summoners could dissolve the contracts of their junior summoners deliberately, but no one else could with one exception. Since no other signatories of the contract Naruto had just signed were still alive he would be automatically the master summoner in this case.<p>

The one exception to the rule came into play when a summoner signed the contract of another species. If they didn't agree to sharing a summoner the summoner in question could dissolve the contract of his choosing. At least that was the case if the tribes were of similar strength; otherwise the stronger summons would retain the contract after a metaphysical tug-of-war. It was the only way out for a master summoner.

As far as Naruto knew no human alive was aware of all those facts. Even less creatures knew about what summons truly were. Heck, even most of the rank-and-file summons probably didn't know. Naruto himself had gained the information from his mother who had reconstructed it from the remaining memory fragments of the Juubi. The various species of summons had been originally created as servants and heralds of several gods of nature during the age of gods. When the gods left the world their summons remained. Over the millennia they had developed independently in different directions, but one common legacy remained.

Summons needed a master to serve.

It was deeply ingrained into their very nature and the reason why summoning contracts existed. They offered their master their services for free and allowed access to techniques unique to them. Unfortunately the connection cut both ways and some summon tribes worked hard to bend their summoners to their will or ideals, often quite subtly. The snakes and toads came to mind as major tribes who did that.

There were two kinds of tribes of summons. Major tribes were often very strong, had many members with different skills and most importantly were led by an almost immortal sage. The lesser tribes had either lost their sages or didn't have one in the first place. They were often less powerful and had fewer members. Kakashi's dogs fell into that category.

Additionally there were exceptions to the rule like human-created summons, but they were rare in comparison. The Morino clan in Konoha was rumored to have the necessary knowledge to create such things.

Naruto had worried a long time about being bound to the toads. It was very likely that they had conspired with Minato in the plan of creating a savior for the world, even if he had no proof. There was simply no way to be sure. It was unlikely that the average toad knew anything. The leading toad sage would know; maybe some other members. That didn't mean they couldn't be manipulated into furthering that goal. Signing the toad contract would have given them power over him. That would have been unacceptable.

'_That's in the past. I know my new summons didn't get along well with the toads in the past and that they adhere to a more traditional obedience to their summoner. I'm finally safe from that particular danger.'_

Introspection complete, Naruto nodded, stood up and prepared to summon something. He didn't know anything about his summons other that they belonged to the great tribes. It would probably best to summon something of average strength. Whatever appeared would most likely be able to help him further. Luckily the summoning technique was widely known since it was useless without a contract. Molding a respectable amount of chakra he made the five necessary seals before slamming his hands on the ground.

"Summoning Technique!"

A thick cloud of smoke emerged. Two arguing voices cut through it.

"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?"

"Not at all. They could be carried."

"What? A normal one carrying a coconut? One of us could do it without problems, but a normal one?"

"It could grip it by the husk!"

"It's not a question of where it grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut."

Finally the smoke cleared, revealing two arguing bird-like creatures looking similar to swallows. They were rather small, hardly more than thirty centimeters from head to tail. Gesturing wildly with their wings, it sometimes seemed as if some feathers were fingers. They displayed far more facial expression than should be possible for birds. One had steel blue upperparts and white underparts while the other one had crimson feathers instead of the steel blue ones. Naruto had to look twice, but the blue swallow was wearing glasses.

At that moment the crimson one seemed to notice him and Hinata. "Well, it doesn't matter. We have…"

"Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a normal swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?"

"Please!"

"Am I right?"

The patience of the crimson swallow apparently ran out in that moment. "Shut up! We have been summoned!"

"Huh?" It was only then that the blue swallow took notice of them. "Upon my soul! No one has summoned one of us for over a hundred years. I feared we had to go back on our word and retrieve the summoning contract on our own to choose a new summoner."

A moment later it was all over Naruto and Hinata, examining them from all angles, sitting on their shoulders or their heads before changing its position. It was so fast that it almost seemed to teleport from one position to the next. That lasted until it crashed into the floor, the red swallow sitting atop of it.

The red swallow bowed. "Please excuse my partner. He is… overly curious and excitable. My name is Natsu. My partner is named Fuyu. Might I ask for the name of our honored summoner?"

Naruto bowed slightly in return. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I just found and signed the contract."

Natsu cocked its head. "Uzumaki? I heard of your clan. What happened to the Yamaguchi? We are honor-bound to serve them exclusively. Our last summoner died in battle, but they should have chosen a new one long ago."

"As far as I know they are extinct. It's been more than a hundred years since the clan was seen last. From what we learned here they retreated after being beaten in battle only to succumb to an illness." he explained.

The swallow seemed saddened by that. "That would be a pity, but it would explain our long wait. Most of us have slept for the last few decades. If you allow, we would like to investigate for ourselves. It won't take long."

Naruto shrugged. "Feel free to do so. We'll wait here."

"Thank you, honored summoner." Natsu began kicking the still downed Fuyu. "Wake up; we have some investigating to do."

The blue-feathered swallow grumbled. "Typical, now you want my help." A second later he was already up. Before Naruto could blink both swallows had already flown out of the gallery.

"They are certainly fast." Hinata remarked.

Naruto nodded. "That they are. I hope they will prove valuable allies. Do you want to sign the contract, too?"

Hinata thought a moment. "No, we follow the plan. We will acquire more contracts in the future and we don't know all the rivalries between the tribes or if they accept multi-summoners. It's better I remain unbound for the time being."

In that moment the two swallows returned. They seemed crestfallen. "You have spoken the truth. More than a hundred years have passed since a summoner was chosen, thereby voiding the agreement between us and the Yamaguchi." Natsu said.

"That means you can become our summoner." Fuyu added. "You'll have to hammer out the details of the agreement later with the higher-ups, like if the contract should be passed on exclusively in your family or what other people can sign. That isn't urgent, though."

Once again Natsu took over. "The only thing that remains is to finalize our contract. Please summon the contract keeper. Simply think of the name while performing the technique."

Naruto did as asked. An explosion of smoke later the contract keeper stood before them. The new swallow was bigger than a man and almost completely black. Its head feathers were white and very bushy, giving the impression of a wild mane of hair complete with a full beard. One eye was completely white while the other was black. Somehow it gave the impression of smiling maliciously.

"Who dares summon me?" it asked in a deep voice.

"Excuse us; let us tell him the news." Fuyu interrupted. The three swallows huddled together and exchanged words at a rapid pace, too fast for Naruto to understand. From time to time one would turn its head and look at them before continuing the conversation.

When they were finished the black swallow turned towards Naruto. "Who would sign the contract here must answer me these questions three or the bottom of the abyss he'll see."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

Fuyu sighed. "It's easy. The old-timer here will ask you three questions. If you can answer them you'll be accepted as our summoner. If not, well, you get a free flight into the abyss outside. Sorry about that, but it's tradition."

"Let us demonstrate." Natsu ruffled his feathers. "Ask me the questions, contract keeper. I'm not afraid."

"What... is your name?"

"My name is Natsu of the swallow tribe."

"What... is your quest?"

"To serve a worthy summoner."

"What... is your favorite color?"

"Red."

The contractkeeper nodded gravely. "You pass. Off you go."

"That wasn't so difficult." Hinata remarked.

Now it was Fuyu's turn.

"What... is your name?"

"Fuyu of the swallow tribe."

"What... is your quest?"

"To serve a worthy summoner and learn the secrets of the world."

"What... is your favorite color?"

"Yellow. No, blueeeee…"

With a cry Fuyu was catapulted over the edge. A few seconds later he came flying back, glaring at the contract keeper. "That was so unfair. You know I can never decide on a color."

Naruto steeled himself and approached the contract keeper, ignoring a worried Hinata.

"What... is your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"What... is your quest?"

"To free myself from the fate others want to force me into."

"What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

Naruto stared at the bird for a moment. "What do you mean? An Elemental or Island swallow?"

The contract keeper blinked. "Huh? I... I don't know that. Auuuuuuuugh."

Both the two swallows and Hinata stared open-mouthed (or open-beaked) as the venerable contract keeper was picked up by an invisible force and thrown over the edge. Naruto smirked victoriously. Playing these scenarios with his father had been a worthwhile investment of his time. With a great gush of wind the contract keeper came back, looking seriously pissed.

"That was underhanded. How do know so much about swallows in the first place?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Well, you have to know these things when you want to become a summoner, you know."

The contract keeper fixed him with a glare. Naruto stared back fearlessly. Suddenly the big bird erupted in laughter and seemed far friendlier. "You pass. That was the funniest thing any candidate ever did."

"Yahoo! We have a new summoner! We have a new summoner!" Natsu and Fuyu chanted while dancing around Naruto.

Naruto could feel the tentative connection to the swallow tribe strengthen. For better or worse he was now bound to them and they to him.

'_Well, that was different.'_

When things had calmed down Natsu spoke up. "My lord, if you don't need us for anything Fuyu and I are going back to spread the news. Don't hesitate to call us if you need something or just want to chat."

Fuyu looked at him expectantly. "Please don't wait too long, boss. So much has changed since we were last here. We've been cooped up far too long. I can't wait to learn everything about the new world. See you."

With two puffs of smoke the two swallows disappeared, but the contract keeper remained.

"Would you really have thrown Naruto over the edge to let him fall to his death?" Hinata asked curiously.

The contract keeper made a dismissive motion with his wings. "Nah. I would have caught him in time. There aren't unlimited hordes of potential summoners, you know. It's a test of courage. If a candidate backs out after seeing what happens when you answer a question wrong he clearly doesn't have what it takes."

Naruto had a question. "What happens with the contract scroll? I don't want to watch the thing the entire time."

"I can take it with me. Just summon me if you want to have some cadet summoners sign it. It was only here because of our agreement with the Yamaguchi. I recommend you summon Grandmother Tsubame to learn more about us when you have some free time. She knows everyone and everything, but her stories take time." He took the contract scroll into his claws. "If that is everything I too take my leave, Naruto-sama."

"Wait. Is there one of you who can carry a party of four? I always wanted to fly." Naruto asked before the big swallow could dispel.

The contract keeper cocked his head thoughtfully. "Several actually. Depending on what exactly you want there are multiple options. To get the best experience of your first aerial voyage I recommend…"

Naruto listened attentively as the contract keeper gave him several names. It would be a nice surprise for Anko-sensei when they turned up. Besides, he really wanted to try flying in the real world.

* * *

><p>"Where are they?" Anko wondered. "They should have been back by now."<p>

Choji was about to say something when suddenly his eyes widened and his mouth fell open. He was looking at something directly behind her.

"Hey, Anko-sensei. Look what we've found!"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Thank you for all the reviews and additions to alerts and favorites. Random fact: The story passed 100k hits in late April. Including this chapter it has now over 300k words.

I hope you like the animal I picked as summon for Naruto.

My Natsu has no deliberate connection to the Natsu of Fairy Tail (I have not enough time to read or watch it). I picked the names before one of my betas (who for some reason still have no account here) pointed it out. The names give some indication of the powers of that particular pair, though.

Some people might wonder why Tenten wasn't able to find much instruction in the sealing arts, especially in light of Homura's thoughts on the need for seal masters. The answer is simple: He hasn't yet become aware of her interest in (and aptitude for) the art. Tenten only switched her interest to fuinjutsu after she failed at becoming a medic-nin a few months ago. Since he is a very busy man and has no reason to specifically keep track of the members of Team Gai the information has yet to reach his ears. Additionally, quite a few people try and fail at learning it, meaning he doesn't jump each time someone tries it.

Seal specialists (not masters) who are good enough that they can actually teach almost always belong to a specific department. They would be teaching it in a package deal (you join our department for X years and we teach you all about our specialized seal knowledge) Tenten can't accept as long as she is a member of Team Gai. Outside of that they would require a high sum of money or several large favors since their time is very valuable.

So long.


	26. Chapter 25: The exams begin

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 25: The exams begin**

Hinata hopped down from the back of the giant swallow that had carried them until now. Soaring high above the world and feeling the wind on her face had caused a heady feeling of freedom. The flight had been simply marvelous, but now it was over. They still had some traveling to do; Naruto didn't want to make his new contract publically known at this point in time and had them land far out of sight of the village's guarded perimeter. She didn't pay much attention to Naruto's parting conversation with the swallow; she wanted to savor the feelings that the flight had caused before she had to return to the confines of the village and her clan. With a puff of smoke the swallow dispelled, leaving them alone in the clearing they had used as landing zone.

"That flight was the greatest thing I ever experienced. Thank you, Naruto." Anko said; the awe clearly audible in her voice.

"It was nothing, sensei. If you want to fly again you just have to ask. I'm sure the swallows will be happy to help." Naruto answered.

A mischievous glint entered the woman's eyes. "Ah, you say the sweetest things. You're my favorite genin." Anko proceeded to hug Naruto, not-so-coincidentally smothering his face between her breasts. "I'll even forgive you for the heart attack you almost gave me and simply signing the contract without consulting your dear old sensei."

Hinata didn't hide her giggles when Naruto tried to free himself from that position. _'In a few years I'll be able to pull that off, too.'_

Choji's and Anko's first reaction had been very funny. After consulting with the contract keeper Naruto had summoned one of the bigger swallows available that specialized in transportation. Then they had flown around the mountain and appeared in Anko's back. Choji had seen them first, but they had already been directly behind Anko when she turned around. Coming face-to-beak with a house-sized giant bird had caused the jonin to let out a girlish shriek of surprise. They would be able to hold that over her forever. After they had explained things Anko had chided Naruto a bit about signing the contract immediately, but not too much. Contracts were rare, very valuable and a strategic resource. Every shinobi worth his salt would immediately go for such an opportunity. Conversely, once a person had signed a contract and had been accepted by the summons he or she was considered the rightful owner. Most summons had a very personal relationship with their summoner and it was considered beyond rude (and expressly forbidden by Konoha's laws) for superiors to demand that others be allowed to sign the contract. In general only personal apprentices or members of the same clan were allowed to sign. Other people wouldn't even think to ask.

When Anko finally let Naruto go his face was beet red. Anko had acted more open with them in the last time; the playful side of her personality shining through. With all that happened in the last months their bonds of trust had grown and the jonin did no longer feel the need to act professionally all the time.

"Are you sure about keeping the contract secret, Naruto? It would bring you a lot of recognition." Choji asked.

Naruto nodded. "For now I don't want anyone to know. First I want to get to know the summons better. I'll probably reveal it after the exams."

Anko shrugged. "That's your decision. Since the ruins we found don't belong to the old Fire Empire we don't need to report them urgently, but I'll add a remark to the report that we found an old abandoned shinobi settlement. For now we should concentrate on getting you a bit more training for the chunin exams."

"Anything you can tell us about the exams, Anko-sensei?" Choji probed.

"Nothing you don't already know, sorry. I can only advise you to be prepared for everything. There are usually some mind games involved. You'll do fine, trust me."

'_Two weeks until the exams start. We don't have much time left.'_

* * *

><p>Idate Morino was not amused. There was only one week left until the exams started and Team 7 was as catastrophic as ever.<p>

Sunshine was staring into space, probably plotting the painful murder of someone. Brainiac was looking adoringly at Sunshine, plotting the different (most likely unsuccessful) ways to get into his pants (or get him to go on a date with her; Idate wasn't completely sure about that). Captain Creepy was once again late, probably plotting incredibly stupid ways to waste their time and get the team killed at the first opportunity. Idate's brother had told him the truth about the Wave affair and he couldn't wait to get away from Kakashi. The Nara boy who had made a quick getaway back to the academy had the right idea. This team was a walking deathtrap.

Now, he was probably unfair towards the younger members of Team 7. Sunshine was actually a competent genin, but he wasn't ready for the exams yet. Idate had some doubts about his psychological state. On the other hand, everyone would have issues after several months with their so-called sensei.

Brainiac was at the absolute low end for genin. All academic knowledge, hardly any actual shinobi skills. She had no place being in the exams. Her main problems were her mindset and lack of suitable instruction. She would be a clear liability. Idate had nothing against her manner of dress or girliness. Heck, his deceased teammate Miwa had spent hours each day on her appearance and wore dozens of pink ribbons. Granted, Miwa had been able to use those ribbons to slice through practically anything short of metal. Unfortunately Sakura had no such noteworthy skills.

A (perhaps even the) major problem was Captain Creepy. There had been some unpleasantness when he discovered that Idate had told his team about the exams. Apparently Kakashi had planned to surprise them one day before the exams started. That was a completely idiotic idea, but by now he didn't expect anything else from Kakashi. Sasuke seemed eager to participate while Sakura had been hesitant at first. It was sadly the only display of sanity Idate had seen on the team.

Kakashi certainly did nothing to really train or actually prepare them for the exams. D-rank missions, light spars and ridiculous teamwork exercises were all they had done for the last two weeks. Idate simply played along, not wanting to lock horns with Kakashi. Unfortunately the genin's inexperience compounded the problem. They simply didn't make effective use of their time. If his promotion had not been at stake he would have tried to dissuade them from participating. Idate had made some careful suggestions veiled inside of stories to improve their training, but nothing lasting had really come out of it.

He had to admit to himself that he didn't try very hard or cared overly much. If Sunshine and Brainiac didn't take up his suggestions it was their loss. The shinobi world was merciless. It wasn't his job to teach them or show his hard-earned skills. Especially not with a young sharingan-wielder around who liked to copy things without permission. In about twelve days he would leave them behind anyway when the second phase of the exams ended and his already approved promotion went into effect.

Idate had informed his 'benefactress' Koharu Utatane about the problems. She didn't seem surprised and his task remained unchanged. Fortunately he had been told to expect subtle help from three ANBU squads in the second stage after she informed him about the particulars of the exam. That had been a great relief. Idate considered himself already on the level of an above average chunin in combat ability, but he wasn't sure he could take on a strong, coordinated team. At least not when Broody or Brainiac were liable to do something stupid.

About three hours after the meeting time Kakashi sauntered towards them. "Hey guys. Sorry, I got lost on the road of life. A black cat crossed my path and I had to take a detour."

"STOP LYING WITH A STRAIGHT FACE!" Sakura shouted.

Idate simply rolled his eyes. _'Jeez. By now she should have figured out that shouting is absolutely useless.'_ At least Sunshine stayed silent.

A miserable D-rank mission later Idate's mood was even worse. He had thought that kiddy crap was long behind him.

"Ok, that's it for today. I have to go submit this mission report." Kakashi announced before he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

'_Great. Another day wasted. No training, no advice, nothing. I wonder why the two don't seem to realize that there is a problem.'_

Then he noticed Sasuke staring at him. "Can I help you, Sunshine?"

The boy growled. "Don't call me that."

Idate shrugged indifferently. Needling the two genin was one of the few avenues of amusement left to him. "I call you what I want."

"Then I'm going home." Sasuke said and turned around.

'_Good. I'm sure he wanted to ask for training, but nothing I can do will make much of a difference at this point. It isn't my job to make up for Captain Creepy's failures.'_

Sakura ran after Sasuke. "Hey, Sasuke-kun, wait. How about right now we work on our teamwork, just the two of us."

Naturally, Sasuke dismissed her. "You're the same as the dead last. If you have time to bother me practice a jutsu or two. Frankly, your ability is below the loser."

'_Ouch. Sunshine is in an especially bad mood, but he isn't wrong.'_

The girl hung her head and seemed devastated. Idate idly wondered if he should head home or find something to amuse himself when he noticed a group of two boys and one girl watching them. One of the boys seemed vaguely familiar. _'I think I remember that scarf. Isn't he the Hokage's grandson?_'

Suddenly the maybe-grandson addressed him. "Hey bro, is she your girlfriend?"

Idate was bewildered. "No, she isn't. What gave you that idea?"

Instead of answering scarf boy turned to his two friends. "See, I was right. Seriously, is she even a girl? That ugly huge forehead and the flat chest are tell-tale signs, I tell you."

Suddenly Idate noticed some killing intent in the vicinity. It was pitiful by his standards, but he was surprised Sakura could even generate that much.

"I recommend you run away very quickly, kid."

Scarf boy turned back to him. "Why? I didn't do anything to you."

"That isn't about me." He pointed over his shoulder towards the location of an enraged and very quickly approaching Sakura. "It's about her. Never insult a woman inside her hearing. Good luck surviving your painful lesson, kid."

The kid's eyes widened in fear before he made a run for it; closely followed by an enraged Sakura. His two friends had escaped in another direction.

Idate chuckled. _'That was funny. I guess I should make sure nothing serious happens to the kid.'_

He sauntered into the direction Sakura disappeared in. Absentmindedly he noted that Sasuke was still in the vicinity and following Sakura as well, but was keeping hidden. Apparently Sakura had passed him in the wild chase without noticing.

When he turned a corner he saw that the situation had turned more serious. A black-clad youth with a Suna headband and a bundle on his back was holding the kid with one arm in the air. Sakura stood hesitantly a short distance away.

Then he laid eyes on the most beautiful creature under the sun. When their eyes met time seemed to stand still.

* * *

><p>Temari wandered through the streets of Konoha with her brother Kankuro at her side, looking around with interest. The Village hidden in the Leaves was clearly bigger and more prosperous than Suna. They had arrived yesterday, taken care of the formalities and rented some rooms in one of the better inns. One week was left until the chunin exams started. A good amount of time to relax a bit and gather information. She still wasn't entirely certain why their father had sent them here. Any other team could have spied as well; undercover operations weren't their specialty. Besides, there were nine other teams from Suna participating. Them being here wouldn't make a difference.<p>

'_Maybe it is as father said and he just wants to show the tree huggers which village has the superior genin. We are certainly the strongest Suna team by far. Should we win unambiguously we will get more clients.'_

It was certainly logical. The Wind Daimyo was giving more and more missions to Konoha. Their so-called allies were deliberately undercutting Suna's prices in the Land of Wind. Each time Suna lowered the mission fees Konoha lowered theirs in turn. At the current rates it was impossible for Konoha or Suna to break even, let alone make a profit. That meant it was a long-term ploy to economically wreck Suna. Unfortunately Konoha had enough other sources of income that they could sustain it for years. Temari had enough knowledge of Suna's inner working to realize that the situation of her village was getting worse and worse. The situation wasn't yet critical thanks to saved wealth, but in three years at the latest the money would run out. A triumphant victory in the exams would get them more clients outside of the Land of Wind, alleviating the situation.

Still, she was sure there were more and bigger things going on than their father told them. When they left Suna there had been much more activity than normal. Increased drills, readying of supplies, more frequent sessions of the village council. All pointed towards a major operation. _'Perhaps father plans to finally crush Ishigakure? Diplomatic relations with them have deteriorated further since our encounter with that rogue Katsuo a year ago.'_

The minor Village hidden in the Stones had antagonized all their neighbors in the last years, even their old ally Iwa. Ever since the old village leader had died different factions struggled for control unsuccessfully. The chaos produced a not inconsiderable number of nuke-nin, negatively affecting all surrounding countries. In short, Ishi had become a general nuisance and no one would come to their help if someone tried to solve the problem permanently.

'_If we conquer them shortly after we make a good showing in the exams it will be a proof of strength. Even better, if we take over at least a part of Ishi's old clients and sphere of influence it might solve the problem completely.'_

That was the most plausible scenario Temari could come up with. Unfortunately she had no idea if it was true. For now she could do little more than follow her orders.

An appreciative whistle caused her to turn her head. A small group of young workmen was looking at her. Temari winked and blew them a kiss before turning back.

"Do you have to do that?" Kankuro asked.

Temari let out a laugh. "Says the man who flirts with every girl. Don't think I didn't notice you speaking with the ramen waitress yesterday far longer than necessary. I'm just putting on a show as exotic foreigner."

Her brother began spluttering denials before he settled on glaring at her. In truth Kankuro didn't flirt much; he was mostly too concentrated on his art to take initiative or go out with girls. On the other hand, ever since he had ditched the 'war paint' and the silly headdress girls began to take notice of him. There was even a small but growing fan club back in Suna.

"By the way, where is Gaara? I didn't see him this morning." a recovered Kankuro asked.

She shrugged. "He went out as soon as there was enough light to see. I think he wanted to pay the local library a visit."

Kankuro looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you think they'll let him in?"

Temari shrugged again. "Probably. From what he told me the civilian library is open to the public."

If not Gaara would be probably exploring the village on his own. She didn't think he would get into any trouble. He had much more self-control than before his change, but under his calm façade still lurked a cruel and merciless killer. Gaara seemed to hate nearly everyone; the sole exceptions being his siblings. Temari had received the shock of her life when she woke after their disastrous mission a year ago only to find a dozing Gaara cuddled up to her. It wasn't the last such occurrence. On each of the three or four nights around a new moon he would come to her bed, cuddle close to her and sleep. It was the only time of a month he did that. Whatever that rogue jonin from Ishi had done to him seemed to have weakened the connection to the demon inside of him a bit, enabling him to sleep occasionally for the first time in his life.

The first few nights she had lain awake the entire time, fearing to be crushed by his sand any minute. Only that hadn't happened. By day Gaara was mostly his old self, but during those precious few nights he was just a young, lonely boy who sought out one of the two persons on this world he trusted. It had taken time for her to really realize the change, but Gaara seemed to actually want to protect them. That development had been well worth the injuries all three of them had sustained on that cursed mission. Not that any scars remained; they had access to the best medics.

'_Well, it was certainly a wake-up call. With Gaara training like a man possessed and forcing us to do the same we are certainly far stronger than we would have been otherwise.'_

She had regained the little brother she had missed all those years, first because her father had forbidden all contact and then because Gaara had been too crazy. Granted, Gaara calling the Ichibi 'Mother' still send shivers down her spine and he was still a sadistic, psychotic killer (especially during the full moon. Even she and Kankuro avoided him during that time.), but he was their sadistic, psychotic killer.

Suddenly a young, brown-haired boy wearing a long scarf came running around a corner and ran straight into Kankuro.

"Ouch!"

Kankuro picked the kid up with one hand and held him close to his face. "That hurt, you brat."

Temari looked around. "Don't make trouble. I don't want get yelled at later."

"Don't worry. Let's play a little before the boss comes." Kankuro replied. "Don't you know you have to apologize to people when you run into them, brat?"

The boy began to struggle. "Let me down!"

A moment later a pink-haired girl wearing a leaf forehead protector came running, but managed to stop in time before she collided with them. "S-Sorry, we were just messing around." she said after a few seconds.

'_Pathetic. Is she really a kunoichi?'_

Then another leaf genin came around the corner, but this one had a far more sedate pace. It was a young man her age, perhaps a year older with a muscular but lean build. He immediately seized the situation up and braced himself for conflict without making it obvious. This one was far more dangerous than the girl. When her dark green eyes met his brown ones time seemed to stand still.

'_He has the eyes of a killer. I like them.'_ were her only conscious thoughts. She could lose herself in those eyes. Some still working part of her mind noted with satisfaction that the young man had frozen and seemed to be awe-struck.

The spell was broken when a stone aimed at Kankuro came flying out of a nearby tree. He used his free hand to catch it in a fluid motion. "I hate midgets. Especially younger ones that are rude." A moment later he sent the stone back to the black-haired boy who had thrown it, knocking a second stone out of his hand. "You shouldn't throw stones at people you know nothing about. You might piss them off."

Temari spared the suddenly flustered boy only a quick glance. He might be handsome in a boyish sort of way, but he was no match for the fine example of masculinity that was now slowly approaching her. Nor posed he the same level of danger.

"Sasuke, Sakura; stand down at once." he commanded without taking his eyes off her. His awe-struck expression had disappeared behind a friendly smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"You can't tell me what to do! These bastards attacked the Hokage's grandson! They should get lost!"

"Kyaa! Sasuke-kun, you're so cool! You tell them!" shouted the pink-haired girl. Temari felt the sudden urge to silence her with a wind blade to the throat. Judging from a short twitch of his eye the man before her harbored similar sentiments.

"Hey punk, get down here. I hate showoffs like you the most." her brother said. _'Great. Now he's pissed off.'_

The man before her was about to open his mouth again to speak when a flat voice cut through the air. "Kankuro, stop it." Gaara had appeared directly behind the shocked black-haired boy, hanging upside-down from a branch. "Don't lose control of yourself. We will solve this situation without resorting to violence. Why do you think we came to Konoha?"

Kankuro immediately backed down. "Sorry, Gaara."

With a swirl of sand her youngest brother appeared at her side. "My apologies to you guys."

The man in front of her began speaking. "I accept your apology and offer one of my own." He turned towards the black-haired boy, but kept them in his field of vision. "I won't repeat myself. I'm your senior and you will obey. Now stand down or face the consequences." With a sulky expression on his face the genin jumped down, taking position to the side of the pink-haired girl. Turning back towards them the brown-haired man asked a question. "Now, what is the matter with the kid?"

"He ran into me. All I want is an apology." Kankuro answered.

The brat that had hung limply in Kankuro's hand seemed to find his voice. "I'm sorry for running into you."

Kankuro carefully set him down. "Good. I might have reacted too strongly myself." He rummaged in one of his pockets before pulling out a few vouchers. "As apology I invite you to a meal at Ichiraku Ramen."

When the brat nodded hesitantly the tension lessened. "Now that this is cleared up I have a question. I assume you are here for the chunin exams?" the brown-eyed man asked.

Temari showed him the passport she had been given. "That's right. We are genin from Sunagakure."

This time the smile of the man was more genuine and reached his eyes. Temari could feel her heartbeat speeding up, but she managed to suppress a blush. "Then I wish you a good time and good luck."

Suddenly Sasuke spoke up. "What's your name?"

She gave him a disinterested glance. "You mean me? I'm…"

"No. You with the gourd."

'_How rude.'_

Her brother didn't even bother to look at him. His interest was clearly focused on the oldest genin. "Gaara of the Desert."

After a moment of silence Sasuke asked "Don't you want to know my name?"

Again Gaara didn't even turn his head. "Not interested."

The boy seemed ready to explode when the older genin intervened. "Sasuke, go home. I have this situation in hand. Sakura, accompany him." For a moment it seemed as if the boy was about to argue, but in the end he turned around with a huff. The girl gave them an unsure half-bow before she followed him.

"I must once again apologize for the rudeness of my… teammates. My name is Idate Morino. Might I ask for the name of the lovely lady and your other companion?" the now identified Idate asked with a charming grin.

Temari favored him with a charming smile of her own. Two could play that game. "I'm Temari and this is my brother Kankuro. You already know my other brother Gaara."

"A pleasure to meet you. Do you mind if I tag along? We should talk away from prying eyes." Idate said while motioning with his head towards a tree a bit farther away.

Temari glanced into the direction he had indicated. Three people were hiding in the tree. She had noticed them before but assumed they were additional Konoha shinobi. Apparently she was mistaken. They were keeping to the shadows and the distance was too great for her to identify their village symbol.

"Sure, you can come along." she said after a moment of thought.

If the brat was really the Hokage's grandson it was completely understandable that Idate didn't want to leave him alone with strangers from another village. Besides, she would like to talk with him and flirt a bit. Maybe he would let some information slip.

Neither they nor the Sound shinobi in the tree noticed the pale lavender eyes that observed them from two streets away.

* * *

><p>Kankuro watched the young boy at his side with interest. He was obviously very confused. It seemed the last thing he had expected after running into the foreign genin and being roughly picked up was to be invited to free ramen. Still, he was obviously enjoying the free food.<p>

His sister was in her element. Temari was flirting with Idate, but he was flirting right back. Kankuro wouldn't take any bets on the outcome of that particular contest. Currently she was eating a ramen noodle in a very sensual manner. Normally his money would have been on his sister to wrap the young man around her finger, but he had seen their reactions to each other. He didn't believe anything more than a fling would come out of it, but he was practically sure they would end up in bed together sooner or later. Kankuro supposed he should feel more protective of his sister. On the other hand she had made it very clear that she tolerated no interference in her enjoyments. Besides, the young man was very dangerous if you knew what to look for.

Having been in the company of a stone-cold merciless killer (his father), a cruel merciless killer (his sister) and a psychotic merciless killer (his little brother) and being a brutal merciless killer himself Kankuro could spot other killers with ease. Heck, by all accounts their mother had been a sadistic merciless killer. Idate fit right into their family if you thought about it. Even Gaara seemed to find him interesting (luckily not in a 'MOTHER WANTS HIS BLOOD'-kind of way) and was observing him silently.

With a glance at the boy sitting at his side Kankuro wondered how best to proceed. He didn't like children and had only wanted to scare the brat a bit. Him being the Hokage's grandson unfortunately turned the matter political. Perhaps he should try to smooth things over. Their father wouldn't be amused if they caused a diplomatic incident. "So, you're the Hokage's grandson, eh? What's your name?"

The boy seemed very surprised at the question. "You really want to know my name?"

Kankuro blinked. "I do. Is it unusual for people to ask for your name? How else should I know what to call you?"

Sighing, the boy looked down at the table. "Grandpa gave me the name Konohamaru. I'm named after the village. And even though everyone knows my name almost nobody ever calls me that. When someone is talking about me or calling me all they ever see is the Hokage's grandson. No one sees me as me."

Kankuro winced. That hit unexpectedly close to home. "I feel your pain, Konohamaru."

Konohamaru looked up, anger in his eyes. "How? How can you know how I feel?"

The puppeteer let out a chuckle. "Because the Kazekage is my father. Even worse, I'm the second of three children. When I was a kid no one paid attention to me. Temari is almost two years my senior and showed great skill at a young age. Gaara, well, everyone in our village knows about Gaara. I was just the forgotten middle child." That seemed to have shocked the brat into silence, so Kankuro continued speaking. "I played pranks, goofed off, was disrespectful and generally made a nuisance out of myself. Sound familiar? I thought so. But that doesn't make anything better, does it?"

Konohamaru lowered his gaze again. "No, not really. They scold me for a while, but then everything goes back to how it was before. I'm sick of it. That's why I want the title of Hokage. I will defeat my grandfather and then everyone will acknowledge me."

Kankuro shook his head. "That isn't how it works, Konohamaru. You don't become a Kage just because you can defeat the old one. Who would acknowledge a kid like you? The title of Kage isn't something a little kid can take. You must have the respect of your village and fellow shinobi first."

"But how do I do that?"

He shrugged. "I can only speak for myself. Both my sister and my brother are stronger than me. That doesn't mean I can't make a name for myself. When I realized that I stopped acting like a spoiled child and buckled down to train. I took up one of the most difficult and renowned ninja arts of Suna when I discovered I had a talent for it. Today every practitioner of the art knows my name and many others too. Who can say what will happen in ten or twenty years? Perhaps I will be even considered as the next Kazekage when my father retires."

From the kid's posture Kankuro could tell that he was making an impression. "Just remember, there aren't any shortcuts. You have to train long and hard. Become a good shinobi. Pick something you are good at. Recognition will come by itself and you'll be famous before you know it. I'm sure even now there are some people who recognize you for who you are. Don't be too proud to accept their help."

Suddenly the kid nodded, determination shining from his eyes. "You're right. Starting tomorrow I'm taking my first step as a serious shinobi. One day they'll know my name even in Suna and the other villages."

Gaara's voice interrupted their conversation. "Kankuro, it is time for us to leave."

Seeing that it was true Kankuro stood up. "I'll be looking forward to hearing it, Konohamaru. Goodbye."

* * *

><p>Yakumo took a small sip of tea while listening to her debating friends. The chunin exams would start the day after tomorrow. This was the last meeting of the circle before the exams and they were sharing all the information about the other teams they had been able to gather in the last weeks. Incidentally today was also Naruto's birthday.<p>

"… don't seem to have any n-noteworthy skills. That leaves the l-last team from Suna. They are the children of the Kazekage and extremely dangerous. One boy is a p-puppeteer and the girl is in all likelihood a wind-user judging from her fan." Hinata explained. "But the m-most dangerous is their youngest sibling. You have to know what exactly y-you are looking for, but from what I could see he is a jinchuuriki. He h-has a steady stream of demonic chakra coursing through his body."

"That's true." Ino chimed in. "My contacts among the merchants doing business in Suna and other people who visited there have heard horror stories about him. According to the stories he is a murderous psychotic monster. There was an incident many years ago when the Ichibi got free temporarily before the Kazekage subdued it."

Choji nodded in confirmation. "I've heard the same, but he seems to have calmed down somewhat in the last years."

"Okay, that makes the team a flee-on-sight. If you end up fighting Gaara in some sort of preliminary match forfeit immediately. One of us might be able to hurt him, but since he's psychotic we don't know if he'll set the Ichibi free if he loses it. We don't need that kind of trouble." Naruto announced.

"That is all we've been able to l-learn about the foreign teams. For most we didn't find out anything, m-meaning they aren't notorious yet. That leaves the Konoha teams." Hinata said.

Yakumo tapped on a folder. "Kabuto Yakushi. That one might be a problem. We tagged him several months earlier as a possible spy. His entire team is rather old."

"It is possible they are low-skilled genin who see this as their only chance of promotion." Shino reasoned. "Do we have any proof one way or another?"

Naruto shook his head. "None. If they aren't what they seem to be they are very careful. The jonin they have been assigned as mentor for the exams seems completely legit, though."

"Shikamaru's replacement Idate Morino on Team 7 s-seems competent. He doesn't like his new teammates. They had a run-in with the Sand s-siblings a few days ago. I would recommend staying away f-from Team 7 during the exams. Sasuke might attract more than h-his share of attention." Hinata said.

Ino consulted her list. "Most other Konoha teams seem to be small fry. The only exception is Team Gai. Didn't you meet them on your last mission?"

Yakumo listened carefully when Choji, Naruto and Hinata described their interactions with Team Gai. The point that grabbed her non-professional interest was that another kunoichi had developed a crush on _**her**_boyfriend. Sometimes she wondered what it was that caused so many competent kunoichi to develop an interest in him. Their class mates at the academy had never shown any sign of that. Hinata was deeply in love with him, even if she never gave any indication. Yakumo knew that Naruto knew about it. Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder if they did something… inappropriate together when they were away on mission. All parties denied it, and she trusted them. It still caused her to curse the fate that had placed her and her boyfriend on different teams, but she couldn't argue with the fact that Anko seemed to be an ideal teacher for Naruto and Hinata while she was better off with Kurenai. Then there was Ino. Yakumo was sure that the blond girl still harbored a crush for Naruto. She would never act on it, but it was there. And now Tenten had joined the fray.

She glanced at Naruto beside her. _'Well, if I'm attracted to him it's logical to assume others like him for similar reasons. I should probably reinforce my claim on him; I've waited far too long already. He has been very patient and never pushed me. If I don't have the courage to kiss him properly I can't really claim to be his girlfriend.' _Then she had to suppress a giggle. _'It will make for a nice surprise birthday present.'_

Finally they finished with the serious stuff and the party began. Naruto's sensei and Mizuki weren't present; there had already been a larger party earlier today they had organized together. Yakumo thought they had gone on another date. Not that anyone minded; the evening party was only for Naruto's closest friends and it had given them the opportunity for a circle meeting. The uninitiated members of the three teams had been present at the earlier party, as had Kurenai, Asuma and several other people Naruto had befriended. Even the Hokage had made an appearance. The high number of guests had necessitated Naruto donning his mask and playing slightly stupid and excitable. She knew how much he hated that. He was cutting back on it to simulate the effects of Anko's instruction, but it still irked him. Kurenai had given no indication that she noticed a difference and she was the only adult aside from Anko and Mizuki that had enough contact with Naruto to have glimpsed his true self.

A short-lived pulse of rage went through Yakumo when she thought of the Hokage. The lease of the Kurama council seat her uncle had negotiated had expired, but she didn't get it back. Oh no, she was too young and didn't have a high enough rank as the Hokage explained in his kindly voice. It would be too great a burden for one so young. She would have to reach special jonin or the age of twenty to be able to occupy the seat. In the meantime the civilian who had originally leased it would hold it in trust. The man was one of the Hokage's staunchest supporters, of course. For a moment she had been tempted to lash out at the old man. Illusion: Spiked Tentacles of Forced Intrusion would have seemed fitting for that opportunity. Luckily she had managed to retain her composure and friendly mask the entire time. She didn't think the old man had noticed anything. Shoving these thoughts to the side Yakumo concentrated on her friends and the party.

The party was already winding down when Yakumo gathered her courage and approached her boyfriend. "I have another present for you, Naruto-kun." Before he could say anything she crossed the distance between them and kissed him directly on the lips. She could feel his surprise, but he didn't resist and put his arms around her, pulling her closer.

'_That wasn't quite right.' _Yakumo thought when she broke the contact. _'Practice makes perfect.'_ She kissed him again. The second kiss was much better and lasted much longer. Yakumo felt very hot and flushed when it ended. _'I should have done this months ago. Why in the world did I wait so long?'_

Neither Naruto nor Yakumo spoke, but she could see the emotion shining from his eyes. She could stare into Naruto's blue eyes forever, but she wanted to see the reactions of their friends and turned her head. Ino mouthed something like 'about time!', Shino inclined his head slightly in a supportive gesture and Choji and Hinata were smiling. She detected just a faint hint of sadness in Hinata's expression. It was so faint and fleeting that she wasn't sure it was really there.

Naruto speaking caused her to turn back to him. "Thank you, Yakumo-chan."

In response she kissed him again. "My pleasure."

It wasn't all that late when the group broke up. Tomorrow would be a free day, but none of them wanted to put any strain on themselves. They already knew the first stage of the exam would take place in the academy and would be some sort of written test, but the second stage was more ambiguous. It would most likely be a survival exercise, but things like duration or location were still secret. Oh, they had kept track of the various preparations going on in the village, but someone high in the hierarchy had taken espionage in account and simply ordered five different sites prepared at different times.

Yakumo gave Naruto a last kiss when he was about to leave her house, having stayed behind after the others had left. "Goodnight, Naruto-kun."

"Sleep well, Yakumo-chan. Sweet dreams."

She slept very well that night, but 'sweet' was a decidedly inappropriate description of her dreams.

* * *

><p>Choji was feeling nervous. Things were going far too easy. The three teams with circle members had met before noon, eaten together at one of his family's restaurants and then made their way to the academy. The start of the exams was the late afternoon, but it always paid to be early. There had already been some genin milling around, but the group had simply taken one of the back entrances of the academy and found the assigned room without problems. A few unknowns had already been present. The group had taken seats in one corner and made light conversation to pass time and mask their observation of the other participants. More and more genin were trickling in. Somehow he just had expected a few more obstacles and was now wracking his brain in search of something they could have overlooked.<p>

"A pair of chunin just arrived and s-set up a genjutsu on the second floor. From where the chakra is l-located I think they made themselves younger and created a fake room." Hinata suddenly announced, veins bulging around her eyes. She was shielded from view by the others. "They are barring entry to all. A crowd is already gathering."

Kiba let out a laugh. "Can't they count? How stupid can they be to not realize that they're on the wrong floor? Right, Akamaru?"

The dog let out an affirmative woof before it got back to enjoying the ministrations of Ino. The girls of the group had taken turns in petting him. He probably thought he was in heaven.

Asuka harrumphed. "Such easily deceived trash has no place in the exams. I'm glad they're weeding out the riffraff early. Even you're smarter than that, dog brain."

"You're one to talk, spitfire."

"Hairball."

"Harpy."

Choji ignored the banter. Shino's two teammates were always squabbling good-naturedly and trying to one-up each other. If it got out of hand Shino would intervene.

"The Sand team just arrived. They're taking a look at the situation." Hinata relayed her observations. "Now they're unobtrusively making their w-way to another stairway."

Two minutes later the doors of the rooms opened and the Sand Siblings entered. They surveyed the room for a moment before choosing a place. The gaze of the red-haired boy with the gourd on his back lingered a few seconds on them before he proceeded to scrutinize the other genin in the room. _'I don't like his eyes. There is madness in there. Hinata and Naruto were right to warn us about him.'_

The next team to arrive was the single participating team from the Village hidden in the Sound. None of them had been able to find out much about the new village that had revealed its existence only around two years ago. No one even knew where the village was located.

Suddenly Akamaru perked up and Naruto as well as Shino stiffened. For most other occupants of the room it would have been undetectable, but he knew his friends of many years very well. It was almost as if they listened to something only they could hear. Naruto gave Shino a nod. A few seconds later Akamaru settled back down. Then Shino jerked so strongly as if someone had shocked him with a lightning jutsu, his head swiveling to a specific location in the room before he stopped abruptly and returned to his original pose. He breathed deeply before calming down almost immediately.

"Are you alright, bug man?" Asuka asked. "If you are too nervous you can always give team leadership to me. The exams are just the right place for my debut as leader."

Shino cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "I assure you I am fully capable of performing my role, Asuka. My reaction was due to an unexpected discovery. It was very surprising. The matter will be taken care of."

That answer was completely unsatisfactory, but Shino didn't react to any further questioning. He seemed to be deep in thought. Choji could see a pair of unusually large kikaichu leaving from Shino's sleeve, but he lost them when they took to air. _'I wonder what this was about.'_

"Team Gai has now arrived at the f-fake room. They are trying to get in, but it seems as if they're only p-putting up a show. Oh, and Team 7 has entered the building." Hinata announced.

A glint entered Asuka's eyes. It seemed she still suffered of some amount of adoration for Sasuke. She seemed about to pester Hinata for more details or swoon over the last Uchiiha.

In the next moment a groan escaped Hinata's mouth. "Sasuke just b-blew the genjutsu. The entire crowd is now heading here."

Ino facepalmed, Yakumo shook her head sadly and Asuka looked as if she had swallowed something disgusting, her words of praise stuck in her throat. A short snort of laughter escaped Kiba. "There you have your precious rookie of the year, Asuka. I guess he would feel lonely without the failures to accompany him."

"Shut up, idiot!"

Hinata's voice prevented things from getting out of hand. "Lee has just challenged Sasuke to a f-fight. He accepted. The young man with Team 7 is currently bashing his own head against the wall in frustration."

"Why would Lee do that? You can be disqualified for fighting." Choji wondered.

No one answered him. It wasn't as if he had expected an answer. The only reason to fight before the exams and risk unnecessary injury was boundless overconfidence and arrogance. _'It seems we were right about Lee. He might worship hard work and his sensei, but he lacks self-control and is very arrogant in his own way.'_

"Who is winning?" Shinji asked suddenly. The boy had been silent the entire time; Choji had almost forgotten his presence.

The Hyuuga girl sighed. "Lee just w-won. I think Sasuke used his sharingan, but the w-wall blurs my view enough that I can't be sure."

"Sasuke-kun… lost?" Asuka asked aghast.

Hinata nodded. "Lee is much f-faster and stronger. Sasuke couldn't keep up." Her expression changed into a scowl. "That last attack c-could have really hurt Sasuke; maybe even killed him. Lee's sensei intervened before he could c-complete it, but without Idate c-catching him in time he would have s-suffered at least some injuries. The man chastised Lee a bit, but they are all now heading here."

That was the last bit of information necessary for Choji to categorize Lee as dangerous for his allies and not to be trusted. His respect for Gai and Lee hit rock bottom. Who in his right mind used such an attack against a fellow Leaf shinobi, in an unauthorized fight no less? That should have been grounds to disqualify Lee (and Sasuke for accepting), but it seemed Gai was even more irresponsible than his pupil in allowing such excesses. It seemed both of them would stop at nothing to prove the superiority of hard work and taijutsu no matter what rules they had to bend and break or who got hurt in the process. The rivalry between Gai and Kakashi might contribute, too. It was another sign for the rot that had spread through the village that men like Kakashi and Gai were allowed to teach impressionable genin.

Hinata visibly deactivated her byakugan. "That's all I'm going to g-get. It growing too crowded in here. Others might overhear me."

That was true. More and more people entered the room. In his estimate the number of participants had already crossed one hundred and was nearing one hundred and fifty. _'Without Sasuke's need to show off there would have been a third less.'_

The door opening again caught his attention. Team 7 had entered the room. Briefly he saw Kakashi standing outside before the door closed again. Idate kept his expression unreadable but Sasuke and Sakura seemed surprised at the numbers of participants. '_Idiots. There are only two chunin exams per year, and not every village sends teams to each exam. It's only natural there will be many participants. Heck, even if all the Leaf genin in this room would attain promotion it wouldn't be enough to satisfy the need for chunin of Konoha alone.'_

Not that there were many promotions purely because of the exams anyway. They were more for showing off a village's prowess than a process to choose worthy chunin. To even have a chance to attain promotion one had to reach the third stage. Choji had looked it up and there had seldom been more than a dozen finalists; the numbers had been in the single digits more often than not. Even fewer were promoted. The genin in the room here were either ignorant of that fact, desperate for promotion or had been specifically sent to represent the strength of their home village.

Suddenly he became aware that Asuka had left them and was approaching the still shocked Sasuke from behind. Then she pounced on him. "Sasuke-kun! You're late! I haven't seen you for while so I've been waiting in excitement."

Judging from Sasuke's face he wasn't especially happy about the reunion. Naruto stood up with a sigh. "I guess we should go and greet them. It's unlikely we'll be allowed to retain our seats anyway."

"Get away from Sasuke-kun, you red devil!" Sakura screeched.

"Why, if it isn't Sakura. Big ugly forehead as always."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Choji winced at the volume. Akamaru let out a yowl and hid in Kiba's jacket while Naruto seemed unfazed. _'Lucky bastard has probably tuned out the shriller frequencies. I wish I could control my hearing.'_

Naruto addressed Idate while the two girls bickered with Sasuke in the middle. "You must be the replacement for Shikamaru. My condolences. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, what's your name?"

Choji observed brown eyes focusing on Naruto. "I'm Idate Morino. Nice to meet you."

'_He's not a pushover. Might have been assigned to keep Sasuke alive during the exams.'_

Introductions were quickly made and the two squabbling girls were separated to the relief of everyone in hearing range.

"I see… All twelve of this year's rookie genin are taking the exams. You seem confident, Kiba." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"We did a lot of training. We won't lose to you." Kiba replied self-assuredly.

Unexpectedly a voice interrupted their conversation. "Hey, you guys should be quieter."

'_White hair and glasses. That has to be Kabuto.'_

Choji didn't give any outward sign, but he became more watchful in an instant. If their suspicions were correct and Kabuto was a spy of some sort he could be very dangerous. Not so much physically but in an information security sense.

The rotund Akimichi remained at the edge of the group while Kabuto tried to get into their good graces. He had to suppress a snort when Kabuto mentioned that this was his seventh chunin exam. Granted, there were cases of bad luck, but almost nobody made more than four attempts before giving up and seeking more conventional (and more likely to succeed) ways of promotion. His eyes narrowed when Kabuto produced his info cards and revealed information about Rock Lee and Gaara. At least the detailed information about Lee's skills should not have been easily accessible for a genin. Sure, it was possible to get at that information (the circle had it too), but it wasn't something you should show around. From the corner of his eye he saw that Idate frowned too before his face smoothed back into polite interest.

'_Kabuto is far too helpful. There's definitely something wrong with him.'_

* * *

><p>Naruto dispassionately looked down at the retching Kabuto. Sakura was fussing over him. The attack by the Sound shinobi had seemed a spur of the moment thing at first glance because Kabuto had said something that could be construed as an insult, but some very tiny signs indicated that Kabuto had expected it. It seemed rehearsed. Naruto had actually been able to hear the sound waves produced by the hunchback's strange device that had destroyed Kabuto's glasses and caused him to throw up. They had a rather unpleasant frequency, but as long as he kept a reasonable distance there shouldn't be any negative effects.<p>

More importantly was his observation that Kabuto had held back a great deal. There was a difference if one fought at his best or at an artificially lowered level and Kabuto was nowhere near actually exerting himself. If that wasn't enough Naruto knew from the vision's of his father that Kabuto inevitably was a highly competent and extremely dangerous spy for _someone_. Who exactly that someone was changed from timeline to timeline. Judging from the fact that the white-haired man had tried to get close to Sasuke's team in particular by telling them knowledge that every serious contender should have learned on his own meant Orochimaru was a reasonable guess.

'_Better keep my distance and avoid rousing suspicion. I don't want a confrontation with him or Orochimaru at the current time. None of us is strong enough yet; at least not without involving mom and dad.'_

"Write that down in your cards. _The three Hidden Sound shinobi, definite future chunin_." one of the Oto shinobi boasted.

Naruto had trouble to avoid rolling his eyes. If one unexpected issue hadn't come up he would have made a point to off those idiots at first opportunity. As it was it was up to Shino to deal with the matter. That was if none of the other people that had been watching the display took care of the Oto idiots first.

An explosion of smoke at the front of the room caught his attention. "Quiet down you worthless bastards!" a deep voice said with authority.

When the smoke cleared Naruto saw Ibiki Morino accompanied by a number of shinobi. After warning against fighting he proceeded with explaining the exam. The man certainly had the intimidation routine down. It was a paper test consisting of ten questions with random seating arrangements. Naruto ended up seated between Asuka and Shinji. Points were subtracted for failed questions. Each discovered attempt at cheating would cost two points from an initial total of ten. The entire team had to pass. In short cheating was encouraged, but they could have at least demanded more correct answers than a single question. Although that might be alleviated by not knowing how many attempts at cheating were discovered. Sakura made a spectacle of herself when she tried to ask a question when Ibiki had expressly said none would be answered.

When Naruto finally read the questions he felt somehow betrayed. He wouldn't even have to cheat. Five of the questions were high genin level and four low chunin level. The last one would be announced after 45 minutes. Anyone who wasn't a total moron and had some experience should have been able to answer those. Frankly it was insulting.

'_One would think people who want to become chunin are already in the necessary skill range. On the other hand most shinobi seem to neglect the theoretical side at first. We are an exception because we couldn't do that much practical work at the academy without being discovered.'_

He quickly answered the questions and amused himself by watching the other genin in the room he could see from his place. None of his friends had to cheat, but most others did. Shino sent a few of his bugs to Asuka's sheet forming letters so that she could copy the answers. Kiba's dog was seated on his head and relaying the answers of others to him. Shinji stiffened for a moment before he furiously wrote the answers down. Then he slumped for a second. There was puzzlement visible on his face before realization hit and he relaxed.

'_I guess Ino took care of her teammate.'_

Next he noticed Sasuke using his sharingan and Neji his byakugan. Tenten had apparently somehow placed mirrors at the ceiling. He spotted several other blatant attempts at cheating.

'_They don't exactly enforce stringent rules. I guess they just want to sort out the complete failures.'_

It was logical in a way. Not all shinobi specialized in or were good at information gathering. Only a single question needed to be answered and four attempts at cheating per genin could be discovered before a team failed. You had to be a complete failure at being a shinobi to mess this up. Even Sakura was scribbling furiously.

'_Well, I guess she has to be good at _something_.'_

In that moment a kunai hit the sheet of the genin seated directly behind him. "What was that for?" the genin in question shouted.

"You messed up five times. You fail. The two on his team get out of here. Now." one of the proctors said.

The three genin left the room with slumped shoulders.

'_Ok, there have to be some idiots in such a large group.'_

Then the next one was called… and the third right after that. The room was emptying quickly.

'_What the hell is wrong with these idiots? It isn't that difficult. Maybe the pressure gets to some of them, but this is ridiculous. Not that the pressure is that much in comparison with a life and death fight. Why are those wimps allowed to graduate let alone enter in the chunin exams?'_

Naruto didn't know if he should be amused at the inept attempts at cheating or saddened about the general state of genin. If he had needed any additional proof of the pathetic education and state of the village this was it. Not that other villages seemed that much better from the look of things. Finally it was time for the tenth question.

"Now, before we come to the tenth question I'd like to go over some additional rules for this question." Ibiki announced. The shock and uncertainty spreading through the remaining genin were quite amusing to watch. "I'll now explain the rules of desperation. First, for this tenth question you must decide whether you will take it or not. If you choose not to your points will be reduced to zero. That means you fail along with your teammates."

"Then of course we will decide to take the question!" some unknown genin shouted.

Unperturbed by the outburst Ibiki continued speaking. "If you choose to take at and answer incorrectly that person will lose the right to take the chunin selection exam again."

"What kind of stupid rule is that? There are guys who have taken the exam before." another genin declared loudly.

Ibiki laughed in a decidedly sinister manner. "You guys were unlucky. This year it's my rules, but I'm giving you a way out. Those that aren't confident enough can choose not to take it and try again next time." He waited a moment to let it sink in. "Those that do not wish to take it raise your hand. Once your number is confirmed, leave."

Naruto had to admit it was a convincing show. Ibiki certainly pulled it off realistically, but anyone with a shred of knowledge about the regulations should be able to…

"I won't take it." came the voice of the first genin who gave up. He wasn't the last.

Had the blond boy not possessed long years of training to keep his mask in place he would have goggled incredulously at the number of people who gave up in quick succession. It was simply fucking unbelievable. Did nobody ever read the regulations and laws? Ibiki simply didn't have that authority. Naruto supposed the first to give up could have been a plant, but not all the others. _'How many clueless idiots are there? Ones that try to become chunin no less?'_

A quick glance over the room showed him that none of his friends even considered giving up. Kiba and Asuka would never give up, but Shinji and Sakura seemed a bit hesitant. Luckily they didn't seem quite ready to cut and run. In the end there were only a little more than seventy people left, less than half of the original number of participants.

When it didn't seem any more would give up Ibiki spoke up again. "Good decision. Now to everyone still remaining: I congratulate you to passing the first test."

Sakura broke the shocked (or in some cases not so shocked) silence. "Wait… What do you mean? We already pass? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki grinned widely. "There never was such a thing." He proceeded to explain the purpose of the different parts of the first test, like that cheating was expected and a primary purpose of the test was to build pressure on the genin. When he spoke about the importance of information he took off his head scarf to show off an impressive collection of burn marks, screw wounds and slash marks.

'_I guess now I know why Anko likes him. When he isn't using his professional personality he seems rather friendly. Still, that test was far too easy. Most of the people here have already several years as genin under their belts. How is it possible that they can't deal with such little pressure?'_

"You made it through the entrance. The first stage of the chunin exam is now finished. I wish you guys luck." Ibiki ended his speech.

Suddenly Naruto felt an expertly woven area genjutsu snap into place. The first effects were rather subtle; light inside the room seem to darken and the atmosphere became oppressive. Then all the windows opened without anyone touching them. In the next second an untold number of crows were streaming into the room, swiping through the ranks . The buffeting of dark wings and loud cawing filled the air, easily drowning out every other sound. An especially large congregation of the birds formed a swirling vortex at the front of the room. From one moment to the next most crows disappeared, but there were still a lot of birds scattered through the room sitting on desks and genin. Many beaks seemed to be smeared with blood and the occasional chewed finger was visible.

Sakura looked ready to faint when the crow sitting on her desk let a torn off nose drop only to pick it up again and gulp it down before her eyes. The vortex at the side of Ibiki had disappeared, leaving a man with dark spiky hair and sunglasses behind. A crow was sitting on his shoulder, an authentic-looking eyeball complete with optic nerve in its beak.

For a moment the man scrutinized them. "I am Aoba Yamashiro, examiner for the second test. You will serve well to feed my little black-feathered friends." He turned to Ibiki. "Seventy two seem such a large number, Ibiki. The test was too easy this time." He chuckled darkly and stroked the feather of the crow on his shoulder. "No matter. The more the merrier. I'll at least cut you in half in the second test. My little pets will clean up everything just fine. I'll explain everything once we've changed places. Follow me."

The crows followed them the entire way, forming a loudly cawing murder above their heads. Some of the genin seemed a little green. Naruto had to give the man props; he certainly knew how to evoke a suitable oppressive aura. When they left the city zone behind and approached a particular area Naruto felt the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. He knew this place.

It was the Forest of Death.

* * *

><p>The large room was full of whispers. Goro was as curious as all his fellow believers about the reason they had been called together, but he stayed silent. Years spent as a household servant had taught him to keep his tongue in check. His erstwhile master had been cruel and quick to punish when one of the servants spoke when silence was required. Goro's wife had learnt that lesson when their master had her tongue ripped out for speaking out of turn. She hadn't survived the following infection of the wound.<p>

Goro had been filled with helpless rage for years, unable to do anything. Until the glorious day when he was shown the way of Jashin. At first it had been only whispers exchanged with one of the peddlers visiting his master's mansion. Soon after he had been introduced to a priest. His initiation into the local cult had only required the poisoning of the guards' food and the opening of a postern gate for his new friends. The few remaining conscious guards had been no obstacle for the battle-trained acolytes.

He had been allowed to personally kill his old master oh so slowly. For that privilege he would serve Jashin faithfully for all eternity. He knew he wasn't made to be a warrior, scholar or priest, but the faith needed normal servants as well. Servants taking care of the mundane aspects freed the others to concentrate on their important work. Together they would change the world in Jashin's image.

His thoughts ended when the head priest arrived and began to speak. "Jashin-sama has spoken to me, my children. An enemy of the faith has risen and it is our task to smite him down."

Angry cries rose and fists were shaken. No one could be allowed to stand against Jashin-sama.

The priest motioned for silence. "Calm your righteous anger. Our lord requires subtlety. Our enemy is too strong to attack openly. I and five others will travel to Konoha in the Land of Fire and fulfill his divine will. In his endless benevolence Jashin-sama has granted us a holy talisman. With its help we will stamp out the white-eyed spawn of a false god. They can be no longer allowed to blight Jashin-sama's world. None shall escape his wrath. Who among you is ready for this task?"

The following shouts were deafening. In the end Goro was one of the chosen. The other four were warriors. He would have to take care of their needs until they reached their destination. They would need around four weeks of hard travel and it was unlikely they would return. Goro didn't care.

His life belonged to Jashin.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Thank you for all the reviews. Glad to hear my choice of summons was well-received.

This chapter followed canon relatively closely. There won't be that much divergences in the second stage either. The real fun begins with the finals.

So long.


	27. Chapter 26: A walk in the forest

Disclaimer: No ownership rights anywhere in sight even though I'm looking very hard

**Chapter 26: A walk in the forest**

Yakumo observed the genjutsu Aoba had cast with great interest. It was truly a work of art, almost on par with the high-level genjutsu Kurenai had shown her on occasion. Not only was it an area genjutsu; it was a moving zone and interacted with the chakra constructs looking like crows to boot. She couldn't see the jutsu directly of course, but the interactions with her chakra were truly fascinating.

Single target genjutsu were the easiest. You cast it on a single target, either in a cast-and-forget manner or (for the more adept) maintaining a connection the entire time, constantly regulating, adjusting and compensating. Needless to say it was far harder to break a genjutsu cast in the latter manner.

Ensnaring an entire group of people simultaneously was more difficult, especially when you wanted to use the second method. Splitting your attention over so many targets required very good ability at multi-tasking.

Then there were the area genjutsu. Just as the name said you didn't cast it on a person or a group but on an area. Everyone who entered the range of the jutsu would be affected. Even if a person snapped out of it the genjutsu would try to reestablish its effect. It necessitated the creation of a robust, stable chakra construct that could connect with the victims on its own. Retaining control boosted the efficiency massively but required a lot of concentration, often to the detriment of other tasks. Making a moving zone added an additional layer of difficulty.

Of course there were countless alleviating circumstances, techniques and modifications that could make things easier or harder. Genjutsu was a true art. On the higher level it was less about the individual techniques you used and more about the user's creativity and skill to adapt. At this point her clan's bloodline came into play. What would have meant years of study and training for other, less talented genjutsu users required only a few months or even less for Yakumo. Weaving complicated chakra patterns to ensnare a victim's senses was child's play. She just instinctively knew what she had to do to make genjutsu work perfectly. They were stronger, more robust and convincing while requiring less chakra and effort than if cast by someone without her bloodline.

A slight itching on her hand caused her to look down. Several kikaichu had landed on her flesh and were now forming words.

_Stay away from adult Grass team. Enormous but veiled chakra reserves detected. Sound Team requires special measures. Avoid contact without me._

A moment later the bugs flew away in the direction of Shino. Yakumo verified with a sidelong glance to Ino that her female teammate had received the same message. She didn't know what this was about, but unexpected developments were par for the course. There wasn't much time to ponder it; they had reached their destination. It was a heavily wooded fenced in area.

"Welcome to the stage for the second test; Training area 44. You will soon find out why it is also called the Forest of Death." Aoba announced. All around them the crows landed, staring at them from baleful red glowing eyes. Together with the noises coming from the dark primeval forest it served to further unsettle the weaker-hearted of the genin. Yakumo loved it and was mentally taking notes. Showmanship was important for genjutsu users to create convincing illusions, after all.

"Now before we start the second test there's something I have to pass out." Aoba revealed a stack of forms. "You must sign these agreement forms. There will be deaths in this one and if I don't have you sign these it will be my responsibility. I'm going to explain the second test, and then you can sign it afterwards. Then each team will check in at the booth behind me."

The man continued to give instructions. Training area 44 had a diameter of 20 kilometers with a tower in the middle. Each team would receive one out of two types of scrolls. To pass the test a team had to reach the tower with both types of scrolls. They had five days to reach the tower. The tower would only open at dawn of the fifth day and stay open until nightfall. Entering earlier or later would disqualify a team. The same thing would happen if a team lost a member.

"Excuse me, but is it necessary for all members of a team to arrive in fighting condition?" one of the genin asked.

Aoba shook his head. "No. The only condition is that all team members have to be present and alive. One more rule: You must not look inside the scrolls until you make it to the tower. That's it for the explanations. Exchange the three forms for your scrolls. You will be randomly assigned a gate. You may enter it at nightfall. A final word of advice: Don't die or my little pets will feast on your flesh."

Yakumo quickly read the form before she signed it. It said exactly what Aoba had claimed it would, but better safe than sorry. Random starting locations would make things more difficult. Originally they had planned for their teams to meet and act as a unified force if they had to brace the Forest of Death. It was one of the possible locations they had been able to learn of before the exams, after all. Neither Team 8 nor Team 10 had ever entered the forest before, but Naruto had given them a good description. Unfortunately he was only familiar with the outer regions.

'_No matter; we will manage. Depending on our gates we'll have to move to each other. At least this isn't a joke like the first test.'_

The minutes passed until it was finally their turn to get a scroll. They wouldn't even have to move; their gate was the one at their current location. Team 10 left quickly, but Team 11 approached them for a last short chat.

"We're several gates counterclockwise away from you guys." Choji said. "We should be able to meet up on the next day."

"Our two t-teams have Scrolls of Heaven; Shino got a Scroll of Earth. Unfortunately his t-team starts on the opposite side of the forest." Hinata added.

Naruto gave Yakumo a last kiss. "Good luck and don't take unnecessary risks. Just find a good place to spend the night and move towards us in the morning. We'll find you."

Yakumo nodded. "See you tomorrow."

She watched them disappear in the distance until Ino put her hand on her shoulder. "Come on, you aren't normally that emotional. They'll be fine and so will we."

A small sigh escaped Yakumo. "I guess you're right. How are you holding up, Shinji?"

Shinji gave them a smile. "I'm doing ok. I only wish the creepy crows would disappear."

"Really? I find them cute and interesting. Just ignore them." Yakumo answered.

Then it was time to wait. Some of the teams had to travel quite a distance to reach their gates, but the terrain outside the fence was easily traversable. Finally the sun touched the horizon and the gate opened. They were barely ten minutes underway when they encountered the first enemy team. Yakumo recognized them from earlier. They were a fellow Konoha team, but the members were all male and several years older than them.

"Well well, what have we here? Looks like a lost team of rookies." one of the black-clad men said.

"Kids like you have no place in the exams. Hand over your scroll and run back to hide behind momma's skirts." another added.

Ino took a step forward. "We're all Konoha shinobi, aren't we? Couldn't you just let us go?" she asked in a pleading tone, playing the harmless rookie girl to perfection.

The three laughed. "Aww, how cute. I have an idea. Give us a good time and we might be persuaded to leave you alone."

One of the genin eyed them with a malicious grin. "I agree. They look like fine pieces of ass."

Yakumo's eyes narrowed. She didn't especially want to hurt fellow shinobi of the Leaf, but these three were really pushing it. Keeping partially hidden behind Ino she made a quick string of hand seals.

'Illusion: String Bean Binding'

The three genin immediately stopped laughing and started struggling against bonds only they could see. Yakumo waited a moment but it didn't seem like they could break her genjutsu.

"Shinji, search them." Yakumo commanded.

Said boy obeyed immediately and searched their pockets. "Nothing really valuable. In fact their gear is rather substandard. They have a Scroll of Heaven just like us." he reported when he returned to their side, pocketing the scroll.

"Well, better than nothing." Yakumo modified her genjutsu a bit to allow the three trapped genin to perceive their surroundings before she began weaving two additional illusions. "Thanks for the scroll, suckers."

"Let us go, you brat!" one of the three shouted.

Yakumo smiled. "I intend to. Have fun with my parting gift. Oh, and do mind the wolves." Ignoring their shouts she turned towards the deeper woods. They wouldn't have light much longer. "Ino, Shinji, we're finished here."

The shouts of the three grew more and more distressed and pained. When she thought the distance large enough she dispelled her first illusion, freeing the genin. A panic-filled shout of "Watch out! Wolves!" later they heard rapidly receding footsteps.

Yakumo shook her head sadly. "And I didn't even have to use the advanced stuff. Pathetic, really."

"What did you do to them?" Ino asked curiously.

A malicious smile lit Yakumo's face. "I got a few illusionary wolves to chase them out of the forest. We don't want them running around and trying to ambush us later. Oh, and for their disrespect I made it as if their undergarments were filled with fire ants. Quite difficult to dispel, that last one." She giggled. "If you try the normal dispelling technique the number of ants seems to double and their bites get more painful."

Shinji shuddered slightly while Ino laughed. "They deserved it. Anyway, let's find shelter before it grows completely dark. I can barely see the hands before my eyes."

* * *

><p>Shikamaru hit the training dummy with his fists a few more times before he stopped. His knuckles were beginning to hurt and he didn't want to overstrain any part of his body. That would only serve to hamper his progress in the long run. Instead he ran a few more rounds around the academy training yard before sitting down on a grassy patch to cool off. The sky was already turning dark and the first stars were becoming visible.<p>

Today marked the first full month of his return to the academy. A month full of half-hidden glares, snickers and attempts at bullying by his new (and in some cases old) classmates. It was almost paradise. Yes, it wasn't exactly the nicest of environments, but it was infinitely better than Kakashi's team. No steady danger of dying and the insults weren't really any worse than what Sasuke and occasionally Sakura threw at him. The pranks were annoying, but he could deal with them. In contrast to his time on Team 7 he was actually learning something. It wasn't fast and he had a lot of catching-up to do in the physical subjects, but he was slowly improving now that he trained with all he had.

'_I really have to thank Ino, Choji and Naruto when I find the opportunity.'_

He had never been so thankful for something as when he had received their warning about the chunin exams (well, except from Team 11 saving his life on the Wave mission). Unfortunately with him returning to the academy during the term and them busy with preparations he just hadn't found the opportunity. Just this afternoon he had seen them enter the academy building used for the chunin exams. He knew Team 7 was there too; around two weeks ago a genin named Idate Morino had sought him out and questioned him about the team. The poor guy was his replacement. He really had dodged a kunai there.

A voice caused Shikamaru to look up. "Hello Shikamaru-kun."

"Hey Mizuki-sensei. What are you doing here?"

Shikamaru hadn't spoken with the man since his graduation. Even after he returned to the academy there was practically no contact until now. Mizuki didn't teach any of the classes Shikamaru was enrolled in and the buildings and yards were spacious enough that they hadn't met on other occasions.

The white-haired man sat down beside him. "I was just finishing some work. Now that the participants of the chunin exam have left the building we had to go over all rooms with a fine-toothed comb. After all, there's always the possibility that the genin left something dangerous behind. I was just heading home when I saw you sitting here. How are you doing?"

"As good as I could reasonably expect."

Mizuki sent him a glance that clearly indicated he knew how it really was for him. "Glad to hear it. I try to keep track of at least some of my ex-students."

They continued speaking about this and that. Shikamaru had never been close to any of his teachers, but he really needed to speak with someone besides his parents and clansmen. Mizuki was surprisingly well-informed and understanding. Since the happenings of the Wave affair had been declared a secret shortly after him leaving Kakashi's team he couldn't even properly explain his reasons for going back to the academy. It was obvious that Mizuki knew more than the average shinobi.

Finally he asked Mizuki directly. "Do you know what truly happened during our mission to Wave?"

"Yes. I know everything."

"How?"

The man chuckled. "I'm dating Team 11's sensei. Besides, I still keep regular contact with the members of the old study group. Naruto, Hinata and Choji told me every detail."

Well, that explained things. He was aware of the old study group and that the six members had a close-knit friendship. Mizuki had supervised it for years and always seemed friendly so it was plausible for him to be on very good terms with the now-genin.

"Do you think I did the right thing?" Shikamaru finally asked.

Mizuki leant back. "At that point in time? Yes. You did what was best for you; maybe even for the village. I heard how things were on your team. Now the authorities at least were forced to take notice. That isn't to say you shouldn't have done something earlier or invested a bit more effort during the academy time. Kami knows I tried often enough to get you to take your education more seriously."

Shikamaru felt somewhat embarrassed. It was true Mizuki had tried. The same was true for his old friends Ino and Choji or some other classmates.

"Sorry about that. I made a lot of bad decisions in the past."

Mizuki smiled in a friendly manner. "My door is always open if you need advice, Shikamaru-kun, even if I'm no longer your teacher. I know you can become a great shinobi. I don't have much time, but I'll happy to give as much help as I can."

* * *

><p>Special jonin Aoba Yamashiro waited until all the genin had left the vicinity before he dispelled his genjutsu and the crows. Then he began laughing loudly until tears spilled from his eyes. The proctors in the vicinity joined him in his merriment.<p>

After almost a minute of laughing Aoba got himself slowly back under control. "I did it. I really did it. Did you see their faces? I almost got that pink-haired girl to puke. Several of the others looked ready to faint."

One of the proctors shook his head bemusedly. "I take back what I said. You were creepier than Anko during the last exam."

"I said I could do it, didn't I?" Aoba held out his hand. "Now pay up."

Some grumbled, but everyone paid. That would teach them to underestimate him.

"AHHHHH!" came a cry from the forest.

"Sounds like it's started." remarked one of them.

A minute later three genin came sprinting out of the forest, jumped over the fence and rolled over the ground while crying in pain and scratching themselves furiously.

Aoba approached them. "You three are disqualified."

"Ouch! I don't care! Ouch. Damn that girl for siccing these wolves and ants on us."

"Wolves? There aren't any wolves in the forest." one proctor wondered.

One of the genin pointed towards the forest. "Don't you see them? They're prowling just behind the fence."

Looking back at the forest Aoba didn't see anything. Narrowing his eyes he bent down to one of the genin and sent a surge of chakra into his body. Judging from the resistance there were two genjutsu layered one over another. The first one broke under his chakra's pressure but the second only changed somehow. For a moment the genin relaxed before his eyes widened in pain.

"Get them off me! GET THE DAMNED ANTS OFF ME!" he shouted while furiously scratching himself.

The special jonin and the proctors watched in bemusement as the young man frantically got rid of his clothes and tried to remove something invisible from his body. The other two were in a similar state, but they seemed to be in less pain.

"What happened?" one proctor asked one of the other genin.

"Konoha rookies… two girls, blond and brunette, one boy… thought them easy targets… played around… bean vines suddenly binding us… then wolves chasing us and ants all over us." he gasped out.

Aoba shook his head sadly. How pathetic. These idiots didn't even recognize it was a genjutsu. From the description he thought the group had encountered Kurenai Yuhi's team. There weren't that many genjutsu specialists in Konoha and he loosely kept track of other practitioners of the art. From what he heard Yakumo Kurama was a prodigy, not really surprising considering her clan. He recognized what the girl had done. The one with the ants was especially nasty even if he hadn't known the concrete technique. Pain and the basic genjutsu release wouldn't work. The three must have angered the girl for her to use something so nasty. Aoba could dispel it, but the genin didn't know that. In his estimate the technique wouldn't last that long and it would be a lesson to the genin not to underestimate rookies or genjutsu again. It wasn't as if it would really hurt them.

"Sorry guys, nothing I can do. It's a complicated illusion. You'll have to wait until it wears off naturally." He turned towards the proctors. "And this is why you don't piss off genjutsu specialists."

* * *

><p>The ANBU codenamed Cheetah suppressed a yawn when he stood up and relaxed his muscles. Finally his shift was over. Watching over the Uchiha was tedious work. With three squads of four present they could at least use a shift system. During the night they had to subtly deflect two hostile teams, but it was child's play. He considered this a waste of manpower and skill. Why did they send the Uchiha into the exams if he wasn't good enough to hold his own? A sudden burning pain caused him to look down. A very small, brightly colored snake was slithering away and already blurring into its surroundings, turning invisible.<p>

Cheetah took a step forward and tried to take another, but his leg gave out from under him. His heart was hammering rapidly. He tried to shout an alarm but his throat didn't react. His nearest comrade Snail had noticed that something was happening to him and turned towards him. Cheetah could only watch helplessly as a kunoichi wearing a Grass headband emerged from the tree trunk behind him, broke Snail's neck in a fluid motion and disappeared back into the tree. His vision was going dark.

'_We should have taken this more seriously.' _was his last thought.

* * *

><p>Shibi Aburame had a reputation as stoic, calm and silent man who never did anything hasty. All of this was completely true. When two of his son's messenger kikaichu found him last evening he had only raised a single eyebrow before he sent an affirmative answer back and turned back to his paperwork. The news was surprising, but there had been no point in hurrying. When he was finally finished it was already too late to request an audience with the Hokage. Instead he consulted with the clan elders. The time would just be enough to create a convincing fake body out of the skin cells his son had sent along.<p>

The next morning he entered the Hokage tower and politely requested an audience with the village leader at his earliest convenience. Since he was a clan head there was a surprising lack of waiting time and he was ushered into the Hokage's office only a few minutes later. All the elders and the special jonin responsible for overseeing the second phase of the chunin exams were present and heatedly discussing something.

"… the bodies found this morning didn't have faces. It seems as if someone melted them off. At the current time we assume they have been removed to create masks." Aoba reported.

"That's one of your wayward pupil's skills, Hiruzen. We have to assume he has infiltrated the village as well as the exams. Should we interrupt them?" Homura asked.

Koharu shook her head. "We can't do that. The loss of face would be too great. Besides, we don't know if he is going after the participants or if this is only a ruse to draw forces away from other locations. It would require dozens of men to properly search the Forest of Death."

The Hokage puffed his pipe. "Our forces are already stretched thin because of the twelve ANBU you insisted on for guarding young Sasuke and all the foreign jonin we have to keep an eye on. Any additional men we send would open up new holes. We would have to involve the normal forces and that might start a panic."

It seemed the elders and the Hokage didn't even notice his intrusion. People had the annoying habit of forgetting him and his presence, but at times like this he couldn't bring himself to be unhappy about it. Shibi filed the information he heard carefully away. His son had sent him notice of the presence of a person with kage-level chakra reserves, but apparently there was no longer any need to divulge that information. It seemed the Hokage already knew about the now identified Orochimaru's presence. That left only his second objective. He cleared his throat. Loudly.

Seeing the venerable Hokage and the honored elders jump in surprise amused him to no end, not that any emotion was visible on his face. "I apologize for this intrusion, Hokage-sama, but I have urgent business."

"What can I do for you, Shibi-san?" the Hokage asked.

"Hokage-sama, we have a possible defector from the Village hidden in the Sound. I invoke the sanctuary clause of the Aburame treaty. Please see to it that my son and the target are pitted against each other in the preliminaries should they take place. We will take it from there and pass on all pertinent information."

Shibi could plainly see that the Hokage didn't especially like that proposal, but the old man had no choice but to agree. The treaties the great clans had signed upon the founding of Konoha still held power despite all attempts of the Hokage to chip away at the shinobi clans' privileges. After giving the name and description of the person in question Shibi left again.

'_This infiltration is worrisome. Someone like Orochimaru running wild could do a lot of damage. At least Shino is aware of the threat and will stay away from him.'_

* * *

><p>'<em>Something is wrong.' <em>Idate thought. His team had spent the night rather uncomfortably in a clearing. Just a few minutes ago they had broken camp and were now making their way through the forest. A movement to the side caught his attention. A small object was falling from the canopy above. It was a severed head wearing an ANBU mask, still spraying blood. The matching headless torso was just entering his field of vision from above.

Suddenly Idate noticed a massive buildup of chakra in the vicinity. He didn't even have time to shout a warning before hurricane force winds hit him and he was sent flying. Tumbling through the air he completely lost track of his surroundings. Several muted impacts indicated he was hitting things, but the winds carrying him away seemed to cushion the impacts.

'_Crap, I can't break out without going splat against a tree.'_

His speed was already slowing down in any case. He just had to get the tumble under control.

'Fire Release: Fire Whip'

The whip made of fire found its target, a conveniently located branch. It almost immediately burned it through, but his flight was now slightly more controlled. A few applications later Idate was no longer tumbling. The winds were now losing strength quickly. When he felt himself falling he used the whip for one last time to change his trajectory. Jumping from tree trunk to tree trunk at a flat angle he slowly shed the remaining momentum until he came to a stop in a small clearing.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The flight had been shorter than it seemed, but he was at least several hundred meters away from his team. He was still trying to regain his bearings when he sensed danger and jumped to the side. The jaws of a giant snake closed around the spot he had just vacated. Three other snakes of the same size, a multitude of smaller snakes and two Kusa shinobi were coming out of the woodwork.

"Oh shit."

Idate did the only sensible thing in that situation: He turned tail and ran. The snakes and ninja gave pursuit and the chase was on.

'_What did I do to deserve this?'_

While doing his utmost to outrun his pursuers Idate tried to make sense of the situation. The giant snakes were a foolproof sign that Orochimaru of the Sannin or one of his apprentices was here. Taking the decapitated ANBU and the massive wind jutsu into account the odds were pretty good that the big man himself was paying Konoha a visit.

'_What does he want here?'_ Idate asked himself. Then the answer hit him. _'Of course, Sasuke. From what I remember Orochimaru was always crazy about bloodlines and there are only two Uchiha left.'_

Apparently Idate ranked highly enough as a threat to justify all the snakes and two shinobi. If he hadn't been busy running for his life he would have felt flattered. Apparently he wasn't scheduled to be killed immediately since the Sannin only separated him from his team, but that didn't make him feel any better. He knew the stories about Orochimaru's laboratories. If they did catch him he was better off dead. From the corner of his eye he noticed that some of the snakes were already overtaking him. While he was a very good runner he couldn't sustain that speed for much longer. The little buggers were fast!

Unexpectedly the woods opened to a clearing. Even more surprising was the lone figure standing in the midst. Surprising, but very welcome considering the circumstances. At least he hoped so.

"Temari! Help!" he shouted with burning lungs.

The young woman from Suna turned in his direction, her eyes widening as she saw the army of snakes behind him. In a fluid motion she grabbed her giant fan and unleashed a powerful blast of wind in his direction. Idate threw himself flat on the ground, narrowly avoiding the slicing winds and skidding on his belly until he came to rest at Temari's feet. A quick glance back showed that the visible snakes had been killed or dispelled in clouds of smoke, but the way the vegetation was rustling he could tell there were a lot more remaining.

"Idate? What the hell is going on?" Temari shouted.

Idate got to his feet, breathing heavily. He was about to answer when he saw something. "Watch out! Behind you!" he shouted and tackled Temari.

They barely managed to get out of the way of the rotating column of water that dug a deep trench through the clearing. The big ball of lightning that was coming at them wouldn't be that easily evaded.

Temari's eyes narrowed for a moment when she saw it despite lying half under him. In a surprising display of strength she threw him to the side, sprang to her feet and unleashed another wind blast from her fan. The techniques collided barely two meters away. For a moment they hung in balance before the wind dispersed the lightning harmlessly. By then Idate had jumped to his feet and was standing back to back with Temari. They couldn't afford to leave any avenue of attack uncovered.

Idate cursed while trying to bring his breathing under control. "Shit. As if the snakes weren't enough. A lightning and a water user, both high level from the looks of it."

"What crap did you get me into?" Temari asked, sounding clearly annoyed.

As if to answer her question man wearing a skull mask and a Kusa headband entered the clearing. "Our master has ordered you to be detained. Give up and we will spare your life."

"Fuck you. I'd rather die than end up a test subject for Orochimaru." Idate spat out while forming a fire whip. He managed to take off the shinobi's head despite his attempt at dodging, but unfortunately the torso dissolved into water while his whip sizzled out. The clearing was suspiciously silent after that.

"Did I hear you right? Orochimaru? Of the Sannin?" Temari inquired.

"I think so. Dead ANBU guards, a massive blast of wind that separated me from my team, hordes of summoned snakes in the landing zone. Orochimaru seems a reasonable guess. By the way, some of the snakes were really big."

"Why would you have ANBU guards?" He could feel her hair brushing his back when she shook her head. "Never mind. How do we get out of this? The vegetation is too thick for me to cut down with wind. Not in all directions at once anyway and I don't have the chakra to do it often enough."

That was a difficult question. Being in the midst of the clearing allowed their enemies to take potshots at them while they stayed hidden in the foliage. Unfortunately they couldn't leave it. The woods were crawling with snakes and they would be overwhelmed in the cramped forest.

'_Well, Temari is a wind-user and I'm fire. Working together we should be able enlarge the clearing somewhat. Even the water-user should be unable to counteract that.'_

"Can you create a whirlwind around us? If I add my fire we'll create some space when we push it outwards." Idate suggested.

"Okay, that should work. I have to turn a few times to get the winds right. Ready?"

True to her word Temari rapidly turned to her left, swinging her fan. Idate matched the movement, keeping her back covered. The winds picked up speed and were forming a veritable whirlwind. Leafs and branches were cut off when it reached the edge of the clearing, but the enormous trees and thick undergrowth of the Forest of Death resisted quite successfully.

'_My turn. _Fire Release: Running Fire_'_

A small but growing flame appeared between Idate's hands. A second later it was a ball of fire. After another second a veritable stream of flames was spewing forward, following his direction to join with Temari's whirlwind. Their techniques united as if they were meant to be together. In the next moment they were in the eye of a blazing cyclone. It was beautiful in an eerie sort of way. The heat was so immense that he feared for a moment they would catch fire themselves. Normally he could control his running fire freely, but now he had to share control of the firestorm with Temari. It was quite strange to feel her chakra in the combined technique.

"Push it outward! Now!" Idate shouted.

Temari didn't react outwardly, but the conflagration spread away from them giving them more room to breathe. Bushes and most trees turned immediately to ash upon contact with the raging inferno. The really big trees turned into blazing columns of their own in a sea of fire. An immensely loud cry of pain pierced to roaring of the flames for a second before disappearing.

'_Good; that must have been one of the big snakes. One less enemy to take care of.'_

"It won't hold much longer." Temari yelled. "We'll lose control in a few seconds. It's getting too big."

"Not a problem. Our enemies will probably attack as soon as the firestorm dies down." Idate shouted back.

True to Temari's words their combined technique wavered and finally died, leaving a smoldering wasteland behind. The big trees were still burning, but the fire had been hot enough to turn everything else into cinders. For a moment he had a clear view through the clouds of drifting ash and smoke. It didn't look like as if the forest outside of the immediately affected area had caught fire. There was too much humidity for that in the earth and plants.

Idate separated from Temari when he saw a disturbance in the smoke. In the next moment one of the giant snakes became visible and lunged after Idate. He jumped away… only to end up in the path of the second giant snake. A quick glance showed him that the third one along with one of the shinobi was engaging Temari, giving her no time or room to properly use her fan. No trace anywhere of the second shinobi. Dodging frantically Idate tried to come up with a battle blan.

'_I can't take on two snakes simultaneously in close combat. Neither can Temari. They just dodge my attacks and cover each other. Time to take a risk.'_

'Fire Release: Fire Whip'

His whip shot out and dug a burning gouge through the face of the snake attacking Temari, destroying one eye in the process. The snake writhed in uncontrolled pain for a moment, only to be cut into pieces by wind blades in the next. Temari had capitalized on the opening. Unfortunately he didn't have time to enjoy his success. The tail of one of the snake fighting him hit him in the side with enormous force and sent him flying. Idate was sure he heard his ribs creak under the impact. He collided painfully with the ground, the other snake already approaching before he could get up again.

'_It wants to swallow me.'_

The snake was about to pounce on him when it was hit by a large black projectile and thrown to the side. An anguished scream followed. Turning his head Idate saw that the snake had been nailed to one of the still burning trees by the projectile and was now on fire itself. Then it dispelled itself in a cloud of smoke.

'_That was Temari's big steel fan folded together. She must have used wind chakra to give it that much punch.'_

Idate didn't have much time to contemplate his situation for the last remaining snake was upon him, but now it was one on one. Evading a lunge, he punched the snake in the jaw with his full strength. A very satisfying crunch signaled that he managed to break some bones.

"That's for my ribs, you overgrown worm!"

Taking a kunai in his hand he jumped on the back of the reeling snake. Its hide and scales were too thick for him to reach any vital organs, but he would kill it even if he had to carve it up piecemeal. Blood began welling up when he hit the same spot again and again. Naturally the snake didn't take that lying down and tried to crush him against the ground. He just managed to clear the snake's body in time. The snake didn't seem to realize that he was gone, giving him a short breather. A look to Temari showed him that she was still locked in combat with the Grass shinobi. Now that she had parted with her big battle fan she was using a much smaller steel fan to fight against several sword wielding copies of the enemy.

'_That's a lot of clones. I don't think you can do that with lightning. That means he's probably the water user.'_ Idate turned back towards the snake. _'Okay, time to take care of that little beastie.'_

As if hearing him the snake stopped trashing around and once again lunged at him, its mouth wide open. It probably couldn't even close it thank to the broken jaw. Idate decided to take advantage of this weakness and made hand seals as quickly as he could. It would be the last big technique for the day. After using the multiple fire whips and his best fire technique earlier his chakra reserves were already more than half depleted.

'Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet'

It was a beautiful hit. The snake was too enraged to care about dodging, meaning it came straight at him. The stream of flames spewing from his mouth hit the snake dead-on, scorching the creature's insides and outsides simultaneously. He had only to jump out of the way when the smoldering carcass landed.

A crackling sound from behind reached Idate's ears and caused him to dive out of the way of another attack at the last second. Unfortunately it wasn't in time to prevent him from receiving a nasty electric shock from the edges of the electric attack he had almost evaded. Gritting his teeth in pain he struggled to keep his twitching muscles under control.

"You have caused enough damage. I will kill you now, tree hugger."

The second Grass shinobi wearing a skull mask was walking towards him, lightning arcing between his hands. He looked a bit singed but otherwise fully combat-capable. In the distance Idate could see the reduced but still enormous host of small snakes massing anew.

'_Shit. I hoped the fire would have taken care of them. We have to end this quickly.'_

Idate managed to evade three other rather small lightning attacks, but time was growing short. When his enemy began making hand seals Idate sprinted towards him at his best speed, hoping to reach the enemy before he could complete the jutsu.

Just when the man was about to point his hands in Idate's direction he closed the distance enough to attack. Sometimes he was really really glad for the speed and strength training Ibiki had put him through. His first blow broke the enemy's arm at the elbow and caused the jutsu to fizzle out. The counterblow bruised Idate's arm, but did no further damage. Despite his broken arm the Grass shinobi was an equal match for Idate. He just couldn't seem to manage to land another decisive hit, but neither could his enemy. Kunai clashed with a metallic clang without finding their fleshy targets. Seconds ticked away and the young man grew desperate. The snakes would be here any moment. He needed to finish this battle now.

'Fire Release: Burning Hands'

Idate had to suppress a cry of pain when his hands caught fire. He still hadn't mastered that jutsu to completely prevent it from injuring himself, especially when he had to perform it seal less like now. From the feel of it he would suffer some first-degree burns at least. Using one hand to grip the enemy's good arm he grasped the enemy's head with his other. The kunai in the enemy's hand gave him a gash, but he didn't let go. Instead he increased the pressure of his fingers until he felt the mask crack and his fire reached the now unprotected face.

"Burn, snake-fucker, burn!"

"AAAHHHHH!"

They pain- and terror-filled cry of the man was music to his ears. A knee caught him in the stomach and forced him to release his grip, but it was too late. The man's head and arm had caught fire. He rolled on the ground in the vain hope of putting out the flames. A kunai to the throat put him out of his misery; Idate didn't want to take any chances today.

When he turned towards Temari he saw that the young, blood-spattered woman was busy eviscerating her enemy. As he quickly approached her he could see that she used her bare hand for slashing strikes that left deep gashes in the enemy's body without actually touching him.

'_It has to be some wind technique.'_

The arms had been cut off at the shoulders and the entrails were hanging out, but he seemed to be still alive. Idate had to admire the craftsmanship. Personally he wasn't that big on the torture part, but followers of Orochimaru deserved no mercy. A glance to the side showed him that the now uncontrolled horde of snakes was almost upon them.

"Temari, please stop playing around. We have a horde of snakes to take care of."

Temari glanced up, nodded, looked back down and beheaded the shinobi with her invisible sword.

"Spoilsport."

Then the snakes reached them. The fastest ones had been dispatched at the beginning of the battle. The remaining ones stood no real chance. They seemed to be completely mindless and attacked blindly. A few exploding tags took care of the biggest clusters. The rest was blade work. He didn't want to use his remaining chakra for techniques if he didn't have to; apparently Temari had similar thoughts. It almost developed into a routine. Carve a few snakes up, retreat and repeat. If the mindless swarm went after Temari he would kill the snakes at the edges; she would do the same. They worked together like a well-oiled machine. Idate lost track of time. Suddenly it was over. There were no enemies left.

"One thing is certain: You are never boring, Idate. I like your fighting style." Temari remarked.

"I can say the same, Temari."

Panting heavily he looked around, making once again sure that were no hostiles left in their vicinity. Practically all fires had burned out by now. They were standing in the midst of an ashen wasteland surrounded by the bodies of untold snakes. Then he looked at Temari. Covered in soot, blood and snake guts she was still one of the loveliest sights he had ever seen.

'_Beautiful AND deadly. I think I'm in love.'_

Coming to an adrenaline-fueled decision he marched up to Temari. The young woman looked at him curiously. Gathering his courage he engulfed her in a hug and kissed her. He had imaged quite a lot of reactions; everything from her melting into his embrace (hey, he had a well-developed ego) to her slapping him or becoming even more violent. Temari forcing her tongue into his mouth, jumping him and crossing her legs around his waist had not been on his list; not that he was complaining.

He wasn't completely sure how long they continued kissing, but it seemed far too short when they finally separated. Temari sensually licked her lips. "That was very nice. I think we'll need to have an… in-depth discussion later."

Idate grinned at her. "I'll be happy to explore your… hidden depths. I'm all yours as soon as the second phase of the exams is over."

"I'll be waiting." Temari answered, smiling seductively while tracing the line of his jaw with her finger. "I assume you want to return to your team now that your snake problem is taken care of?"

That brought Idate back to his problems. "Yes; if they are still alive that is. I have to keep those two idiots in the land of the living during this phase. My promotion ticket rides on them, so if you should encounter them please leave them intact."

"I can do that." She gave him another kiss. "If you give me… compensation for my forbearance."

"It will be my pleasure."

He was about to step back when a burning pain in his leg caused him to look down. A brightly colored snake was already slithering away, blurring into the surroundings. Before it disappeared completely Idate speared it with a kunai.

"Got you." he managed to get out before all his muscles seized up and he fell against Temari.

His vision was rapidly going dark, the panicked voice of Temari filling his ears. "Idate? Stay with me! Idate! Don't you dare to simply keel over!"

'_At least I'm dying while being with a beautiful woman. Would have been better if we had been in bed together at least once, though.' _was his last thought before he plunged into darkness.

* * *

><p>Sakura Haruno was frightened. It was all going wrong. First Idate had been blown away by some wind jutsu, then that creepy woman… man… thing or whatever named Orochimaru had attacked them. They had been completely outclassed. After it had played around with them for a while it had bitten Sasuke-kun and disappeared. Her beloved Sasuke-kun had collapsed in pain and lost consciousness. It was all she could do to carry him to a makeshift shelter between some large tree roots nearby. She just didn't have the strength to carry him farther. He was sporting a fever and the strange mark on his neck worried her greatly.<p>

All this had happened on the morning of their first full day in the forest. They had been travelling quite a distance on the first evening; too far for her to reach the edge of the forest with an incapacitated Sasuke. One day and one night had passed with no trace of Idate. She didn't especially like the older genin who called her brainiac and seemed to take pleasure in needling them, but he had provided a measure of safety. Now the second day dawned and she was still all alone, staggering with fatigue from fetching fresh water from a nearby spring.

"Hehe, up all night?" a raspy voice pierced her haze of weariness. "But it's no longer necessary. Wake up Sasuke-kun. We want to fight him."

Two of the three Sound genin that had attacked Kabuto during the first test were standing a short distance away. Both of them were male. Orochimaru had mentioned that the Sound were his allies as she now recalled.

"What are you talking about? I know that someone named Orochimaru is pulling the strings from the shadows! What is his purpose?" Sakura shouted. The genin seemed shocked when she mentioned the name. "What is that weird mark on Sasuke-kun's neck? You did this to him and now you want to fi-...?"

Suddenly Sakura noticed that she couldn't move. Strands of black hair had wound around her arms, legs and throat, slowly strangling her and preventing every movement. "You Leaf kunoichi are pathetic. I was standing behind you the entire time." a female voice said from just behind her. Sakura felt a prick on her neck before everything went loopy. Strange sounds and smells assaulted her while her vision contorted. She felt herself lifted before she was tossed aside. A sharp pain lanced through her when she collided with a nearby tree trunk, piercing her strange haze for a moment. She didn't seem to have any control over her body.

"I didn't know you could do that with your hair, Kin."

"What, did you think I kept my hair that long just for the fun of it? Heck, it would be full of twigs and other crap if I couldn't control it. Now get on with our task. Less talking and posturing, more fulfilling our orders. Since I took care of the girl I leave the boy to you."

Sakura could feel her mind slipping away. Suddenly some violet glow entered her field of vision and an oppressive feeling settled over her.

"Oh shit." was the last thing she heard before she lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Kin Tsuchi, not-so-willing genin of Otogakure and reluctant participant in the chunin exams in Konoha wondered if she had offended some higher being in her last life. The fourteen years of her current life had certainly been shitty enough. Not that it looked like as if her life would last much longer thanks to the rapidly approaching very big and very hot fireball that she couldn't evade because her leg was trapped under a tree trunk and the rest of her was hopelessly entangled in a scrub. Not to mention the other injuries she had suffered when the cursed Uchiha decided to play punching bag with her body, like her dislocated shoulder or the probable concussion that kept her from properly concentrating.<p>

'_I wish such things would stop happen to me every time I see a glimmer of hope.'_

In the face of certain death her life began flashing before her eyes. Kin had been born in an extremely poor village in the ass end of nowhere of Rice Country. Her father had been a violent drunkard who slowly drank their meager lands and possessions away while her mother had hanged herself in the rafters when she was three years old. From what she gathered from the villagers' talk she had been a floozy who slept her way through the entire population of the young males of the village until her father had been unlucky enough to knock her up. Kin had never known her elder sibling; he had died shortly after his birth. When she was five her father had spent the last of their money and she was now sure he would have whored her out if there had been a market for such young girls in their village. As it was she had to endure more of her share of beatings and hungry days.

At seven years of age she had thought that luck finally smiled upon her. A wandering freelance shinobi master had come to their village and was searching for an apprentice. Almost the entire village youth had been desperate to get this chance to escape their lives as peasants. And the man had chosen her. It had been the happiest moment of her life when he handed her father a bag of money and took her with him to the inn. When they left the town on the next morning she had heard that her father had drunken all his new money away and froze to death during the cold night in a ditch beside the road to his hut. Kin hadn't been distressed by that fact; the bastard would have deserved a far more painful death.

Her elation at her new position in life lasted only a few days until the true nature of her master became clear, namely that of a drug-addicted pedophile who was barely chunin-level himself. Oh, he had taught her the basics, alright, but mainly she had been used as the man's personal sex toy. To keep her under his thumb he had tried to hook her on some highly addictive drugs, but somehow she had managed to avoid actually getting addicted and simply faked it after she recognized what her 'master' was trying to do. Hanging out with the mad but knowledgeable hermit near her village had finally paid off. The following five years had been very unpleasant, but at least she learned how the world truly worked. The shinobi villages didn't like the competition posed by independents, and jobs were often hard to come by. She had been used frequently to get potential clients into a better mood. Sometimes she thought it a miracle that she had been still a virgin in one orifice at the end of those years. Her master didn't want his little toy to become pregnant or permanently damaged, after all.

Then her master had made a grave mistake: He went after a bounty that the legendary bounty hunter Kakuzu wanted for himself. They met him just after he had incapacitated their prey, and her master had been so high on one drug or another that he ignored the man's warning and attacked. Kakuzu hadn't even looked up when black threads emerged from his body and ripped her master's limbs off. When she had made no move to attack Kakuzu herself the man had asked her in a curious _tone "Aren't you going to avenge your master's death, little girl?"_

Despite fear nearly paralyzing her she had still been able to answer. _"The fucker bought and used me like cattle. Property isn't required to defend its owner. I'm neither stupid, suicidal nor being paid enough to attack you."_

At that the man had laughed. _"I like you, girl. I think I'll let you live."_

After that she had quickly raided her former master's corpse for anything usable before putting as much distance as possible between Kakuzu and her. For a few weeks she had enjoyed the feeling of being finally free. Then her money ran out and she was unable to find any work. No one trusted a twelve year old girl with any jobs, especially because she didn't have any skills besides being a shinobi and very good at sucking dicks, but she wasn't about to advertise the latter skill. It didn't help matters that she was only at low-genin level ability wise at that time, so bounty-hunting was out. She had supported herself with thievery for a while, but soon she received a warning from the local crime bosses that they wouldn't tolerate her hunting in their turf. Neither did they want to employ her for anything else than working in a brothel. Kin had faced the choice of going bandit (and soon be hunted down by either soldiers or shinobi) or whoring herself out, only this time on her own volition.

In that situation she had overheard the some recruiter speaking about a new shinobi village that looked for members. Kin had jumped at that offer, and after a short demonstration of her skills she had been accepted. A village was incredibly useful; it offered a safe place to rest and train as well as additional support. Not to mention that the pay was better and steadier and the risk of simply being killed by other shinobi for no reason was reduced if you had a village potentially backing you.

It was only when she arrived in one of the secret bases that made up the 'village' and she could no longer back out that she realized that something was very, very wrong with Otogakure. It took her several months to learn all the details, but Oto wasn't set up in the right way to create a lasting village. The sheer scale of the medical experiments was horrifying, and the training of the shinobi was mostly subpar. For her entire stay she had feared being dragged away to the labs, used in one of the all-out death matches or simply being killed. Most members seemed to have a fanatical devotion to their leader Orochimaru and didn't question his plans. The only way to leave Oto was in a body bag after they finished with the experiments.

The entire purpose of Oto was to destroy Konoha and provide scientific data along the way, not create a new political entity. The training schedules pointed to a date about two years after her joining as likely kickoff point for an attack. At that time the maximum number of shinobi would be available before the numbers began to degrade because of the self-destructive methods.

Later she learned another fact. It was almost funny. Oto's recruiters had visited her home village shortly after her erstwhile master. Only a few days difference would have seen her enrolled in Oto's ranks instead of that sick fuck of a man. She was unsure what she felt about that. Without her previous experience she would have bought into the propaganda hook, line and sinker, but she would have avoided years of sexual abuse. On the other hand, it was only too possible she would have ended up on an operating table. As it was she politely declined all offers of 'medical enhancement' and tried to learn as much as she could while keeping her head down and the exact extent of her skills secret. There was no way for her to accept one of these seals that Orochimaru's chosen sported. Who knew what sorts of things were built into that seal design?

In retrospect she might have made a mistake by keeping her skills secret. Apparently it had led to her being classified as cannon fodder.

That brought her to her current mission, which was suicidal any way you looked at it. 'Kill Sasuke Uchiha during the Chunin Exams' sounded nice and doable; until you considered that it was unlikely for Konoha to let them get away with it. Oh sure, there were waivers, but she was certain that if they managed to kill the boy Konoha would find out and they would have an 'accident'. They couldn't let some nobodies get away with killing the last member of one of the premier bloodline clans of their village, couldn't they? That didn't even touch upon the fact that clan shinobi with a bloodline were _bloody_ _dangerous_.

If that wasn't enough she had overheard the big man Orochimaru himself discussing plans with one of his flunkies. Apparently some part of the acoustic isolation had failed without them noticing and Kin had been in the right spot under a vent to hear them. She really didn't like the mentioning of her and her teammates' names, 'sacrifice' and 'forbidden jutsu' in the same sentence. Nonetheless she had been forced to go along with the mission. There had simply been no opportunity to defect, just like in the two years before. They would catch her if she simply ran away, especially because Orochimaru himself had accompanied them. She had memorized a lot of valuable information if she ever got the chance. After all, she would need the protection of a true village if she was to pull it off successfully. Unfortunately she had found no opportunity to ditch her teammates while they were in Konoha and now it didn't seem like she would ever get it thanks to the approaching fireball.

Zaku was an unthinking brute who relied solely on the implanted tubes in his arms to produce his air waves, probably because he was too inept to master anything else. He was an orphan and fanatically loyal to Orochimaru because the man had picked him up and said he saw potential in him. Potential as disposable cannon fodder and medical test subject, in all likelihood. He was currently lying unconscious and with broken arms somewhere in the woods.

Dosu, their team leader, was more intelligent, but Kin didn't trust him one bit. His bandages covered the scars of a failed experiment, and he liked to cut people up in a very sick way. Additionally, if he was as intelligent and logical as he claimed to be he would have noticed that they were on a suicide mission. Strangely, he seemed to have a sort of friendship going with Zaku. Kin didn't know if he was still alive after Sasuke had chugged him head-first into a tree.

The idiots didn't even notice how outclassed they were. Both of them were more or less one-trick ponies, as was her public persona. In reality she was more about low chunin-level, with several ninjutsu, genjutsu, good taijutsu and weapon skills as well as poisons in her book, not to mention her hair techniques. A few carefully chosen and secretly applied drugs in combination with a few illusions and sexual favors had been enough for people to teach her without remembering a thing afterward. It was astounding what you could get away with in Oto if you didn't draw the suspicion of the higher-ups.

Unfortunately it hadn't been enough against an Uchiha high on the power spike of a newly applied curse seal. If she had entertained any doubts that Orochimaru had no interest in their survival they wouldn't have survived this encounter. Apparently they had only been intended as testing dummy for the Uchiha's strength.

Tears streaked Kin's face while she watched the fireball getting closer and closer. _'It's just not fair. I was so close to escaping this hell.'_

While training with her genjutsu bells she had made an additional discovery: her audible range was greater than that of most humans, both high and low. It was probably some recessive bloodline resurfacing, not that it was terribly useful since the overall sensitivity of her hearing was still normal. Still, it had helped her with her sound genjutsu and led her to devise a plan of escape. She had known that dogs could hear a certain frequency, but humans couldn't. One of Konoha's major clans was the Inuzaka clan who could talk with their dogs. Her plan had been to use her bells to send a coded message announcing her willingness to defect at a normally inaudible frequency.

Unfortunately they hadn't gotten close to any Inuzaka during their stay in Konoha until the first exam. By then she had almost given up hope. To her considerable surprise it wasn't the Inuzaka who reacted but an Aburame. The insects forming words on her test sheet had been a sure sign. It hadn't entered her mind before that insects could perceive that frequency, too. The Aburame had confirmed her message and ordered her to act normal until she was contacted again. For a while she had been hopeful, but it didn't look like fate would take mercy on her.

'_It would have been nice if at least one thing in this rotten life had gone my way. I guess I can only hope for better luck next time.'_

Kin lifted her head to look her death in the face. She wouldn't survive anyway, but hopefully it would end quickly and without too much pain.

Suddenly the buzzing of insects filled her ears and a yellow barrier of some sort snapped into existence directly in front of her. In the next moment the fireball splashed against the barrier and expended its power harmlessly. As soon as the last flames had died down the barrier faded into nothingness.

"What was that?" the crazy Uchiha asked when he approached her. "You are still alive?"

She didn't answer. There was simply no point and she was too shocked anyway.

Sasuke drew a kunai and threw it at her, but once again a barrier appeared in front of her, deflecting it. A cry of pain brought her attention back to the Uchiha. He was convulsing as if someone was shocking him with lightning. Was that smoke rising from him? I couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but suddenly the cries ended, the curse mark receded and the Uchiha slumped to the ground rendered unconscious.

'_What the hell is happening?'_

"It appears my allies and I arrived just in time. Do you require medical assistance?" a voice sounded from the side.

Turning her head Kin spied a Konoha shinobi wearing a light green high-collared jacket and sunglasses. "Who are you?"

The boy knelt beside her and began examining her body. "My name is Shino Aburame. I am the one who reacted to your message before the first exam."

Relief flooded Kin. She wouldn't die. Her plan had been successful. "I'm Kin Tsuchi. I think my shoulder is disclocated."

The boy… no, Shino adjusted his glasses before he stood back up. "I will have to free you before I can treat your injuries. Try not to move."

He disappeared from her field of vision only to return a minute later with a long piece of wood in hand. Using it as a lever he removed the tree trunk from her leg before prying her free of the scrub. Kin blacked out when he set her shoulder.

When her consciousness returned she was lying on a bed of moss and she felt much better. Sitting up, she could see Zaku and Dosu lying on the ground a short distance away. On the other side the Uchiha and Pinky were propped up against a tree. It didn't seem as if any of them would regain consciousness anytime soon. Shino was examining Sasuke's neck. When he noticed her observing him he stood up and approached her.

"How long was I out?" Kin asked.

"About two hours. I have tended to your wounds and those of your teammates. You will be combat-capable in about three hours at the latest as will your teammates aside from the one with broken arms." The boy crouched beside her. He didn't seem to show any facial expression and the sunglasses made it impossible to see his eyes. It made it impossible for her to read him. "It is time to talk about you and your message. What do you want?"

Kin gulped. This was her big chance. She couldn't afford to screw this up if she wanted any chance at a life without constant fear. "I want to defect from Otogakure. It is a horrible place. I request sanctuary from Konoha."

"I see. What do you offer to us to make it worthwhile?"

"First off, my skills. I'm about chunin level. Second, information. In my two years in Otogakure I collected a lot of valuable information that is of interest to your village. For example, the leader of Oto is Orochimaru. The curse mark on the Uchiha is a seal Orochimaru uses on his most valuable shinobi. Otogakure is not a single village but a series of bases. Something big is taking place soon. There is more, but I'll need guarantees before I reveal anything else." Kin answered.

The boy with the bushy dark brown hair didn't show any reaction and simply continued looking at her. Or at least that was what she assumed; it was impossible to tell. A knot of fear began to settle in her stomach. Would he refuse?

"Very well. In the name of the Aburame clan I offer you protection. For now this only pertains to my clan, not Konoha as a whole. Your exact status will be determined at a later time. Betray us and we will make sure you will experience a drawn-out and extremely painful death."

Kin couldn't help herself. The relief and happiness upon hearing this was so strong that she hugged Shino and started crying. She had a new chance. It was only after a few minutes that she realized what she was doing. This was completely unprofessional. Luckily Shino didn't seem to mind and had even started to awkwardly pat her back.

"What happens now?" Kin asked.

"You will have to stay with your team for the time being. We have no way to extract you from the forest without rousing suspicion. In all likelihood there will be preliminary matches. Things have already been arranged. You will be pitted against me. Do everything in your power to provoke me. Why do you ask? I will make it appear as if I kill you in a rage. You will be in a state of fake death and your body will be switched with a replica." Shino explained.

"What guarantees do I have?"

"None. You will have to trust me."

Kin didn't have to think long. This was her only chance. "Okay, I'll do what you say. I'll take the two idiots of my team away and simply say I managed to delay Sasuke while dragging them along. We already have the right scrolls, so that shouldn't be a problem. What about your two Konoha friends? The girl shouldn't have witnessed anything incriminating, but she knows we work for Orochimaru. I don't know how much the boy will remember."

"I will remain with them. I have been separated from my team and won't reach the meeting point today. Sakura shouldn't be a problem. The cover story for Sasuke is that an additional enemy protected you before I arrived and drove you off." Shino replied.

"Good. That should work." Kin stood up and stretched her sore muscles. "Then it's time for me to go. Thank you for your help."

Shino just nodded silently. It didn't seem like he talked much, but when he spoke he was somewhat of a nitpicker. She could feel his gaze on her when she dragged her two teammates away. Somehow there seemed to be more than simply making sure she didn't turn around and attacked him.

'_Don't grow paranoid, Kin. You're almost in the clear. Just a few days more.'_

* * *

><p>Karin knew she was going to die. The giant bear that had mauled her teammates was now turning towards her. She was out of weapons as well as chakra and had broken her ankle combined with a concussion. At least she thought so; her mind wasn't working all too well at the moment.<p>

'_I guess I shouldn't have followed Orochimaru-sama's command to infiltrate Grass. Or at least found some way to bow out of the chunin exams.'_

Involuntarily she opened her mind's eye as wide as she could while closing her real eyes. Apparently some part of her wanted to perceive her last moments in complete clarity. Thanks to her almost chakra-exhausted state her range was practically non-existent, but she could clearly make out the bear. It wasn't malicious, just hungry; its chakra signature was small and jagged.

The bear was almost upon her when she heard something like a shout, but she didn't pay any attention to it. The breathing of the bear was much louder. Then the bear's chakra disappeared suddenly and was replaced by another, completely different one.

The chakra was so warm and friendly, Karin simply had to embrace it. It burned itself into her mind. Her mind's eye was opened wider than it ever had been. The closest association she could come up with was a fireplace that gave off a comfortable heat; just right to relax in front of it. She wanted to never let go and bath forever in its warm glow.

'_It has to be an angel. I have died and just don't know it.'_

A female voice pierced her daydream. "Why is that girl hugging you, fleabag?"

Karin's eyes shot open. She was wrapped around a confused-looking boy her age with red tattoos on his cheeks. After a moment she closed her eyes again and snuggled closer. It didn't matter that she was hugging a complete stranger who was a boy to boot. She would do anything to be close to that chakra.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Thanks for the reviews. Originally I wanted to wrap up the forest in one chapter, but the words just kept coming.

Regarding the last scene with Karin, I was tempted for a while to make Akamaru the target of her affections…


	28. Chapter 27: The culled forest

Disclaimer: Ownership Transfer no Jutsu!... Huh, that didn't work. I still don't own Naruto.

**Chapter 27: The culled forest**

Shino silently watched Kin disappear into the woods. They didn't speak long, but he found her interesting. She seemed to be a competent kunoichi who was desperate to get away from Oto. He didn't trust her, of course. No one in his right mind trusted a defector. As soon as she was safely in the Aburame compound he would ask Ino to take a look into the girl's mind. With her being a member of the circle they would be able to keep everything under wraps. If Kin was honest in her plight asylum would be granted. If not… well, the word 'painful' wasn't even approaching an accurate description of the normal consequences of such a betrayal. In Kin's case there existed additional considerations, but Shino would deal with them when the time came.

Putting the matter aside he checked once again on Sasuke and Sakura. He had positioned enough of his kikaichu in the vicinity to warn him of any approaching threats. Well, Orochimaru could probably bypass them with ease, but if the Sannin returned Shino was as good as dead anyway. At least he now knew whom the kage-level chakra reserves had belonged to he had detected during the first test. For a moment he considered leaving the two genin from Team 7 to their fates only to discard the thought immediately. Despite all their faults they were his comrades.

Sakura would remain asleep for a few more hours. He recognized the symptoms of a hallucinogenic poison he had found on Kin when he searched her body earlier. It wasn't especially dangerous, but it was very quick-acting. Normally it wouldn't put her to sleep immediately, though.

'_Evidence suggests she stayed awake since yesterday morning at this location. The lack of sleep combined with the poison might have been enough for her to lose consciousness.'_

Well, if his conclusion were correct Sakura was currently experiencing one hell of a bad trip. Unfortunately there wasn't anything he could do about it aside from letting her sleep it off.

Sasuke was still unconscious and Shino planned to keep him that way; at least until Sakura woke. The black markings that had covered the boy had receded, but that unknown seal on his neck was extremely worrisome. If Kin had been correct Orochimaru had branded him with it. Even now the kikaichu that examined his body felt a source of foul chakra centered on the seal, but it penetrated his whole body. Such things didn't really fall into his specialty, but it seemed to integrate with Sasuke's chakra system and had almost completed the process. After his knowledge removing such a seal would be impossible and the effects were most likely not beneficial. Sasuke had certainly seemed completely unhinged when Shino had arrived at the scene. It would be preferable if he wasn't alone when the Uchiha regained consciousness.

Developing part of his kikaichu hive as chakra conductors had once again proven a worthwhile decision. Originally he had only intended them as power sources and focal points for his barrier techniques, but under Asuma-sensei's tutelage he had come up with the idea of charging them with lightning chakra. The charge they could carry was strictly limited and he needed a lot of them releasing it simultaneously to have any effect, but it had sufficed for taking Sasuke out. Draining him with his normal kikaichu would have taken far too long.

All in all it looked like Shino would have to stay a while with Team 7, especially since the third member was missing. Shino had been separated from his own team when a three-way fight between other teams had stirred up a family of giant tigers. Shino had drawn the tigers and one of the hostile teams away, but when he had finally managed to shake the pursuit he had been a large distance away from Kiba and Asuka. He wasn't overly worried; thanks to their spying efforts they had arranged several meeting points in the forest in advance. It had presented an ideal opportunity to seek out Kin.

'_If I have to stay here I should make the location more defensible.'_

Sakura had already placed some traps earlier, but Kakashi's neglect was clearly showing. Oh, the traps were all extraordinarily well-made and could serve as illustrative material for the academy course on traps. In fact, that was the problem. There was no sign of any improvement of the sort that only came from practice and experience. No shortcuts and personal modifications. The double trap was a nice touch, but the second part would have to be released manually. Obviously Sakura had not been given the opportunity to trigger it; no wonder considering her sleep-deprived state.

Ultimately traps were only a delaying measure against the human foes in the Forest of Death. Any competent shinobi could detect and disable them given time. Only complete idiots would attack head-on before carefully examining all approaches. It was impossible to cover all possible avenues of attack. Paranoia on the job was a survival trait among shinobi. Alone and unable to leave Sakura wouldn't be able to do anything if the enemy was careful and determined, as Kin and her teammates had proven.

'_A few traps to alert me of intruders early might be best. My kikaichu need to get back to me before I learn what they found. By then it might be too late.'_

* * *

><p>"We just p-passed the same tree for a second time." Hinata noted.<p>

Normally it was practically impossible for Naruto to lead them astray in the wilderness, but currently special circumstances applied. They had already been under a disorientation genjutsu for several minutes. Since Hinata could see right through it they had decided to play along. Yesterday Team 8 had joined them and both teams still needed a Scroll of Earth. If they could turn the trap against the attackers they had a chance of getting one. Twenty-four teams had entered the forest. Finding them had proven surprisingly difficult.

Hinata was slowly growing irritated. She still wasn't able to spot their enemies. There was simply too much cover in this area. The plants and animals of the Forest of Death held a lot more chakra than usual, degrading the view of her byakugan at any sort of distance. Their enemies were very adept at hiding and she simply couldn't find them.

When they reached the tree for a third time Naruto called for a halt. "This isn't working."

"S-Sorry, I just can't f-find them."

"Don't sweat it, Hinata. They're really good. I can neither hear them nor find a trace of their scent." Naruto looked at the others. "I'm open for suggestions. In the worst case I can disrupt the technique's hold on me and lead us away."

Choji and Shinji only shrugged, but Ino and Yakumo looked thoughtful.

"You said you couldn't see them, Hinata. How big is you range really under these circumstances?" Yakumo asked.

"Well, in a zone a f-few meters around me I can see absolutely everything. I can't really d-describe it to you. Outside of that sphere I have a v-viewpoint I can move around at will in v-very large radius. The m-more solid matter I h-have to look through the w-worse my vision gets. I can see chakra as a g-glow that doesn't illuminates anything. D-despite all the interference I should b-be able to make out a human's chakra if he isn't farther away than a f-few dozen meters." she explained.

Yakumo shook her head. "That makes no sense. I know this type of genjutsu. The caster has to stay in the vicinity. Fifty meters at the farthest is my best guess; closer would be more likely."

"We are being led around in a circle. Every two hundred fifty to three hundred meters we arrive back at the point where we started." Naruto added.

"That would mean our enemies could stay in the center of the circle. It only has a diameter of around eighty or a hundred meters. That means they keep us in range without getting too close. Hinata should be able to see them, but can't find them for some reason. They're probably under a good concealment jutsu and trying to tire us out." Ino summarized.

Hinata nodded. "That s-seems likely. I might be able to find them if we get closer, but I'm not sure."

Suddenly Ino smiled. "You're not the only sensor here, Hinata. I have far less range than you, but I'm able to feel the minds of others with a technique. Our enemies might be able to hide their chakra signature, but I doubt they can hide their thoughts."

"Okay, that sounds like a plan. They will probably know we're coming, though. Are you all ready?" Naruto asked.

When no one objected all of them disrupted the genjutsu's influence and began moving into the direction Naruto indicated. The technique tried to reestablish contact with them, but it was possible to keep it out.

'_This enemy team seems competent. Well, they can't be all idiots.'_

A few minutes later they were still wandering through the thicket of trees and bushes without Hinata finding anyone of the culprits. Oh, she could still see the chakra of the genjutsu in the air, but she wasn't able to pinpoint the origin.

"I feel them. They're here." Ino suddenly announced. "They're hiding underground!"

Hinata had to bite back a curse. Not looking underground was a typical habit of the Hyuuga. Since she couldn't see anything without light she instinctively blocked out that part of her perception and didn't shift her viewpoint there. She would have to use her chakra sight and her viewpoint would have to be just in the right location to spot anyone hiding underground. The chances for that were low. At most times there simply wasn't anything interesting to see below the ground and it cut down on her time to observe things above ground.

"It seems they have noticed us." Choji remarked.

That was true. A multitude of regular bunshin, pure genjutsu illusions, a sort of largely incorporeal clones and water clones from a nearby stream emerged and surrounded them. It was actually a good fallback strategy. Bunshin and genjutsu in general were rather cheap chakra-wise. The water clones scattered through the horde weren't that costly either and presented enough of a threat to keep them on their toes or get some lucky hits in. Against most other teams it would have worked; the genjutsu especially was well-done and despite knowing it was there Hinata had trouble to keep it from affecting her.

"Well, let's see who has more endurance." Naruto said with a smirk before he began flinging his Thunder Discs into the enemies. Naturally the jutsu did nothing against the genjutsu or the bunshin aside from distorting them for a moment, but the water clones were not so lucky. Shinji supported his efforts by using his gloves with attached wire to slice through the enemies. Any water clones that managed to get too close to the group Hinata easily dispatched. The other three could do little more than wait.

"This is taking too long. I'll try something to draw them out." Ino shouted before she made a hand seal. Hinata was close enough to hear her whisper "Mind Art: Siren's Call".

For a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then about two thirds of the clones stopped moving before they dispersed. In the next moment Hinata spotted two humans emerging from the ground wearing pale yellow jumpsuits and Ame headbands. Between a metal contraption and a sash covering almost their entire faces it was difficult to tell, but Hinata was sure they wore a completely love-struck expression.

A third figure emerged from behind them. "Kagari! Mubi! What are you two idiots doing? Snap out of it!"

One of the two enemy shinobi stopped his slow walk towards Ino, confusion evident in his one visible eye. In the next moment Yakumo socked him on the jaw while Hinata took down the second enemy. Apparently the third enemy saw the hopelessness of the situation and began sinking back into the ground.

"Oh no, you don't!" Choji shouted before he sprinted to the spot the shinobi was just disappearing into. His arm increased in size before he brought it down, shattering the ground. A split second later he punched the ground again with his other fist, deepening the crater. The fourth strike hit with a meaty sound. Choji reached down and hefted a crumpled and moaning body out of the hole he had created. A relatively light tap on the head of the man caused the moans and movements to end. In the same moment the last of the clones as well as the genjutsu ceased to exist.

A few minutes later they had the three secured and Naruto finished searching their pockets. "What do we have here? A Scroll of Earth; just what we need. Ino, could you please check if they have any interesting information?"

"No problem, Naruto." Ino placed her hand on the first shinobi's head. A moment later she frowned and moved to the second enemy. Then she repeated the action with the last one. "Strange, they have some sort of mental blocks placed in their minds. I can't get at their important memories, or rather it would take me hours or even days to dismantle the blocks."

"It wouldn't be wise to linger here that long. It isn't likely that they know anything important anyway." Choji stated.

"I agree. Can you get them to leave the forest?" Naruto asked. "I don't want more competent enemies running around than absolutely necessary."

A smirk appeared on Ino's face. "Sure. I've been aching to test some of my skills for ages." Once again Ino touched the head of the Rain shinobi, but this time she spent almost two minutes on the first two men and almost four on the one that had resisted her earlier technique. Finally the blond girl was finished and took a position a few meters in front of them before snapping her fingers. The three men straightened and opened their eyes, but it didn't seem like they were truly seeing anything.

"Do you understand me?" Ino questioned.

"We await your command, mistress." the three answered in eerie, toneless voices.

An evil glint became visible in Ino's eyes. "I want you to leave the Forest of Death as quickly as possible. After you leave us forget everything about our encounter. Head to the central village square and sing 'I'm a little teapot' five times. Then return to your inn. Now off with you!"

Without a word the three turned around and sprinted into the forest. A few seconds later Ino began laughing in an extremely disturbing manner.

"What did you do to them?" a somewhat shaken Shinji asked.

"Oh, it's nothing permanent. I just suppressed their will for a while. I'm still experimenting and not sure how long it will last." Ino answered after she got her laughter under control.

"So that command to sing on the village square is a test?" Yakumo asked curiously.

Ino nodded. "It's a far more embarrassing command than simply leaving the forest and we'll hear if they really did it later. I think commands that endanger their life or are generally unpleasant for a victim are easier to break."

"You wouldn't use that on one of us, would you?" Shinji asked.

Ino approached an increasingly nervous boy and patted his cheek. "Aww, are you afraid of me, Shinji-kun? Don't be; I don't plan to control your every movement."

Apparently that declaration did nothing to assuage the boy's fear. "I think I s-scout ahead for a while." he said and headed into the woods followed by a snickering Naruto.

His behavior caused Ino to start laughing again. Hinata shook her head slightly. "Are you t-trying to terrify poor Shinji? You're a c-cruel woman, Ino."

"I know, but he's so easy to tease." Her expression changed into a slight pout. "Aside from the fact I wouldn't do that to you it wouldn't work on you. These guys didn't have that much mental strength. Most of you can shake off my Shintenshin in mere moments and this is weaker. I guess you have a lot of willpower and build up a resistance during our academy years. Oh, I think I could grind you down over time, but that isn't useful in combat and there are far worse things I can do to someone with a few hours of uninterrupted time. Well, I'm not sure about you and Naruto. I can't even get into your heads."

Hinata had to suppress a smile. She could understand Ino's frustration. The young Yamanaka had no way of knowing what the true reason for their almost unreal mental strength was. Learning magic and other things from Naruto's parents while not going insane required enormous mental fortitude; something Youko and Daiki had taken great pains to instill in them.

"Well, we better get going. We still need to reach the meeting point for Shino's team." Choji interrupted her thoughts.

* * *

><p>From one moment to the next Idate woke and opened his eyes. Bright golden light streamed through the canopy high above, indicating that it was around noon.<p>

'_I'm alive.'_

Considering his last memories consisted of all his muscles locking up after a snake bite that was somewhat surprising. Even more surprising was that he felt fine. He would have expected at least some aftereffects even if he survived.

"You're awake." a male voice said.

Sitting up, Idate saw Temari's brother Kankuro sitting nearby. They were currently in a small campsite. "Hello Kankuro-san. I guess I have to thank you for my survival?"

Kankuro nodded. "Yes. My sister has some medical skills and dragged you here while keeping you from dying. Fortunately for you a lot of the animals in the Land of Wind are poisonous and she has experience in the field. She bought you just enough time for me to apply an antidote. That poison was a nasty thing."

Idate shrugged. "Well, that was to be expected. I think the snake that got me was a specialized summon. Thank you for your help. What day is it?"

"Temari brought you in yesterday morning. I kept you sedated until all traces of the poison were cleared from your body. Trust me; you wouldn't want to be awake through the process." the young man from Suna explained. "I don't think I've ever encountered someone as lucky as you. I've seen your battlefield. By all rights you should be dead. Anyway, your body should be fine by now."

Tentatively Idate stood up and went through a few exercises. It seemed as if he was completely recovered. He was about to ask about Temari when said woman appeared from the woodwork. The next thing Idate knew they had their lips pressed together.

"Could you please do that somewhere out of my sight?" Kankuro complained before he made himself busy at the other end of the camp.

Temari ignored the words of her brother and continued kissing him. Idate didn't have anything against that. He had a lot of dalliances in his past, but none of the women and girls had been quite like Temari. Idate knew very well that they would probably never see each other again after the exams, but he was determined to make the most out of the time they had.

Suddenly Temari stopped kissing him and hit him hard on the shoulder. "That was for scaring me."

It didn't hurt that much and he gave her a charming smile. "Thank you for your help. Without you I wouldn't have made it out alive."

Temari kissed him again. "Don't mention it. Though I will exact my payment after we get out of this damned forest, so better prepare yourself."

"It will be my pleasure." Idate sighed. He really wished he could stay with Temari, but he had to find his teammates. He didn't know if they were still alive. "Did anything happen during the time I was unconscious? Do you know what happened to my teammates?"

"No to both questions. We already have both scrolls and didn't investigate further. If what you said during the battle is true one of the most infamous missing-nin of the Leaf is running around here. We didn't want to run the risk of encountering him and you weren't really fit for transport anyway." Temari explained.

Idate nodded in understanding. Potentially going against someone like Orochimaru was asking far too much. Since this phase of the chunin exams was a free-for-all there had been no obligation for Temari or her brothers to help him in the first place. In fact it was a very big favor he now owed them. Granted, he didn't leave Temari much choice after he met her with the horde of snakes hot on his heels, but that only increased his debt.

"I guess this is goodbye. Hopefully my two idiot teammates are still alive and kicking. Thank you again for all you've done for me. If I survive this I'll see you at the tower or in the village after this phase is over."

After checking his weapons and supplies (the Suna shinobi had either refrained from searching him or put everything back into order; he even still had his scroll) Idate asked for the direction of the battlefield. Temari had no trouble pointing him in the right direction and sending him on his way with a last kiss. "Good luck and don't forget our arrangement." were the last words Idate heard before he left them behind.

* * *

><p>Gaara watched the young man leave from his hiding place high in a tree. Personally he didn't care about the man's survival, but his sister obviously did. While he was an interesting example of a competent Konoha shinobi Gaara would have crushed him without mercy under other circumstances. Instead he had decided to humor his sister. Idate would only be the last in a string of conquests and his sister would soon grow bored with him or circumstances would force them apart. Provided he survived the forest, of course.<p>

Temari knew very well that her eventual marriage would in all likelihood be a matter of politics. Gaara didn't object if she wanted to have some fun in the meantime. It was probably her way of dealing with the stress. She might even extract some valuable information in the process. Additionally Suna was at least nominally allied with Konoha, giving him another reason to spare Idate… this time.

Putting the man out of his mind Gaara's thoughts returned to a more important matter. Mother was behaving oddly ever since they arrived in the vicinity of Konoha. She seemed hesitant and confused but was either unwilling or unable to tell him what was wrong. When he slaughtered the three shinobi from Amegakure who had attacked them shortly after entering the forest Mother had seemed almost normal, but now she was back to incomprehensible mumbles. It would probably best if he found some more people to feed their blood to mother and prove his existence.

'_Soon I will give you more blood, Mother.'_

* * *

><p>Idate had little trouble finding the battleground. It was still an ashen wasteland. At least it wasn't smoking any more. Some snake parts were lying around, but the scavengers of the Forest of Death had made liberal use of the readily available feast. After a few minutes of searching Idate found the path that had brought him here yesterday and followed it, hoping to find the site where Orochimaru's subordinates had originally ambushed him. Navigation in the Forest of Death was notoriously difficult and during two legs of his journey he hadn't been able to pay much attention to his surroundings, meaning it was probably better to try and backtrack his path than to set out to find Sasuke and Sakura directly.<p>

'_I think this looks like the spot I originally landed at.'_ Climbing to the top of a large tree Idate ascended above the canopy and looked around. _'Let's see, this way is north. The tower is there and the battlefield is over there. That should be the direction from which we entered the forest.'_

Nodding to himself, Idate returned to the ground and made his way towards his goal. He mostly kept to the ground, but occasionally he climbed on trees and jumped from branch to branch. It was slow, but he had to make sure not to run into an ambush. The enemy shinobi had clearly tried to capture him at first before he and Temari proved too dangerous. It wasn't out of the question that Orochimaru or more of his helpers were still in the vicinity. For a moment Idate pondered leaving the forest and getting help from the proctors, but he discarded the thought. If twelve ANBU were not enough a few of the mostly chunin-level proctors wouldn't help much. It was unlikely that Orochimaru was still present after more than a day and waiting for him. Idate wasn't that valuable. Additionally the forest offered far too many hiding places. He had to make sure what happened to the two genin in his care first. Maybe they could even complete the exam. One could hope, after all.

The young man stopped abruptly when the sound of arguing voices reached his ears.

"What should we do? We still haven't found anyone."

"Most teams have probably already gotten a scroll and are now hiding, waiting for the tower to open in two and a half days."

"Yeah, it's the second day and there is no trace of any other teams. Anyway, it's noon. Let's get some food. You guys rest up. I'll go look around."

Idate couldn't believe his luck. A rival team that was apparently completely inept at wilderness survival and tracking. One of them was heading in his direction, but he never looked up. Idate didn't have the slightest problem of silently dropping from his branch and clubbing the young man over the head from behind.

'_That was pathetically easy.'_

After securing the young man he carefully crept closer to where he had heard the other voices. At first he didn't believe his ears when he heard what they were discussing. The idiots wanted to open their scroll to fake a counterpart, disregarding the warning on it not to open it in the forest. Thanks to his mission he knew very well what would happen if someone did that.

'_I don't even have to do anything.'_

Just as predicted it didn't take long for them to open the scroll and fall prey to the included seal-based jutsu. Idate didn't know the specific technique, but it knocked the victim out for a while and screwed up their muscle and chakra control for a few days. They wouldn't be a danger to anyone.

Idate picked up the scroll that was just the type he needed before he dragged the third member of the team here and searched their bodies. Unfortunately they didn't have anything he could use aside from a bit of money. Sure, they had a pretty standard load of weapons, but he didn't need any and didn't want to bother with the weight. There weren't any other supplies to be found; this team had apparently been sadly unprepared for a survival test. All in all they were completely unfit for becoming chunin.

'_I think I have seen this one before. If I'm not mistaken he works with the Cryptanalysis squad.'_

Well, that answered at least where he had gotten the idea of creating a fake scroll. He had probably thought there was some sort of two-part code written on the scrolls. In reality the scrolls were part of a complicated seal-based setup including the central tower. Idate didn't know who had created them or why, but the scrolls had been repurposed and modified for the newly established chunin exams by the Sandaime around a decade ago.

'_That was a stroke of good luck.'_ Idate thought when he slid the newly acquired scroll into one of his inner pockets.

Some time later he arrived at the location where he had been separated from his team. A quick survey yielded traces of a battle involving different jutsu and several large snakes, but no dead bodies. Even the decapitated corpse of the ANBU he had seen falling before he was blown away had disappeared.

Idate felt a knot of dread forming in his stomach. He might not like his temporary teammates, but he certainly didn't want them to die on his watch. Considering who he thought their enemy was death might even be not the worst thing that could happen to them by far. When he found Sakura's footsteps leaving the area relief flooded him. At least the girl seemed to be still alive. Judging from the depth of the footprints Sakura was apparently carrying Sasuke; meaning both might have survived.

Idate carefully followed the trail. It was very likely that they would try to attack him before he could identify himself if he simply barged in. Sakura had clearly tried to conceal her tracks, but it wasn't enough to throw off someone like him. After a few minutes he noticed a concealed tripwire on the path. A cautious examination showed that the trap was designed to make noise, nothing more.

Continuing cautiously Idate spotted several additional traps he had no trouble evading. Some of them he attributed to Sakura, but others had been built by an unknown person with more experience. The small differences in placement and workmanship were telling.

Finally he reached a more open section of the forest where large roots formed a maze. The first thing he spotted was Sakura's pink hair. The girl looked like death warmed over; very pale and with heavy bags under her eyes. She was propped up against one of the roots and seemed to be trembling. Sasuke was lying by her side, either asleep or unconscious. At least he was still breathing.

When the girl spotted him her eyes widened. "Idate-san! You live!"

The young man plastered a cocky smile on his face. "Hey Sakura-san, I'm back. Missed me?"

He was a bit surprised to see tears in Sakura's eyes when she unsuccessfully tried to get up. "We thought you were dead when you didn't return. It was horrible. First there was that thing. I don't even know if it was a man or woman, but it called itself Orochimaru. It did something to Sasuke-kun and simply disappeared. He developed a fever and simply didn't wake up. This morning the Sound team attacked us. We would have died but Shino-san drove them off."

It was then that Idate he noticed a third person standing in the shadow of a root. It was the Aburame boy from Team 10 he had met briefly during the first test. Idate didn't know much about the other rookie teams and Team 10 hadn't caused any waves unlike Team 7 and 11. Thanks to his high-collared jacket and the dark glasses the boy's expression was practically unreadable, but Idate felt himself carefully scrutinized. Then the Aburame inclined his head in greeting.

"Welcome back, Idate-san. My kikaichu have already verified your identity."

'_Huh, I didn't know they could do that.'_ Idate thought. There were few Aburame left and Idate had never worked with one. That meant he only knew that their kikaichu could drain chakra, but nothing much about other techniques. It was interesting that they could identify other persons.

When he came closer to them Sakura slumped and seemed to go back to sleep. Considering how exhausted she looked it was probably for the best, but it made questioning her impossible. Her sleep seemed fitful though. Apparently he would have make do with asking the Aburame for information.

"So, can you tell me what happened to them?"

"Sakura-san wasn't hurt in the initial confrontation with their attacker. She is still recovering from a poisoning sustained this morning while fighting against the Sound team. The poison was mainly hallucinogenic and disabling in nature. I estimate it will take until tomorrow for all effects to disappear." Shino explained. "Sasuke-san's case is more worrisome. I have only incomplete information. In the initial confrontation he was…"

* * *

><p>Choji meticulously scaled the fishes Shinji had caught earlier to prepare them for cooking. He liked cooking and didn't mind taking over these duties often, even if they took turns so that the others could get some practice in, too. Their current resting place besides a small river was a nice spot and the designated meeting place for the day. The vagaries of terrain and vegetation made it not easy to find. Team 10 was still missing, but Choji wasn't especially worried. All sorts of complication were only to be expected and it was only the evening of their second full day in the forest.<p>

Most of the group had already completed their tasks of setting up camp and were now lazing around. Only Naruto and Yakumo were still out of sight securing the perimeter.

Suddenly Hinata perked up. "Three persons are approaching us. They are Kiba and Asuka, but the third person isn't Shino. I think it's the redheaded girl from the younger Grass team."

A few minutes later Naruto and Yakumo returned with the new arrivals in tow. Kiba carried the Grass kunoichi on his back. The girl was either unconscious or sleeping; Choji couldn't tell without neglecting his duties as cook.

"Hey guys." Kiba greeted them. "Bug man isn't with you? We've been separated from Shino earlier and I thought he would already be here."

Asuka simply gave a tired wave before she plopped down on a comfortable looking spot. Akamaru gave a woof before he made a beeline for Ino and jumped into her lap.

"Who's that?" Ino asked after they finished with the greetings, still petting Akamaru.

"I don't even know her name. Her team got eaten by a bear and we just stumbled upon her. I killed the bear that was about to finish her off. Next thing I know the girl is hugging me before she loses consciousness. She hasn't let go since then, though, so a little help would be nice. I think she has a broken ankle and chakra exhaustion. Oh, and we got her team's Scroll of Earth. They won't need it anymore."

Choji could only spare an occasional glance because he was busy setting up the fish near the fire pit, but apparently it was surprisingly difficult to get the girl to let go of Kiba. After a minute of trying Hinata simply disabled her limbs, enabling them to pry her loose.

"Finally free. Thanks." Kiba said before he began making exercises to loosen his stiff muscles.

After finishing his work for the moment Choji observed the situation further. The girl was clearly unconscious, but she still tried to get close to Kiba. Somehow her body always wriggled in his direction and Hinata had problems securing her for her medical check-up.

"This is very unusual. Ino, I think I n-need a little help here." Hinata announced after a minute of examination.

"Okay. Sorry Akamaru, but I'm sure Yakumo or Asuka will be happy to pet you." Ino said apologetically to the dog in her lap. Akamaru immediately got up and walked over to Yakumo.

Sometimes Choji wondered why Kiba didn't use Akamaru to get closer to girls. Almost all females he knew loved to pamper to the canine. Despite the small dog being a glutton for petting Kiba never deliberately used him in this fashion. Well, perhaps Akamaru had talked him out of it.

The fish were almost ready when Ino's voice reached his ears. "Oh, this isn't good."

Curbing his curiosity Choji turned back to his task. He would learn about Ino's findings soon enough.

During their meal they only shared idle talk. After they finished eating they shared the news about what had happened to them in the exam so far. Shino had been separated from Team 10 when he drew off a pursuit, but apart from their encounter with the red-haired girl Kiba and Asuka had experienced nothing newsworthy. Team 8 shared the story about the Konoha team they sent packing before they combined forces with Team 11 and were ambushed by the shinobi from Ame.

"So, what is the status of our guest?" Naruto asked finally.

For a moment Hinata and Ino looked at each other. Then Ino spoke up. "I have to explain a lot of her background, so please bear with me. Her name is Karin and she's about our age. She's originally from one of those small countries without a shinobi village or clan in the borderlands. Around five or six years ago her village was burned down in a territorial dispute between two nobles. She was the only survivor thanks to her at that point untrained sensor ability. Shortly after that a missing-nin picked her up, did some experiments and then sent her to Kusagakure as a deep-cover agent and to be trained as a kunoichi. I don't think the leadership of Kusa or the missing-nin know how strong her sensor ability really is. Anyway, aside from the other Grass team no one wanted to participate in the chunin exams. Karin still doesn't know why, but she was commanded to participate despite not being ready. As you've seen that ended with her team getting eaten."

Ino paused for a moment before she continued with her story. "The girl is an extremely strong chakra sensor; perhaps the strongest I've ever seen. In fact her talent is greater than is good for her. Aside from her broken ankle, chakra exhaustion and some minor bruises she currently suffers from a condition known as sensor imprinting."

"I've never heard of such a thing." Yakumo wondered. "What does that mean?"

"It's very rare. I don't think we've had any such cases in Konoha in the last two decades, but there have been some instances of it in my clan in the past. It happens mainly to not properly trained sensors whose ability is too strong for them. Even then it only happens under very special circumstances and with a lot of chance. I'm talking about things like chakra exhaustion combined with a near-death situation coupled with a compatible chakra signature nearby. Unfortunately for Karin these circumstances applied when you saved her, Kiba. Your chakra signature is now imprinted on her."

"What?" Kiba blurted.

"It isn't your fault or Karin's. Anyway, as you can see she is trying to get as close to you as possible even when she's unconscious." They all looked at the unconscious, restrained girl who was still trying to move. "I think we need a demonstration. Naruto, please touch her. If nothing happens please do the same, Kiba."

Karin's behavior didn't change when Naruto touched her, but as soon as Kiba got close Karin snapped the restraints holding her arms, gripped him and pulled him towards her. Kiba let out an undignified squawk when he found himself on the ground and embraced by the girl. Choji and some of the others were about to begin laughing, but Ino's shout interrupted their merriment.

"HEY! This isn't a laughing matter; it's a serious medical and psychological problem. The girl doesn't even know what's happening; it's all her subconscious at the moment."

"Ahem, guys, could you please get her off me?" Kiba asked plaintively.

Hinata shook her head. "We think it b-better if you stay close to her for the moment. Just t-try to get comfortable."

Ignoring Kiba's grumbling Ino continued the explanation. "Basically, she has the physical and mental need to be close to you. It will be terribly confusing for her when she wakes up. Without an explanation she'll most likely try to rationalize the attraction as a crush or even love. Make no mistake, at the moment she is only attracted to your chakra, not you. Your chakra signature is a reflection of your true nature, but not the whole thing."

"Couldn't I just, you know, keep my distance?"

Ino sighed. "That won't work. Even if she was willing to leave you alone the urge wouldn't disappear. She won't be nearly as clingy when she's awake, at least not at first. It's similar to withdrawal from a drug addiction, but the longer she goes without the proximity of you the worse the symptoms get. Sooner or later her sanity would crack."

"How bad would it get?" Yakumo asked.

"That depends on a lot of different circumstances, but the outlook isn't good. Mind you, I'm taking her current state of mind and extrapolate what she would be like after several years of withdrawal with only sporadic or no contact with Kiba's chakra. A split or widely fluctuating personality is almost guaranteed. Sooner or later she would convince herself that she is madly in love with Kiba, just to justify her need to be with him. That would develop into a fanatic obsession to the exclusion of almost everything else. Extreme mood swings, psycho-stalker behavior, the whole nine yards. She will do anything, and I mean absolutely anything, to get close to him. After a while it won't matter to her who she has to betray or kill to reach that goal. Perceived threats to that endeavor can expect no mercy. If it comes to that even Kiba treating her like dirt or even direct attempts on her life would most likely not be enough to break through her infatuation. For a while she might act saner, but she would soon revert back."

Kiba's eyes had opened wide, his face a mask of terror and his mouth trying in vain to form words. The others wore similar expressions. At first the situation had seemed funny, but now it was decidedly less so.

"Is… is her condition treatable?" Asuka asked, horrified.

Ino let out a deep sigh. "There is no easy solution. Explaining the situation will help temporarily, but not in the long term. I or other mind walkers can't get at the part of her mind that is the cause of the problem; not without completely rewriting her brain. Effectively we would 'kill' the present Karin to 'cure' her. Even then the chances of success are slim. I have to consult with the clan elders and professional mind healers, but my recommendation is to give her unrestricted access to Kiba along with long-term psychological therapy. That will prevent any degradation of her mind and enable her to live a relatively normal life. If she doesn't have to deal with withdrawal over longer periods the need for proximity will get less and less, even if it will probably never disappear completely. Unfortunately we're talking years for that. "

Choji immediately spotted the problem with that course of action. "Doesn't she have to return to Kusa after the exams?"

Naruto had an answer for that. "That isn't really an insurmountable problem. Villages occasionally transfer shinobi for suitable compensation. We've a treaty with Kusa to allow that. Since they don't really know about the extent of Karin's sensor talent they won't demand an outrageous sum. Kiba is the son of a clan head. That means we could get away with a cover story. For example, he has taken a liking to the girl and his mother chose to indulge him."

In that moment Kiba found his voice. "Hey, don't I get I say in that? Do you have any idea what my mom would say if I ask her that?"

Ino knelt beside Kiba and looked directly into his eyes. "You literally have the girl's sanity in your hands, Kiba. If we don't follow this course of action her mind will break sooner or later; I give you my word on that. It would be more merciful to put her down now. Are you willing to do that?"

Silence descended over the group. Kiba's eyes flickered between all of them and the unconscious Karin. The girl had once again snuggled close to Kiba and was now sporting a small smile. If the situation hadn't been so serious the display would have been awfully cute.

Finally Kiba let out a deep, deep sigh. "No, I can't do that. But I refuse to be the one to breach the topic with my mom."

"Good, I'll talk to her. I think you made the right decision, but be aware of the consequences. Karin will have at least as many problems as you dealing with the situation. Try to be kind and understanding. If you use her condition as a bargaining lever you can get her to do almost anything, but I give you fair warning. Mistreat her and I swear to the gods I will rape your mind until you think you are a plush toy."

Kiba gulped but apparently decided to drop the topic.

Several hours later night had fallen and the five members of the circle present assembled for a discussion.

Yakumo was the first to speak. "Okay, the others are safely asleep. I cast a genjutsu over them just to be sure. Ino, you were unusual forceful about Karin. It isn't like you to argue so strongly in favor of a stranger."

Ino shrugged uncomfortably. "Seeing her condition just affects me deeply. I'm a sensor myself. I can't stand the thought of the same thing happening to me. Of course, I'm taking the necessary precautions and I'm not a strong enough sensor to be affected by that condition in the first place, but the fear is there. I'm capable of compassion, you know."

"Tell them the r-rest. You didn't explain all what you've found in Karin's mind." Hinata said.

The blond Yamanaka nodded. "Yeah, there are additional considerations. The missing-nin I mentioned earlier? That was Orochimaru. Karin doesn't know much about him and didn't see him in years, but there is still some loyalty left. Sometimes I really wonder how the snake manages to instill that into people. I already took a few steps to subtly shake that. Her connection with Kiba will do the rest. Secondly, I really can't stress enough how powerful a sensor Karin is. It's almost unreal. She's an extremely valuable asset. There is no way Orochimaru or Grass would have let her out of their sight if they realized how powerful she really is. Unfortunately her other abilities are lagging behind, especially combat-related skills. In fact she's even less capable than Sakura was at graduation, but that can be fixed in time and with training. Since she posed as an orphan without patrons in Grass no one took enough interest in her to properly train her."

"That will certainly be useful in convincing Kiba's mother. I can't imagine she'll be happy to shell out the necessary cash." Choji mused. "But I have to agree with you; this is a good step to get new talents for Konoha's future."

The other three expressed their agreement.

"What are our plans for tomorrow?" Ino asked.

Naruto seemed to be thinking for a moment. "I think it best if we immediately head for the next meeting point. If Shino doesn't join us tomorrow we'll have to search for him. Most of you should stay at the site. I would like to take Hinata and you with me out into the woods, Ino. The chances aren't good, but I would like for us to try and take care of a special task. If Shino was able to hold onto his scroll we are set, but perhaps we can knock a few other teams out of the competition. Are you all okay with that or would that interfere with Karin's treatment?"

"That shouldn't be a problem. The chakra exhaustion will keep her unconscious at least until tomorrow evening. I'm ready to go." Ino answered.

Choji voiced his agreement. There was no sense in taking risks. Naruto and Hinata were ideally suited to moving in the forest undetected and finding other teams. Yakumo and he could easily guard a camping site, especially with Shinji, Kiba and Asuka as backup. After hashing out the guard schedule four of the five went to sleep.

* * *

><p>Anko gazed into the night, leaning into the white-haired man sitting by her side with his left arm around her waist. It was already dark, making the view even more impressive. The countless torches and other sources of illumination in the village made it look like a mirror of the starry sky above them. Their first kiss had been on a night just like this. While their current location wasn't exactly the top of the Hokage monument it was the same mountain. This specific corner offered almost the same view without as many visitors.<p>

It had been a very nice date, but she just couldn't get into the right mood.

"Anko, what is bothering you?" Mizuki finally asked. "I can feel you're very tense."

The female jonin sighed. "It's something I learned earlier today. You aren't supposed to know about it. My old teacher Orochimaru has most likely infiltrated Konoha. He's either in the Forest of Death interfering with the exams or in the village doing who knows what. Since no one knows what his plans are and the higher-ups don't want to cause a panic everything is supposed to proceed as if nothing has happened. Oh, ANBU is looking for him, but as things are they are stretched far too thin. I'm very worried about the kids."

Mizuki pulled her closer. "You know, I'm somewhat surprised you didn't drop everything and head into the forest."

Anko chuckled lightly. "A few years ago or if things had gone differently I might have done just that. I know better now than to rush headlong into things. Aside from the fact that me entering the forest without orders would disqualify my team I'm no match for Orochimaru. I'm a jonin and a good one, but I have no chance against an S-class kage-level shinobi." She waved Mizuki's unspoken objections away. "Oh, there's always a chance that I would get lucky. No, I'm worried that he's able to do something with the damned seal on my neck. I wouldn't be much good if he manages to activate it remotely and incapacitate me. As much as I would like to kick his scaly butt I'm probably the worst person to fight against him."

"That's probably a wise decision. But that isn't everything, is it?" Mizuki asked.

"No. Even if it wasn't for Orochimaru I would be worried. It's just too early for them to participate in the exams. I know they're all capable shinobi, but I can't help but worrying. In two days I'll head to the tower. Then I'll know for certain. Thankfully we can use the tunnel under the forest."

Mizuki changed his position to sit behind her and began gently massaging her tense shoulders. "They are all good kids. Trust me, they'll do fine. In fact I pity anyone who tries to go against them."

* * *

><p>"He's heading this way."<p>

Many people would have been surprised to see the predatory smile that graced Hinata's features when she made that announcement. Naruto was not among them. Hinata had waited a long time for this opportunity. Unfortunately it was earlier than expected and even somewhat of a necessity.

Suddenly Hinata schooled her face back into a neutral expression before she waved with both her arms. "Neji has seen us and has increased his speed."

It was an unfortunate fact that Neji and Hinata hated each other. As far as Naruto knew it was irrational on Neji's side, but that didn't stop him from undermining and harassing Hinata in the Hyuuga clan whenever he could get away with it. In short, he did his utmost to make life as difficult as possible for Hinata. After years of that behavior Hinata had come to hate her cousin, but she had refrained from lashing out at him. Her cousin was a prodigy with the Gentle Fist and she couldn't take the risk of losing. Not when she couldn't openly reveal her proficiency with water jutsu anyway. Both Hinata and Naruto hated control seals with a passion, making using the caged bird seal on him unpalatable.

Unfortunately their participation in the chunin exams brought the issue to a head. It was very likely that Team Gai would pass the second test. Despite their overly focused skill distribution they were good enough at those skills to compensate for their overspecialization. At least if they didn't have the bad luck to run into one of the highly competent teams.

Considering the number of participants it was almost certain that preliminaries would be held. The matches would seemingly be random, but Naruto was virtually certain that they were at least partially rigged sine the third test would be a public tournament. It was used for showing off a village's prowess. That meant the two Hyuuga in the exam would most likely be pitted against each other in the prelimenaries. Their fighting styles were virtually identical (at least to the knowledge of most people). It wouldn't do to bore the important and influential spectators, after all.

Hinata was convinced Neji would try to cripple or outright kill her. Naruto wasn't prepared to argue the point; Neji was a fate-obsessed asshole. That meant they had to either take Neji out of the competition or Hinata would have to somehow withdraw from the tournament using some plausible excuse. This was the reason for their current search-and-beat-up mission. If they hadn't found Neji Hinata had been prepared to injure herself to a sufficient degree, but it would be much more satisfying to beat Neji to a pulp. They had hoped to find him alone. It seemed luck was on their side.

Time seemed to stretch until Neji finally emerged on the place they had chosen. Naruto and Ino stayed back, but Hinata took a few steps towards him.

"Hinata-sama. Why did you signal me to come here? Are you so inept you have to ask me for help?"

Hinata didn't react to his taunt and spoke in a calm voice. "I have a proposal for you Neji-san. For years you have done your utmost to bully and humiliate me. This ends today. We fight it out here and now. Everything is allowed."

Neji just stared at her for a few seconds before a malicious smile spread over his face. "What is this? Did the little mouse find courage somewhere? Very well, I accept. I never thought I'd be facing you here, Hinata-sama."

"We all experience our little surprises, Neji-san." Hinata responded coolly.

"Before we begin fighting I'd like to say something, Hinata-sama. You don't make a good kunoichi and you are inept at our clan's art. You are pathetic and weak. You are too kind and wish for harmony and avoid conflict. I have seen through many things with this byakugan. I know you are just acting strong. Deep inside you just want to run away from here. You are a pathetic failure. It is impossible to change your fate."

The Hyuuga boy continued spouting crap about fate, their position in life and Hinata's unfitness for belonging to the Hyuuga clan, let alone the main house. Naruto tuned him out while Hinata maintained a completely neutral expression.

'_I wish Hinata would just shut him up.'_

If it had been up to Naruto they simply would have beaten down Neji three-to-one, but Hinata wanted to test her strength against her cousin first. She still used the chakra attacks from the Gentle Fist style, but aside from that she was always fighting with a mix of styles Anko had taught her. It made full use of her enormous flexibility and relied more on striking critical spots than brute force. Not that Hinata was weak physically, far from it. It was just utilizing her greatest physical attribute. She had never used it while sparring in the clan compound, though, and wanted to see how it worked against a Gentle Fist prodigy like Neji.

Another reason was probably to get some of the penned up anger out of her system. Year by year she endured being disparaged by her clan and she wanted to lash out against one of her primary tormentors. In Naruto's opinion this was unwise due to the risk of injury, but he deferred to Hinata's wishes. In an emergency he and Ino could interfere. His parents would probably give them an earful later, though.

Finally Neji finished his rant. Hinata yawned and faced Neji with an utterly bored expression. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Neji's face turned red and a vein began pulsing visibly. A moment later he launched himself towards Hinata and the fight began.

It was an impressive sight. From their position it looked almost like an intricate dance. Neji was rightfully called a prodigy. From what Naruto could see his forms were flawless and fluid. His strikes were always on-target. Unfortunately for him Hinata was never in the place he tried to hit.

Maybe Naruto was biased, but to him Hinata looked like a goddess of battle. She made it seem effortless when she weaved around the increasingly frustrated Neji's attacks. Still, despite her undeniable prowess she couldn't risk truly attacking herself. Doing so would enable Neji to strike back. After all, he needed just a gentle touch to inflict damage.

'_It's a stalemate. Neji can't hit Hinata, but she is unable to get hits in, too. Still, this is very impressive.'_

Predicting the outcome of battles with such little skill difference was notoriously difficult, but it still seemed to Naruto that Neji still held a slight advantage. Hinata seemed to come to the same conclusion and suddenly the battle stopped. The girl held Neji's hands in a vise-like grip, preventing any attack, but making it impossible for her to move, too. The chakra both combatants used to coat their fingertips briefly flared into the visible spectrum when the charges neutralized each other.

Naruto wasn't sure if that was a wise move. Neji had considerable more reach than Hinata. He could always attack with his legs, but apparently he still hadn't thought of that. Considering that the Gentle Fist relied almost solely on the hands for attacks that wasn't surprising, but it was only a matter of time until the idea entered his mind. Despite all his faults he wasn't an incompetent fighter.

"Are you too inept to use our clan's style? I grant you are better than I expected to evade my attacks so far. This doesn't change anything. Fate has already chosen me as the victor, you pathetic failure." Neji announced, struggling against the smaller girl.

Hinata simply smiled. "You are a poor, deluded fool, Neji-san. There is no fate. The circumstances of our lives might be beyond our control, but there are always choices. I could kill you here, but questions might be asked I'm unwilling to answer and it would be unfair towards your teammates. Say goodnight, cousin. Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

Neji's eyes widened in the split-second that remained to him. Before he could react in any other way the seallessly performed water jutsu hit him with the force of a fire hose directly in the face. Even if he had understood in time Hinata's hold on his hands would have prevented him from dodging. The enormously strong jet of water swept him off his feet and propelled him through the air. His flight finally ended with a resounding collision with a tree, but the force of the water jet still held him in place. Several seconds later the technique petered out. A thoroughly soaked Neji fell to the ground and lay unmoving.

When Naruto looked back Hinata had fallen to her knees and was sweeping hands glowing with medical chakra over her throat. Her face was a grimace of pain. A few seconds later Ino was at her side. Naruto would have liked to come to her aid, too, but he knew better than giving an unsecured enemy unobserved time.

Naruto cautiously approached Neji, but the young Hyuuga was indeed unconscious. Considering where the water jutsu had initially hit he probably suffered from whiplash, too. Only after he had made sure that Neji wouldn't be waking up anytime soon he hurried to Hinata's side.

The girl's face was more relaxed now, but Ino was still performing some medical technique on her. Just when Naruto arrived she coughed up some drops of blood. Seeing them on her hand Hinata grimaced. "Please remind me to never again forcefully perform a technique without hand seals when I don't absolutely need to. That really hurt." Even her voice was still raw.

Hinata had taken to the water jutsu with relative ease, but even for her it was very difficult to advance to a level where she could perform them without the use of hand seals. She had spent almost all of the last three visits to the world at the edge of dreams with further mastering the Wild Water Wave technique and other water release related things, but it was still not enough. Conversely she had reached a level where she could brute force this specific technique. Naturally that had its downsides. When performed that way techniques had a tendency to hurt the user because they were not completely stable. On the other hand it was a good skill for an emergency.

Naruto chuckled lightly. "I'll be sure to remind you. How bad was it?"

Ino harrumphed. "Medium damage to the lungs and throat area. You're lucky you're such a good medic-nin. Really Hinata, you should have let us fight that idiot together. His fancy taijutsu would have been useless with all of us attacking from a distance."

Hinata shrugged. "It was worth it. I can take a little pain. It was immensely satisfying to see Neji's expression when he realized what was happening." Her voice was now back to normal and she stood up. "Now to the fun part. I think I will enjoy this."

Together they walked over to Neji. Hinata examined him carefully before she kicked him in the side. The snapping of ribs was clearly audible. Then she brutally broke his arm. Several times.

A smile graced Hinata's features when she finished inflicting injuries on Neji. "I really wish he could be awake for this. That should be enough to prevent him from participating in the next round, but two or three weeks in the hospital will be enough to fix him up. Hopefully he will be able to drag himself back to his team. Ino, your turn."

Ino nodded and knelt beside Neji, taking his head into her hands. They had to wait for almost a quarter-hour before the young Yamanaka completed her task.

"Okay, I modified his memories. He won't remember our encounter. Instead he will remember fighting off the team from Taki we found dead a short distance away. Neji will think he fell unconscious after the battle. They were overwhelmed by giant ants, but we can easily make it look like that happened after their battle with Neji when they fled and didn't look where they were going. The battle should be completely believable." Ino explained. "It's really a shame he won't remember your fight. Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. I can't risk letting my knowledge of water jutsu become known." Hinata answered.

The group carefully rearranged the battle site to match the story Ino had implanted. As soon as they were satisfied the three genin headed back to their friends.

Ino sighed. "You know, Hinata, Neji really hates you, but I think he hates himself even more. I didn't have much time to look around, but you were right about him. He did plan to humiliate and cripple you should you encounter him in battle."

The white-eyed girl only shrugged. "Sometimes it would be nice to be proven wrong. Did you find anything else of interest?"

"Not much. He's training in one of your clan's techniques called Kaiten, but he hasn't been able to make it work yet. He's close, though."

Hinata looked thoughtful. "He really is a genius to recreate that technique without help from a teacher. It's too bad he's such an asshole. We could use someone like him."

They continued their way in silence for a few minutes when Ino suddenly giggled. "You know, you just beat Neji by effectively spitting in his face."

Naruto and Hinata stopped dead in their tracks, looking disbelievingly at Ino. Slowly matching grins spread over their faces and they erupted in loud laughter. After a moment Ino joined in. They were still chuckling when they arrived back at the camp. A nice surprise awaited them there. During their absence Shino had returned.

The evening was filled with their recounting of their individual experiences.

"The Sannin Orochimaru is really here in the forest?" Asuka asked in a small voice. In contrast to her usual behavior she seemed intimidated by the prospect. She wasn't the only one.

Shino was his usual unflappable self. "That is correct. I cannot be sure, but evidence suggests Sasuke Uchiha was his target. Hopefully we will not draw his interest." He continued telling the group how he had spent some time with Team 7. His impression of Idate was positive, but he had left the team when the oddly helpful Kabuto arrived. Shino didn't want to spend any more time in the vicinity of the man than strictly necessary.

"Neji from Team Gai has been taken care of. He won't pose any difficulties for us." Hinata concluded her part of the recounting.

"Hey Hinata, what happened to your stutter?" Choji suddenly asked.

"Oh, I think I left it behind somewhere in the forest." the girl replied nonchalantly.

Naruto was glad to hear that Hinata had finally decided to do away with the stutter. She had faked it for years and Naruto wasn't sure if it served any purpose anymore. He supposed the chunin exams were a good pretense as any to stop using it.

"Tomorrow we move closer to the tower and try to stay hidden. We don't need any more scrolls. On the morning of the fifth day we approach the tower as a big group. There are no rules against teaming up and hopefully no one will be willing to take on nine people at once. Still, be careful. Some teams might lie in waiting by the tower. I don't want any last minute casualties." Naruto announced.

None of the other eight genin present (not counting the still sleeping Karin who had finally let go of Kiba as long as he didn't stay away for too long) had any objections.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> And this mostly concludes the Forest of Death. You didn't really think I would kill off Idate at this point and in this manner, did you? Next chapter will cover the preliminaries and possibly the first part of the one month training period. Thank you for all the reviews.

Karin always gave me the impression that she wasn't completely mentally sound. This is the explanation I came up with. Her initial reaction to canon-Sasuke was weaker (the boy was farther away), but it had the same end result.

She does have some Uzumaki blood in her veins, but she was never part of the clan. Maybe a grandparent or great-grandparent was either the child of a Whirlpool shinobi passing through or another Uzumaki settled down somewhere away from the clan. She doesn't know about the connection and neither does anyone else (with the possible exception of Orochimaru). The actual degree of kinship with Naruto is very distant; there are probably a lot of people alive who are a closer relation. In all likelihood I won't bring it up in the story.

Several people have remarked that they are uncomfortable with the Yakumo/Hinata/Naruto situation. That is by design. The involved persons aren't really comfortable either. It will be resolved after the chunin exams are over.

I'm thinking about updating the stat block I used for Naruto waaaayyy back in chapter 8/7. Personally I use written notes, but if there is enough interest I will add a new version for some of the genin at the end of the next chapter.

On another note, my list of stories I want to read grows longer and longer, but between writing and real life tasks I just don't find the time. I can't even seem to keep up with reading the fics in my favorite list. Sigh.

So long.


	29. Chapter 28: Preliminaries

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own Naruto. Far too expensive for me to buy the rights.

**Chapter 28: Preliminaries**

In the early hours of the fifth full day since the beginning of the second phase of the chunin exams Anko Mitarashi aimlessly wandered the empty halls of the tower at the center of the Forest of Death. Daylight was still hours away, but she just couldn't sleep any longer. A twinge in her curse seal had awoken her, but she wasn't completely sure if she had only dreamt it. Anyway, she hadn't been able to go back to sleep after that. She and the other jonin along with the Hokage had arrived yesterday evening. The proctors and other support personnel had been here for days already, readying the tower for the genin.

Speculation about which teams would make it was running rampant and the betting business was flourishing. How many genin died, in what order the teams arrived; there were bets on everything available. Naturally Anko had bet on her own team making it; doing otherwise would have been looked at askance. The maximum number of passing teams would be twelve thanks to the availability of the scrolls, but in all likelihood the number would be lower.

Two and a half years ago it had been her task to oversee this phase. The rules had been a bit different then, but not much. Only four teams had managed to succeed, making preliminaries unnecessary. This time would be different. There were a lot of strong teams participating.

'_Of course, should the strong teams happen to meet they could decimate each other in the forest. I just hope Hinata, Choji and Naruto make it out alive and intact.'_

There were no doubts about their skills in her mind, but it was just too damn early for them to participate in the exams. They had graduated not even half a year ago. It wasn't about their abilities, it was about experience. A seasoned team might be able to outmaneuver and ambush them.

The participants of a chunin exam generally fell into two categories: The elite teams that were specifically sent to make a good showing for their home village and the ragtag teams that consisted of people who were desperate for promotion. Since the competent were generally promoted in more conventional ways they generally didn't pose much of a threat. The enormous drop-out rate in the first phase was a testament to the average skill level of such teams.

'_Of course, there is the jinchuuriki from Suna to consider. I wonder why the Kazekage sent him to participate.'_

It was probably an attempt to secure a guaranteed victory in the exams. Suna and Konoha were nominally allies, but there was a lot of tension in the arrangement. The economic warfare Konoha conducted was only the last measure in an exchange of hostile acts. As far as she knew the Hokage planned to stop undercutting Suna's prices as soon as the Kazekage made some concessions, but her mentor Homura didn't believe it would happen anytime soon. After all accounts the Yondaime Kazekage was a very stubborn man who would stop at nothing to improve the standing of his village. Turning his own son into a jinchuuriki with nearly disastrous results was par for the course for the man.

Still, that background didn't change the fact that a very dangerous and psychotic young man was loose in the forest. Anko had never encountered a jinchuuriki in battle; the closest she had come was when Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra during their encounter with the Jashinists. It wasn't an experience she wanted to repeat. She had been away with her teacher Orochimaru when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, but now she understood the resentment and fear directed at Naruto better. The feeling of malevolence, rage, hate and bloodlust had scared even her and that had only been a fraction of the Kyuubi's power. She really didn't want to know what the Suna boy was capable of.

'_Well, at least Naruto should be able to counter him if push comes to shove. I do hope we can avoid escalating to such a level, though.'_

Anko continued her worried wanderings for a long time until she finally made her way into the canteen that had been set up in the tower. The room was surprisingly well-frequented for the early hour. It seemed that most jonin-sensei were either early risers or too worried about their charges to sleep peacefully.

A man with a Sound headband sitting in a corner looked up and gave her a somehow familiar feeling smirk before he continued reading a book in his lap.

Another jonin, this one from Hoshigakure, was writing a letter, absentmindedly taking bites of his food.

The single female jonin from Grass that had accompanied their two teams seemed aloof. No one had told her what happened to her charges; the bodies of the older Grass team had been placed in the forest. Admitting that a foreign team had been killed outside of the exam was not something Konoha could let become public knowledge.

Finally Anko spotted a familiar face among the Konoha jonin.

"Good morning. I see I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep." Kurenai greeted her when Anko headed to her table after securing a cup of hot coffee and a piece of fresh bread.

"Morning, Kurenai-chan. Yeah, I never appreciated what having a team of genin to look after can do to one's sleep."

A deep chuckle came from behind her. "Especially if you have to let them work on their own for the first time."

Turning her head, Anko saw Ibiki approaching their table. "And what do you know about that? You never taught a team." she asked curiously.

The large man took a seat before answering. "I did take two apprentices over the years, Anko. Then there are my younger brother and a few cousins I trained for years before I had to let them go their own way. I am head of the Morino clan, after all. As you can see I'm familiar with the feeling."

"Does it ever get better, Morino-san?" Kurenai inquired.

Ibiki took a sip of hot tea, mulling over the answer. "Not really. The anxiety is always there when students have to take their first steps without oversight. Although I admit, it can be worse when it happens earlier than expected."

Anko and Kurenai nodded. They weren't really happy about the participation of their teams. Normally elite teams from two to three years back would make the backbone of Konoha's participants, but all the old teams had already split up or were unavailable for a variety of reasons, mostly because members had already been promoted. The village leadership considered it too much of a risk to rely on Team Gai alone. Since the three teams from the graduation cycle after Team Gai didn't display any prominent skills the Hokage had decided to 'encourage' the sensei of the newest teams to nominate their pupils for the competition.

'_It isn't totally unreasonable, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.'_

"How are the preparations going? Last time we had to comb the forest for days to account for every missing team." Anko asked.

Ibiki gave her a somewhat tired smile. "Everything is finished. As soon as the sun goes down we'll sweep the forest for survivors and the bodies of the dead. It should be a nice exercise. Of course, I will only go along if there aren't enough genin left for preliminaries." He drank the rest of his tea and stood up again. "I'll try to get some shuteye before the evening's amusements. Until later, ladies."

After Ibiki retired Anko and Kurenai continued to make idle chitchat. Since there were foreign jonin present they had to keep to innocuous topics. The canteen was slowly filling until all jonin were present, but no one approached their table. Some of them would have to leave without their teams. Hopefully she would not be one of them.

"Sunrise. The first should be arriving soon." Kurenai remarked after a look out of one of the windows.

Anko simply leant back in her chair and waited. There was nothing to be done. Some of the proctors would greet the genin and sent for the right jonin. About half an hour passed until a proctor entered. Some jonin tried to keep a neutral façade, but Anko was certain that everyone watched the chunin intently.

The man was clearly aware of the stares and cleared his throat before speaking. "The first successful team has arrived. The genin are Gaara, Kankuro and Temari from Sunagakure. Baki-san, if you would please accompany me?"

Standing up, the Suna jonin with the half-veiled face allowed a victorious smirk to appear on his features before he followed the chunin out of the room.

'_Well, that wasn't completely unexpected. I'm just glad I didn't make any bets other than that my kids would be successful.'_

Ten minutes later another chunin entered the room. "Teams 8, 10 and 11 from Konohagakure have passed the test and just arrived in the tower. Additionally, Karin from Kusagakure has been brought in without her teammates, failing the test."

Anko shared a look with Kurenai who seemed relieved. Still, it was unusual for three teams to arrive simultaneously. Even stranger was for them to bring a kunoichi from a foreign team with them. Anko could feel the eyes of every jonin in the room when she, Kurenai and Asuma followed the chunin.

'_Second place; not bad. Perhaps they acted as a unified force from the beginning; unconventional, but clearly allowed. All of us jonin took a hands off approach, but I know the genin of our three teams met for at least two planning sessions.'_

Finally they arrived in the room where their teams awaited them. At first glance everything seemed to be all right. All of the genin were smiling proudly. Apart from the redhead leaning on Kiba everyone looked completely healthy.

"Hey Anko-sensei; we made it!" Naruto greeted her, the two other members of Team 11 behind him.

Anko could feel a smile of her own spreading across her face. "Congratulations, I'm proud of you. You made second place."

"We would have made first place, but we didn't want to risk crossing paths with the Suna team and delayed a bit." Hinata explained

The jonin nodded in agreement. "That was probably a wise decision. There's no need for a confrontation at the last minute. Now come along; we'll get you settled in your rooms."

"So, what happens now?" Choji asked curiously when they arrived at the rooms set aside for them. Teams roomed together and the three teams had rooms side by side.

Anko sat down on one of the beds. "That depends a lot on how many genin make here it until sunset, but I'm pretty sure there will be preliminaries held. I recommend getting as much rest as you can. Now tell me, did anything important happen?"

Naruto hesitated a moment. "Not so much to us, but Shino told us Team 7 has been attacked by Orochimaru. He marked Sasuke with a seal. From what he told us it looks the same as yours. You'll have to ask him if you want a first-hand account, sensei."

Anko was pretty sure her heart missed a beat. That was catastrophic news. Orochimaru clearly wanted the last Uchiha. She had to talk to the Hokage.

* * *

><p>Yakumo carefully closed the door behind Ino, making sure there was no one in the hallway to overhear their conversation. Hinata had already scanned the room and would keep watch, but it paid to be paranoid. In all likelihood some topics of their conversation would be of moderate sensitivity. It wasn't even noon and they still had some hours to kill. Girl talk was just the right thing to pass the time. Naturally, with them being kunoichi the topics could become quite strange, especially because only she, Hinata and Ino were present. Asuka had chosen to play a few rounds of poker with Shinji, Shino and Choji in the next room, leaving them alone. Naruto and Kiba were out exploring the tower and their sensei had gone off to a meeting.<p>

"So, what had the medics to say about Karin?" Yakumo asked after they got settled.

Ino sighed. "At first they didn't believe me, but fortunately one of them was a Yamanaka and remembered some old stories. They have provisionally accepted my diagnosis until we get her to a professional mind healer. I don't think Karin believed us initially, but she's slowly coming around."

"What about her jonin? If Kusa learns of her talents they might not let her go." Hinata wondered.

The blond Yamanaka let out a snort. "That wasn't a problem. The woman barely acknowledged Karin and didn't even accompany us all the way to the infirmary. The only thing she cared about was the other Grass team and one of Karin's ex-teammates. Apparently he was a spoiled little brat who absolutely wanted to participate in the exam. Well, his daddy dearest had enough money and influence to make that happen, but not enough to assemble a competent team. Karin was only unlucky that she was chosen to accompany him."

"Good, that means the plan to get Karin transferred to Konoha is on track. Have any other teams arrived yet?" Yakumo asked.

"I didn't see any, but it's possible that I missed the arrival."

They talked about different things until Hinata's fight with Neji became the topic of the conversation. Yakumo hadn't been an eye witness and was curious. Oh, she had gotten a short description from Naruto, but she wanted to hear more. Hinata was her first true female friend and they had spent much of their academy days together. She knew that Hinata had distanced herself emotionally from almost her entire clan over the years.

It was really saddening for Yakumo to see such a thing, especially because she still remembered the comfort her own clan had provided. By now the memories of her parents and other relatives had become somewhat indistinct, but what events she recalled were always happy. Oh, she was sure there had been quarrels and animosity between specific persons, but on the whole her family and clan had been a safe haven.

"Naruto said you were fighting your cousin to a standstill until you knocked him out. Did you really reach his level in taijutsu?" Yakumo finally asked after Ino and Hinata had filled her in on the events.

Hinata shook her head. "Naruto gives me too much credit. I still couldn't beat Neji in taijutsu; all I could do was stalling him for a time. Even that I only managed by not seriously attacking; Neji would have capitalized on any opening. If the fight had lasted much longer he definitely would have won."

"And if you had used ninjutsu from the beginning? I don't believe his Gentle Fist would help much against ranged attacks, especially ninjutsu." Ino probed.

The Hyuuga girl nodded. "There are some advanced skills that mitigate that, but you're right in principle. In isolation it's relatively easy to pick a taijutsu fighter apart from afar. Keeping enough distance is harder than it appears, though."

"Do you think Neji will ever give up his vendetta against you?" Yakumo asked.

Hinata let out a sigh. "I don't think it likely. There's so much bad blood between Neji and me that I can't see us reconcile anytime soon, if ever. I don't even remember the events when it all began, but he was branded with the caged bird seal when I turned three. His father was very angry about that; Neji was already showing the first signs of being a genius with the Gentle Fist. Apparently there were some ugly confrontations about that matter. Then there was the Kumo incident that cemented the rift."

Yakumo knew about that. In many circles the events were still considered a disgrace for Konoha. Even several years after the end of the third shinobi war Konoha had still been in a state of war with Kumo. There had been a ceasefire in place since the end of the open hostilities, but the village leadership had wanted a formal peace treaty. Kumo had sent their head ninja as ambassador, but it had only been a cover for an abduction attempt of a main house Hyuuga. Hinata had been the victim, but the Kumo nin had been killed before he could leave the village. Unfortunately Kumo had demanded the body of the perpetrator. Inconceivably Konoha had obliged the request and handed over the dead body of Hizashi Hyuuga, brother of the Hyuuga clan head and Neji's father. The peace treaty had been signed after that.

"One would think Neji would direct some of his hatred against Konoha's leadership who let that happen. Kumo was clearly the aggressor. It did set a very bad precedent." Yakumo mused.

Her pale-eyed friend only shrugged. "Perhaps the military situation at the time was so bad they had no other choice. Mind you, that's not the only reason for Neji to hate me specifically. He hates the entire main house, but I made a safe target that didn't fight back or that anyone had an interest in defending. You know how I was when we met."

That Yakumo did. Hinata had suffered from almost crippling shyness and extremely low self-esteem, was kind to a fault and didn't want to hurt anyone. In conjunction with her difficulties with the Gentle Fist style it had caused her to be seen as a complete failure by the Hyuuga clan. Most clan members had only barely hidden their contempt and some, like Neji, had harassed her almost openly. There had been political power struggles between the different families (Main house as well as branch house) involved, making the situation worse. Over time Hinata's personality had moderated and she no longer tried to reach out to people who hurt her. Neither did Hinata really care what her clan thought about her, as long as it didn't invite punishments. Amusingly her standing in the clan had improved after she became colder and no longer cared. Unfortunately Neji had continued his subtle (and occasionally not so subtle) harassment and tried to undermine Hinata's position. At some point Hinata had begun hating Neji for that.

"Sometimes I think part of his problem is envy. He thinks he would make a far better clan heir to the Hyuuga. If his father would have been born only a few minutes earlier he would have been clan heir and my branch of the family would have ended up in the branch house." Hinata continued. "A few years ago he was even right; he would have made a better clan heir. Still would, if you only consider prowess in the Gentle Fist. I have changed since then but Neji continues to act as if I still was that timid little girl. Apparently he believes I only mask my true nature. That's true, but I'm not hiding what he thinks I do. The speech he gave before our fight would have been a fine piece of psychological warfare if I still cared."

"Well, you have to admit you not caring about the Gentle Fist is extremely unusual. It would be almost like an Inuzaka not caring about his dog or an Aburame not caring about his kikaichu." Yakumo replied.

Hinata shrugged. "There are more important things. Neji believes the fate of people is determined at their birth. In my case it causes him to see what he wants to see. He has become more vicious in the last time, though."

"As I said a few days ago I didn't have the time to sift through Neji's memories, but I picked up a few things." Ino chimed in. "You're proving his conviction that people can't change wrong. I don't think he can accept that and it stokes his anger. Some part of him knows that his philosophy is wrong and it makes him hate you and himself. Why else would he try to secretly learn main house techniques?"

"You're probably right." Hinata stood up. "Enough of that talk. We still have some hours to kill. Let's see if we can find something to eat."

* * *

><p>Karin didn't know what to think. Her entire world had been shaken in the last few days. Her team had been killed (not that she would shed any tears for that pampered asshole Shinsuke who thought he was entitled to everything), she had been rescued at the last minute and apparently she was now suffering from a permanent condition that required her to stay close to her rescuer.<p>

At first she hadn't believed the blond girl about a condition known as 'sensor imprinting'. She had never heard of such a thing and thought they were making fun of her or playing mind games. Now, several days later, things were different. During the entire time in the forest after she woke up she had felt an attraction to the Inuzaka boy. Heck, when she woke up today and yesterday she had found herself cuddled up to him despite going to sleep at the other end of the camp. It was so embarrassing and definitely not normal. She had been weak from her chakra exhaustion and didn't talk that much with the boy, but he appeared to be generally okay.

Even now part of her wanted to seek Kiba out, but she could keep it in check. She really hoped she wouldn't start sleepwalking in the tower. All in all, she did accept that something was wrong with her.

In light of Airi-sensei's behavior she had no qualms about going along with the plan to keep her in Konoha. The woman only asked about Shinsuke. After she reported his death Karin might well have not existed for all the jonin cared. It was typical for her treatment in Grass and it wasn't like she was defecting.

'_Cannon fodder and dead weight. That is all I am to Kusa.'_

In her more honest moments Karin admitted to herself that her shinobi skills were rather lackluster. She had kept her growing sensor abilities secret, but no one had ever gone to the trouble of finding out if she was good at something. No, Karin didn't have any deep loyalty for Kusakagure. Of course, there was still Orochimaru.

'_Screw him. He did take me in for a while and got me into Grass, but that was all he ever did. I can't wait forever for him to find a use for me. It's better to take my fate into my own hands.'_

Having reached the decision Karin relaxed on her bed in the infirmary. The aftereffects of her chakra exhaustion still plagued her and her formerly broken ankle was still tender. Now she had to just pass the time until the test was over. Karin didn't dare to spread her mind's eye too wide; one case of chakra exhaustion was enough for her, thank you very much. Without deliberately spending chakra her awareness only covered the infirmary and parts of the neighboring rooms, but they were empty apart from a few medics.

She already missed the sensation of Kiba's chakra. It made her feel so comfortable and warm, like a low-burning fire that gave off constant, stable heat.

Karin felt a shiver run down her spine when she remembered the feel of the others in the group. At first Kiba had filled her perception completely, but as she recovered her mind's eye had returned to more or less normal behavior.

Naruto. She had never felt that much chakra before. It reminded her of a gigantic storm, complete with wind, clouds and lightning. Somewhere deep inside him she had felt trickles of a strange, inhuman chakra that spoke of malevolent rage and hate. The overall image was dazzling, but the feel and memory of Kiba's chakra prevented her from losing herself in it.

Hinata. Cool and soothing water, but it was like an enormous lake covering an unfathomable depth. Who knew what lurked under the surface?

Choji. A bright column of flame standing tall and proud; a shining beacon of hope.

Yakumo. An impenetrable web made of crystal, glass and mirrors reflecting some hidden fire.

Ino. An elaborate earthen castle covered over and over in mysterious symbols and writing in untold tongues. Parts of it had changed to intricately carved stone.

Shinji. A subdued fire. Despite its small size it appeared unquenchable and capable of great tasks if properly stoked.

Asuka. A small, wild stream that could unexpectedly burst its banks but lacked the strength to make lasting changes.

Shino. Regular geometric patterns formed something like a giant hive, lightning dancing over every surface.

It was the most impressive collection of chakra signatures Karin had ever sensed from people her age. They weren't unpleasant to be around; in fact she rather liked them. Especially the Inuzaka boy felt so nice that she couldn't wait to get close to him and… Karin's train of thought stopped when she realized that she was once again thinking about Kiba.

'_I might have a real problem there.'_

* * *

><p>"First off, for the second test: Congratulations on passing."<p>

Naruto stood at attention, his eyes focused on the Hokage. The sun had gone down half an hour ago and all passing teams had assembled in the main hall of the tower, a battle arena. It was lit by a clever arrangement of mirrors and invisible lightsources, making it as bright as day. The number of passing teams had been surprising: the Sand Team had finished first; Team 8, 10 and 11 had arrived together and shared the second place. Third to arrive had been the team from Hoshigakure, even if one of the two boys on the team looked as if he would topple over any minute. That had been a surprise; Hoshi was a minor village that usually didn't send genin to chunin exams. The fourth place belonged to the team from Otogakure. The fifth place was occupied by Team Gai. Neji had his arm in a sling and obvious trouble with breathing. Kabuto's team and Team 7 had once again arrived together at the last minute; the latter looked somewhat beaten up.

All in all nine teams had passed the second stage of the chunin exams, bringing the number of contestants to twenty seven. From what Naruto had heard this was an unprecedented number. Considering the odds of each team finding the needed scroll it was almost a miracle. The jonin-sensei of the passing teams along with a few other members of the Leaf were arrayed behind the Hokage. The examiners of the first two phases Ibiki and Aoba were also present. Naruto's sensitive hearing caught a small conversation between Gai and Kakashi.

"Your team isn't too bad. Maybe they were lucky. But as long as my team is around, getting any farther is impossible since from now it's all about real ability. Well, with youth there are sweet times and there are sour times, eh Kakashi…?" Gai said, obviously trying to get a reaction out of the masked jonin.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

Naruto had to bite back a snicker at the face Gai made. He didn't have an especially high opinion of the two jonin, but their antics were funny. Just then the Hokage began a speech about the true purpose of the chunin exams, but Naruto only feigned attention. He knew everything the old man would say already.

'_Replacement for war, huh? That's only wishful thinking. The three great villages we are most likely to come in open conflict with didn't even sent teams. The bit about prestige is true to a degree, but most minor villages don't have the manpower to take over a meaningful portion of the missions normally assigned to Konoha anyway.'_

Of course, the final round would be a tourist attraction and generate a meaningful amount of money as well as word of mouth. It was still an open debate in shinobi circles if all the effort involved in the chunin exams was really worth it. After all, they didn't exist that long. The Hokage had invested considerable effort to establish them after the third shinobi war. The first of the exams had been held two years after the Kyuubi attack. This exam was the fifth held in Konoha and twenty third overall. Arguments for and against were still exchanged without coming to a definite conclusion.

On the one hand you could get a look at the skills of other villages, but on the other hand the emissaries from those villages also got a close look at your skills. Additionally the presence of so many foreign shinobi always caused a considerable strain of the hosting village's manpower just to keep an eye on the jonin (who were most likely to slip away unnoticed and conduct some spying or other shady business). Since only genin could participate the danger of crippling or killing the future elite of a village was always present. Personally Naruto considered the gain of the exams not worth the effort, but it was a matter of opinion.

Finally the Hokage was finished with his speech and a sick-looking special jonin who introduced himself as Hayate Gekko took over the stage. "Before we can progress to the third phase of the chunin exams I have to announce something. There is a preliminary for the third test to decide who gets to participate in the main event."

To the disbelieving shouts of some of the assembled genin the man explained that there were too many participants left and they had to reduce the numbers. "So anyway, those who are not feeling well and want to quit. Please come forward now since we will be starting the preliminaries immediately."

Kabuto was the first to raise his hand. "Umm… I'm going to quit."

"You're Kabuto Yakushi from the Leaf, right?" Hayate made a note in some documents. "You may leave now. Does anyone else want to retire? Oh, I forgot to mention that from now it will be individual battles. You may raise your hand based on your own judgment."

Naruto could hear that Kabuto's withdrawal sparked some discussion among the Hokage and Aoba.

'_Finally someone becomes suspicious.'_

In the next moment the swaying genin from Hoshi raised his hand. "I give up, too. Sorry guys, but I'll never last through a fight."

Hayate made another note. "Mizura from the Star, you may withdraw now. Anyone else?"

The blond boy was a bit surprised to see Idate raise his hand next. "I'm withdrawing. If it is allowed I would like to watch the battles, though."

The examiner exchanged a quick look with the Hokage who nodded. "The request is granted, Idate Morino from the Leaf."

For a moment it looked like Sakura wanted to address Idate, but in the end she didn't go through with it. When Naruto turned his head he saw that the young woman from Suna was looking at Idate with a questioning expression before she shrugged. Kabuto left the room, followed by the genin from Hoshi who seemed to have trouble to stay upright. Suddenly an almost inaudible grunt of pain from Sasuke drew Nartuo's attention. The boy was gripping his neck and didn't seem all that healthy.

"Now, there are no more retiring, right?" Hayate asked.

"Sasuke-kun, you should also quit this prelim." Sakura quietly whispered to Sasuke, but not quietly enough to escape Naruto's hearing. "You have been strange since this Orochimaru guy attacked you. That mark still hurts, right? If you continue… Please quit. I'm afraid. You're in no condition to fight."

"Shut up." Sasuke grunted.

"I can see it! You have been hiding the pain all the time!"

"Be quiet."

"Whatever you say, I'm going to tell sensei about that mark. Then…"

'_What the heck is wrong here? They didn't tell Kakashi? No, that can't be right. We told Anko and Shino gave a detailed report. I don't think Idate would keep that a secret, either.' _Naruto thought. He looked towards his sensei and nodded in the direction of the two arguing genin. Anko's expression tightened slightly and she inclined her head in the Hokage's and Kakashi's direction. _'Okay, apparently the Old Man and Kakashi are insane enough to let Sasuke make his own decision about fighting. Well, it's not my problem.'_

Sakura was almost reduced to tears, but Sasuke insisted on fighting because he wanted an answer to the question 'Am I strong?' and there were lots of strong people in the exams. In the end she gave in.

The gnashing of teeth caused Naruto to look towards Neji who was reluctantly raising his good hand, trembling with anger. His breathing was clearly very pained and hampered by his broken ribs.

"Neji Hyuuga from the Leaf, you are hereby withdrawn from the exam. You may leave to the infirmary."

Gai's expression remained unreadable, but Lee looked like someone had killed his puppy. Tenten sent the young Hyuuga a compassionate look, but Neji was already limping out of the room. For a moment Naruto felt slightly bad about what they had done, but the risk had simply been too great. He wouldn't let any unnecessary harm come to Hinata when he saw a way to head it off.

"Anyone else?" Hayate asked. This time no one raised his hand. "Very good. Now, let's begin the preliminary. This preliminary will consist of one on one fights. You will basically fight as if in a real life confrontation. Since we have 23 entrants we will conduct eleven matches. The winners will advance to the third phase. The single remaining genin will receive a free pass."

He continued to explain the rules. Basically, none existed. They would fight until one participant was either dead, incapacitated or gave up. Hayate would randomly draw the matches.

"First match: Sasuke Uchiha against Yoroi Akado. Will everyone except the two participants move to the upper level?"

When Naruto made his way to the stairs he overheard Kakashi warning Sasuke against using his sharingan and that he would interrupt the match if the curse seal acted up. Sasuke seemed surprised that Kakashi knew about the seal and was appalled at the thought of his match being interrupted.

'_What heartwarming display of care for a student's wellbeing - not. By then it might be far too late; that seal isn't a joking matter. Are the Hokage and Kakashi having a contest of callous disregard for Sasuke's health? Not that Sasuke isn't an idiot for fighting with such a handicap. We're here only for a chance of promotion; no sense in risking our health, life or future career unnecessarily. '_

At first the fight went as expected, meaning Yoroi kicked Sasuke's ass.

"That Yoroi doesn't take this really seriously." Naruto remarked.

Choji nodded in agreement. "No, he doesn't. He's too keen on showing off his ability to absorb chakra and playing around. He could have ended it several times already." Down in the arena Yoroi grabbed Sasuke's head. "He has a hand free. What he should do is getting some punches in or, heck, sticking a kunai in Sasuke's belly."

Just then Sasuke kicked the man away. After a moment to catch his breath Yoroi started an attack run, ostensibly to end the fight.

"He's leaving himself wide open." Hinata said. "I almost wonder if this is deliberate."

A moment before Yoroi's hand connected with Sasuke the Uchiha boy kicked him in the chin, launching the older genin into the air before jumping behind him.

"That's the attack Lee used on Sasuke before the first test." Hinata reported.

Naruto only shrugged. It was to be expected that a sharingan wielder copied all sorts of things, even from allies and without permission. When Sasuke was about to capitalize on the opening something happened that Naruto had expected for a while. For a moment the curse seal visibly expanded over Sasuke's body before it receded again. Recovered, Sasuke drove Yoroi into the ground with a series of kicks. Both Sasuke and Yoroi ended up lying on the ground, but only Sasuke managed to stand up again before sitting down.

"I'm stopping the fight here. Thus, the winner of the match Sasuke Uchiha has passed the prelims!" Hayate announced.

Kakashi appeared at Sasuke's side, but the boy simply remained sitting on the ground. Naruto frowned. There was something about the way Sasuke held himself...

"That could have backfired. The boy was lucky Yoroi didn't get up or it would have been over." Anko remarked.

"What do you mean, sensei?" Choji asked.

Their sensei shook her head. "The first part of that move is one of Gai's. It requires very specific physical conditioning. Sasuke's muscles can't keep up; they are cramping. I don't think he can stand up now."

During their talk Yoroi had been taken away by the medics and Sasuke by Kakashi despite the protests of the boy.

"Second match: Kin Tsuchi against Shino Aburame."

* * *

><p>Kin gulped while descending the stairs. This was it. Only a few more minutes and she would be safe… if Shino had spoken the truth and everything went according to plan. A quick look back showed her that Orochimaru had departed. Apparently no one had seen through his disguise as jonin of the Sound Team.<p>

'_Good, that simplifies thing. If he isn't here he won't be able to notice anything. It seems for once luck is with me.'_

A few seconds later she stood in the arena, facing the expressionless Aburame boy. She had to make this look believable, meaning she had to fight seriously. Pasting a confident smirk on her face she decided to begin with the taunting immediately. "You Konoha shinobi are all weak. I'll end this quickly."

Shino didn't respond.

"Begin!" came the shout of the referee.

Kin opened the fight by quickly launching several senbon with attached bells and diving out of the way of a possible counter attack. Shino took evasive action, but his body split into several copies that proceeded to surround her. There were at last two dozen of them, too many to keep them all in her field of vision.

"I won't fall for such a beginner's trick! Don't you have anything better?"

Basic clones were rarely used since they were normally easily identifiable. They made no sound and had no effect on their surroundings. In that moment Kin noticed that some of the clones did cast shadows.

'_Are these solid clones, a separate illusion or a genjutsu?'_

Concentrating on her sense of hearing, she tried to find the real Shino. It was surprisingly difficult because a very low buzzing sound filled the arena. Kin noticed a single bug landing on her, but she pretended to not see it or feel the almost imperceptible drain on her chakra it caused. It was a believable way of losing. She wasn't here to win, after all.

Launching more senbon she noticed to her dismay that all of them penetrated their targets without doing any visible damage. That meant they weren't solid clones. "Show yourself, you coward."

'_Two can play that game. I just use my bells to create mirror images of myself.'_

Some of Shino's clones moved to attack her, but she dodged while throwing more senbon with attached bells at different spots of the arena. Shino had moved out of the initial range of her genjutsu bells, but she could blanket the area with enough bells. That should hamper Shino's movements, maybe even paralyze him.

Kin frowned when nothing happened. The clones were still moving, but enough were standing still so that she couldn't find the original. She was about to throw more senbon at the stationary targets when the first clone reached her.

It was with considerable surprise that she felt a right hook connecting with her face. She barely managed to evade the follow-up attack, but more clones were still coming at her. Using her senbon as improvised slashing weapons she retaliated.

She felt resistance when her strike hit, but far less than normal for human flesh. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed a few small, black bugs trailing in the wake of her weapons.

'_These clones are made of bugs, but there is a slightly larger bunshin or another illusion used as an overlay. If I hit them they partially dissolve into bugs, but they reform almost immediately. Thanks to the overlay I haven't been able to see that earlier.'_

More clones came at her, preventing her from tolling her bells via the chakra strings she normally used. Her hands were too busy with fighting off the clones. Instead she began hurling insults at Shino, following the plan to provoke him. She mocked whatever she could think of, from his family to his skills as a shinobi to his sexual prowess. Suddenly she heard another clone approaching from behind. Strands of her long, animated hair wound around it, but before she could throw him away the clone dissolved into bugs. Bugs that were now crawling all over her.

Shino spoke for the first time since the battle started. "These guys are called kikaichu. They attack their prey in groups and consume its chakra. If I attack you with this many you will never fight again. If you don't want that give up. That is recommended."

"Never! I'd rather die than give up!" Kin shouted while frantically (and ineffectively) trying to rid herself of the bugs. She already felt herself getting weaker. A second later the nearest two clones dissolved into clouds of bugs that descended on her.

"If that is your wish than I will oblige. Now you will pay the price for insulting my clan."

Even more bugs swarmed all over her. They were in her hair, her eyes, her nostrils and her mouth, crawling inside her clothes. Her cry was choked off by all the insects in her throat. She no longer had the strength to keep standing and fell to the ground. All her chakra was gone. The last thing Kin saw was Shino's impassive form staring down at her.

* * *

><p>"Winner: Shino Aburame." Hayate announced.<p>

Several medics rushed to the prone form of the girl. Streams of kikaichu were leaving the still body and returning to Shino. The boy impassively watched as the medics hurriedly put the body on a stretcher and left the arena.

"That was unusually cruel for Shino." Choji remarked.

Naruto had to agree. On the other hand, it was certainly a convincing display. Shino had informed them about his clan's plans regarding Kin. At the moment the girl from Oto seemed as dead as a doornail. Naruto didn't know the details, but apparently they would switch the body with a decoy and revive her.

Looking around, Naruto tried to gauge the reaction of the spectators. Naturally the jonin kept their expressions firmly in check, but the genin were easier to read. The team from Hoshi seemed a bit disturbed, but most of the Konoha teams took it in stride. All three of the Suna genin gave Shino approving looks. Kin's two teammates goggled at the display before they sneered and resumed their previous expression.

Hayate's voice cut his observation short. "Third match: Naruto Uzumaki against Kankuro."

"Good luck, Naruto." Hinata and Choji said almost simultaneously before looking at each other and laughing.

Anko patted him on the shoulder. "Give him hell, kid."

During his way down Naruto reviewed all he knew about his opponent while inconspicuously concealing a throwing knife in his hand. Kankuro was a puppeteer and around two years older than him. That meant Naruto couldn't be sure if he would be fighting against the original initially. Hinata would surely have said something if Kankuro had already performed the switch before he headed down, but he could switch at any moment. The artificial bodies of puppets could contain all sorts of gadgets. Kankuro possibly had additional skills. Beginner puppeteers were often rather weak in direct combat and made prime targets if you could get past the puppet, but Kankuro had been in the business long enough to pick up more skills if he cared to.

Coming face to face with his opponent Naruto strained his enhanced senses to learn more. His nose could tell no difference, but he had more success with his sense of hearing. Both the young man before him and the object on his back had a heartbeat and seemed to breathe. On further examination the heartbeat of what looked like Kankuro was far too regular to be human. It had an almost mechanic quality to it. The same was true for the breathing.

Naruto had to suppress a smirk. A valuable piece of information gained before the fight even started. When both contestants faced each other and waited for the fight to start Kankuro set his bundle to the side.

"Begin!" Hayate shouted.

The blond boy immediately launched the knife against the bundle and jumped back, putting more distance between them. With a wooden thud his knife impacted in the outstretched hand of his opponent that he had used to intercept the knife before it could reach the bundle. A hard substance was flaking off, turning to sand. A wooden puppet hand became visible.

A moment later the bundle unraveled, revealing the real Kankuro. "That was unexpected. How did you know it wasn't me?"

Naruto smirked. "Tricks of the trade."

"Heh. No sense in keeping up the charade then." The rest of the puppet's disguise dissolved into sand a second later. It was a strange sight. Most of the puppet was hidden beneath a shabby brown cloak with several slits. Two arms and four legs were visible, but the strangest thing was the head. From Naruto's position it was clear it had more than one face; probably one on each side. The face facing Naruto directly seemed to be smiling.

He had no further time for observation. From the puppet's mouth emerged a barrage of needles. Naruto barely managed to dodge. In return he threw four knives at Kankuro, but the puppet managed to intercept all of them.

"That won't work." the Suna genin said with a smirk.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and made hand seals. "How about this instead? Fire Release: Small Fireball"

The small fireball was a very common jutsu in Konoha; even most people who didn't have a fire affinity or weren't ninjutsu specialists learned it at one point or another. It wouldn't give away much of his skills.

He half expected the puppet and Kankuro to dodge. Instead the head of the puppet rotated until a face with stylized tears was facing him. In the next moment it spouted a high-pressure jet of water that cut directly through his fireball, missed Naruto by centimeters and dug a small trench through the arena floor.

'_Okay, that one is dangerous.'_

The jet continued to follow the dodging Naruto, but he managed to evade it until it suddenly petered out. Reverting its head back to the smiling face it started once again to launch needles at him, only this time it raised its arms and began firing needles from there too. Dodging three different streams of needles was far more difficult.

More than once a needle grazed him. Each time he briefly felt an increasingly numb sensation, but fortunately the poison seemed to be no match for his regeneration ability; at least as long as he could avoid getting hit with too many needles.

'_Crap. I don't know if my Thunder Disc is powerful enough to cut through the water. I could try to outlast his supply of weapons and water. On the other hand I don't want to give my best ninjutsu skills away if I can avoid it. It's time for a change of tactics. If that doesn't work I'll have to reveal more or give up.' _

'Bunshin'

Naruto created five immaterial clones, all running in different directions. It was difficult to hold that many different tasks, but for a short time he could manage it. The maneuver would give him only a few seconds at best anyway. He ran directly at the puppet, hoping that Kankuro wouldn't think him insane enough to try that. He still was ready to doge at the slightest indication.

The Suna genin apparently held his sanity in higher regard and split his fire between the clone trying to circumvent the puppet to get at him directly, the one trying to get the most distance and a third who followed Naruto's original course. To do that it had to turn its head and arms away from the real one. Making more hand seals the real Naruto slammed his hands on the ground directly before the puppet.

'Earth Release: Slippery Mud Field'

A split second later a narrow section of the floor reaching from the puppet to Kankuro turned into slippery mud. Naruto turned his forward momentum into a somersault, hitting the puppet with his legs and propelling it backwards. Kankuro's eyes widened when he realized what happened. A moment later two things occurred simultaneously: An additional arm with a wrist knife emerged from under the cloak, ripping through Naruto's leather clothing and giving him a shallow gash on his abdomen before he could get out of the way. The second thing was that Kankuro lost his footing on the mud and had to fight to keep upright, flailing with his arms.

Jumping off the puppet Naruto landed on his feet and immediately started to run towards Kankuro, forcefully ignoring his wound for the moment despite the unusually intense pain. Not stopping his run he took one of his knives in his hand. Meanwhile the puppet collided with the reeling Kankuro. Both went down in a tangle of limbs.

When Naruto arrived they were already rising again, but he managed to dive under another slash of the puppet and bury his fist in Kankuro's stomach. A hand feeling like stone bruised Naruto's other arm, knocking the knife out of his hand. In response he head butted Kankuro, causing him to stagger back. He didn't give his opponent any time to recover and pressed the attack.

Kankuro gave as good as he got. His right hand had turned into stone and Naruto was forced to take some painful hits though he managed to deflect most strikes. His opponent had a bit more raw physical strength than Naruto, but his agility was decidedly weaker. Some part of Naruto classified the taijutsu skill level about the same as Haku's, high genin, borderline chunin. Apparently it wasn't really Kankuro's strong suit.

Finally an especially vicious uppercut dazed Kankuro long enough for Naruto to retrieve another knife and get into his back. He took care to keep Kankuro between him and his puppet. There was no sense in taking chances.

Naruto pressed the knife to Kankuro's throat with a force just short of drawing blood. "I can kill you with the slightest movement. Give up now."

Kankuro went very still. "I surrender."

"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

><p>Temari watched with an impassive expression as the medics patched up the Uzumaki boy. Inwardly she was very surprised that her brother had lost, especially because he had dominated the first part of the fight.<p>

'_One mistake and the entire battle shifted.'_

The Konoha genin had been unexpectedly skillful, just like the Aburame boy before him. She wasn't sure about the Uchiha; he had clearly been suffering from some injury and his enemy had been rather lackluster. Apparently the Konoha jonin knew what they were doing when they entered their rookie teams in the exams. It should have been obvious from the fact that all four rookie teams made it past the second phase.

A minute later Kankuro rejoined them with his rewrapped puppet on his back. Bruises were slowly becoming visible on his face and he was massaging his stomach.

"You lost." Gaara said in a flat voice before he turned back to the arena.

Kankuro winced. "Sorry, I made a mistake. I just don't understand it. The needles were coated in an extract made of the yellow desert orchid. I'm sure at least a few needles hit him. It should have made his movements noticeably sluggish. That isn't even mentioning the wound from Four-face's wrist knife. He should be writhing on the floor in pain, not beating me up."

They all turned to watch the blond boy. The medics were still fussing over him, but after bandaging his wound Naruto returned to his team on the gallery. He didn't look the worse for the wear when he received the congratulations of his friends.

"That is strange. I wonder if…"

The announcement of the next match interrupted their conversation. "Fourth match: Shinji Ikari against Asuka Soryu."

Temari scrutinized the two contestants. The first things she noticed were the gloves the boy was wearing and the way he moved his hands. Then the girl unsealed a naginata from a scroll. It was an unusual weapon for a shinobi, but at first glance the girl seemed to know what she was doing.

Then the fight started. The boy apparently used gloves with attached wire, but the red-headed girl used her Nagitana to catch them. Soon both the wires and the weapon were immobilized, prompting the fighters to discard them and switch to more general shinobi tools. Temari didn't find the fight very interesting. Both combatants displayed above average skills fitting for a genin, but nothing truly noteworthy. Oh, it was more than she was expecting from shinobi who had been genin for less than half a year. That didn't mean it was enough for the chunin exams.

'_Either they were very lucky or their teammates pulled them through.'_

Since nothing especially interesting was happening she restarted their conversation while the attention of the other occupants of the room was on the battle. The distance to the other groups was large enough that they couldn't be easily overheard and she used one of her small fans to cover her mouth to prevent her lips from being read.

"As I was saying, I wonder if the boy has some sort of minor bloodline. Natural poison resistance seems likely. He doesn't look like a medic-nin and even those have trouble neutralizing poisons on the fly."

Kankuro looked thoughtful. "Maybe. I don't think he went to the trouble of acquiring a resistance the normal way. The poisons I use are not that common and I doubt anyone would choose them to build a resistance against."

Baki-sensei cleared his throat, hiding his mouth behind a hand. "He might have increased vitality like the Uzumaki of old. We have no definite intelligence about his parents, but the last known Uzumaki woman in Konoha died around the right time to give birth to him before perishing. Additionally he is potentially the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Either that or he is a decoy to draw attention away from the real one."

Temari had real trouble not to shout. Their sensei had known about that and didn't see fit to inform them. Kankuro turned as white as a sheet when he heard that. If that was true the boy could probably have ripped him apart in exotic and highly unpleasant ways without even trying.

"Interesting" was Gaara's comment.

"And you didn't see fit to inform us why?" Temari furiously whispered to Baki.

"Because we have no definite confirmation and you might have hesitated in the battle against him. The Kazekage hoped to get a definite answer about the truth of the matter. The Hokage announced that the boy was a jinchuuriki shortly after the Kyuubi attack before he issued a law that forbid talking about the matter. The boy's treatment by the villagers supports the story, but there are also signs to the contrary. According to all our reports he never received special training as Konoha's weapon or showed the slightest indication of being capable of using the Kyuubi's power. The records show him failing advancement in the academy twice, but his grades got noticeably better later." the jonin explained in a low voice.

After a short pause used to making sure that no one was paying them any attention he continued his explanation. "We haven't been able to access any detailed records of his time as a genin. His sensei is the ex-apprentice of the famous Sannin Orochimaru, has a close association with the Konoha elder Homura Mitokado and reported a rapid improvement in his skills. His team fulfilled ten D-rank, five C-rank and one B-rank mission. Additionally his team aided in an A-rank mission together with the team of Kakashi Hatake. Rumor has it they killed the Swordsman of the Mist Zabuza Momoichi along with his group of missing nin and an army of thugs in Wave Country to the east. Uzumaki is either one of the future elite of Konoha, a jinchuuriki or both."

Temari sighed. So their father had used them to gain certainty if the Uzumaki boy was truly a jinchuuriki. Such a thing was critical information, but Temari really didn't appreciate how the man she had to force herself to think of as father was going about the matter. Even worse, they still didn't have any definite answer if he was a jinchuuriki or only a decoy while the real one was kept in hiding. At least the battle against Kankuro showed that he was indeed highly skilled.

When she returned her full attention to the battle in the arena she saw that there was still no victor. The girl had been singed by several rather low-level fire jutsu while the boy was completely drenched by the girl's use of water jutsu. They had thoroughly beaten each other up and were panting heavily, both bleeding from several light wounds.

"I won't lose to the likes of you. One day I'll be the best!" the girl shouted.

"Sorry. I can't let you win. I promised Kurenai-sensei I that I'll always give my best." the boy answered in a sheepish voice, but Temari heard the steel underneath.

The two simultaneously ran at each, wound up for a strike… and knocked each other out. Temari had to look twice to get confirmation. Yes, the two genin were lying unconscious on the floor.

"The fight ends in a draw. Both participants are knocked out." the referee announced. He seemed somewhat bewildered at the outcome. Whispers broke out among all the spectators. Especially noticeable was the green-clad jonin she identified as Maito Gai from her briefing who shouted something about the flames of youth.

'_Such draws are very rare, but it happens. I have to say both made a good effort. It was bad luck that they were so evenly matched.'_

After the jonin had made sure that their respective pupils were alright the medics removed them to the infirmary.

"Fifth match: Tenten against Zaku Abumi."

The boy from the Sound village carried both of his arms in a sling, but the Leaf kunoichi looked fresh.

"Begin!"

Tenten opened the battle by jumping into air and throwing several shuriken at her opponent. Just before they hit there was a boom accompanied by a cloud of smoke. When it cleared Zaku had one arm pointed at the girl, the shuriken harmlessly imbedded in the ground around him.

"One arm is enough against the likes of you." Zaku boasted.

'_Ah, so it was a trick. He is able to use at least one arm. I wonder how he managed that blast without hand seals or a tool.'_

Not to be deterred, the girl started running around her opponent, throwing kunai at him. Each one was deflected by a blast of air. Then Tenten retrieved a scroll from a pocket and jumped into the air again, unfurling the scroll in the process.

"That's quite a good sealing scroll." Kankuro commented while Tenten unsealed weapon after weapon and launched them in a steady stream at her enemy. Unfortunately Zaku continued sending out airwaves, deflecting every projectile into the ground around him.

"No way, he stopped everything I threw." Tenten shouted as soon as she landed.

Zaku laughed. "You Leaf kunoichi are pathetic. I don't need two arms to defeat you, one is more than enough."

Tenten's expression became more determined and she readied another two scrolls, placing them on the ground to her sides.

"It won't work; whatever it is." Zaku taunted.

Temari shook her head in disgust. The idiot didn't take the girl seriously. He could have attacked her directly with his air blasts at any time, but he chose to play around. Humiliating an opponent had its place, but this was not the right time for it. While it was always pleasant to cruelly crush enemies she would reserve such behavior for the finals when it would have the most effect on the many spectators.

Meanwhile Tenten had completed a string of hand seals. "Rising Twin Dragons!"

Temari sighed in disappointment when she saw what Tenten was doing. It was only a bigger version of her earlier attack, meaning she jumped into the air surrounded by her unfurled scrolls and launched an avalanche of weapons at Zaku.

"DON'T MESS WITH ME! It doesn't matter how many weapons you throw at me. It's all the same. You should always have a trump card, right?" the Oto shinobi shouted before he freed his other arm and began blasting the weapons coming at him away with both hands.

'_I would have expected something different. If one avenue of attack doesn't work it's unlikely that it will be successful a second time. Overwhelming him was at least a workable idea, though. I really wonder how he can create that many blasts in such a quick succession.'_

Then she noticed a reflection in the air.

'_Oh, the girl has thin wires attached to the weapons. That promises to get interesting.'_

"I'm not done!"

As soon as Tenten landed she jumped into the air again. Kankuro whistled appreciatively when the kunoichi lifted all the weapons she had tossed in her earlier attack into the air and hurled them at her opponent, forming a rapidly shrinking steely hemisphere.

Zaku used both his arms to blast the weapons coming at him away… but he had only two arms and the sharp instruments of death were arriving from every angle.

Steel met flesh and Zaku's cry was abruptly cut off. Blood splattered and formed an interesting pattern on the floor. Temari could respect the artistry of it. A severed hand was launched high into the air and landed directly at Temari's feet.

"Winner: Tenten."

On closer examination she noticed an artificial opening in the palm of the hand. Apparently Zaku's ability had been due to some medical modification. From the corner of her eyes she noticed a smile forming on Gaara's lips. Her brother appreciated the liberal spilling of blood and the fights up to now had been rather dull in that regard.

Temari kicked the severed hand back into the arena. Zaku's dead, impaled body had collapsed in a spreading pool of blood. It seemed Tenten had taken no risks; every vital area of the now deceased shinobi had been hit at least once.

"I like that girl." Temari announced. "I could have beaten her last attack easily, but it was a nice effort."

Kankuro nodded. "That was a good wire technique. If she had been born in Suna she would have made an impressive puppeteer."

Gaara and Baki remained silent while the body was removed and the arena was provisionally cleaned up.

"Sixth match: Temari against Dosu Kinuta." Hayate announced when the arena was ready again.

"My turn." Temari said before she jumped into the arena.

While she waited for her opponent she thought about her strategy. The Oto genin didn't look that skillful, but it was better to take no chances.

'_Before the first test he attacked that fishy Konoha genin with the device on his arm. It shouldn't pose a danger if I keep my distance. I should end this quickly. Kankuro already lost; I can't risk losing, too. Might as well use one of my better techniques while I'm at it.'_

The bandage-wrapped genin leered at her when he arrived at the floor of the arena. "I will make you puke your guts out before I carve you up and eat you. Girls like you have no business playing ninja."

Temari's eyes narrowed. She had thought about letting him live, but no one got away with belittling her skill as a kunoichi; especially not a low-skilled sicko. Well, she might as well complete the work of the Aburame boy and the girl and completely wipe out the team from Sound. They had already gotten on her nerves before the first test.

"Begin!"

'Wind Release: Cast Net'

Simultaneously jumping back and swinging her fan she launched the technique. Her opponent tried to get out of the way but wasn't quick enough. A mishmash of blood, entrails, severed body parts and remnants of the genin's clothing splattered against the wall behind his earlier position. Temari clicked her tongue in annoyance when she saw that several streaks of blood and other pieces of organic matter had landed on the floor. It seemed she would have to train a bit with the technique; the precision wasn't up to her usual standard.

"Winner: Temari."

Her eyes searched and found Idate while she folded up her fan. The young man had taken position to the side of the examiner of the first test. _'They have the same last name, so they're probably related.'_

It was telling how Idate distanced himself from his team. He didn't seem perturbed in the slightest by the bloody display and gave her a smile. Not all of the other genin seemed to share the sentiment. The girl from Hoshi and the pink-haired teammate of Idate seemed especially queasy. In contrast, the Sound jonin didn't seem to care at all that his team had just gotten slaughtered.

"Good work. That was quick." Kankuro said when she got back.

Temari shrugged. "I didn't want to take the risk of playing around."

It was one lesson of their fight with the rogue shinobi from Ishigakure one year ago that she had taken to heart: Don't play around. It opened you to sucker punches of normally inferior opponents. Sometimes it was necessary to make a show out of a fight, but the preliminaries didn't belong to that category.

"Seventh match: Sumaru against Hinata Hyuuga."

* * *

><p>Hinata curiously observed her opponent, a black-haired boy about her age. He looked very similar to the jonin accompanying the team. Perhaps he was a son, nephew or close cousin. Some of the minor villages were so small that such constellations were easily possible. Something about his chakra network struck her as strange, but she wasn't exactly sure what caused that impression. She had not the slightest idea what his skills were. Information about Hoshigakure was notoriously hard to come by. The boy seemed very determined, though.<p>

"Begin!"

Hinata took up a defensive stance after throwing three shuriken, not wanting to risk a headlong attack.

Her opponent ducked under the attack and made a hand seal she had never seen before. "Mysterious Peacock Method" he said before multiple appendages emerged from the back of the young shinobi.

They did resemble the feathers of a peacock… or the chakra tails a jinchuuriki produced. Her byakugan showed her clearly that it was human chakra, but it had been altered somehow. It seemed more potent.

"Turtle!" her opponent yelled. The feathers/tails wrapped around the genin, forming a solid-looking shell vaguely resembling a turtle. Hinata's shuriken simply bounced off.

'_This might be more difficult than anticipated.'_

"You have no chance against my technique. I will show everyone that Hoshigakure is to be taken seriously. Give up now." the boy said in a confident voice.

Hinata smiled at him. "Not before I try a few more things."

Closing the range, Hinata evaded two ropes of chakra that emerged from the mass. Her first unenhanced strike did no damage. The surface of the chakra construct was a bit elastic, just enough to absorb the force of the blow. Her follow-up juuken strike had more success. A gap with ragged edges opened where her chakra pierced the shell, but before she could capitalize on the opening she had to jump back to evade more chakra ropes.

"That was good, but not good enough." Sumaro shouted.

Four ropes struck at her. Evading the attacks became more difficult, but it was still manageable. Hinata was sure it looked like an acrobatic dance as she weaved through the furiously lashing ropes. The hole she had created in the shell was closing already. At least it appeared that her opponent could only move slowly while using his technique. When she arrived at her target the hole had disappeared completely. This time she left almost a dozen holes behind before she was forced to retreat, but none were deep enough to reach the genin inside the construct.

'_This is getting me nowhere. I really hate such slugfests. To really pierce the shell I'd have to hit the same spot at least five times in short order and my opponent won't give me the time for that.'_

Her water jutsu might be able to penetrate the chakra shell, but she wasn't willing to reveal those skills. Her medical abilities weren't useful in this fight. Well, if advanced skills weren't the answer it was time for more conventional means.

At her next attack run it happened. One of the ropes connected and lashed across her hip before she could get out of the way. Biting back the pain Hinata continued forward. After each strike she hurled a kunai with an exploding tag in the hole. The boy's eyes widened when he realized what she was doing. She barely managed to clear the radius of the explosion when the tags ignited. A flailing chakra rope swept her off her feet. Another one slashed across her body, ripping some of her clothes and weapon pouches away.

Turning her fall into a roll, Hinata came to rest at a wall. She didn't have to turn around to examine the result of her gamble. The construct had been almost completely destroyed. Only a thin shell was left, but it was already regenerating. Her opponent looked exhausted; producing that much chakra seemed to tax his endurance greatly. Another attack like that and she would win.

Then she realized something. Her leather vest was in tatters, but luckily her mesh shirt was still intact and had protected her from real injuries. The thin but sturdy wrap she used to support her breasts and preserve her modesty was likewise undamaged. More problematic was that she had lost the two pouches she used to keep her exploding tags safe. Both her leg holster and the one at her midriff were lying on the field.

Hinata winced when she got to her feet. Her leg muscles and torso were severely bruised, reducing her dexterity considerably. Before she could reach her lost pouches her enemy seemed to realize what she was intending. He brought two of his reformed chakra ropes into her path while the other two swept up the pouches.

'_Crap. I have no means to damage him enough anymore and won't be able to dodge long enough to wear him down with Juuken.'_

For a moment Hinata just looked at her wary opponent before she steeled herself. She knew what she had to do. "I surrender. I have no means to pierce your technique."

The boy waited until Hayate announced him as the winner before he dropped his technique. He gave her a tired smile. "That was a good fight. You almost got me with your last attack."

Hinata gave a small smile of her own and nodded politely. "Thank you. Your technique is very impressive. I wish you good luck in the finals."

After collecting her weapon pouches and discarding the shredded remains of her leather vest Hinata returned to her team. She wasn't really sorry about losing; she had no personal stake in winning. Her clan wouldn't be able to criticize her battle performance and she had sustained no serious injuries. All in all she was content with her performance in the chunin exams.

"Sorry about losing, sensei." Hinata said when she reached her team.

Anko smiled supportively. "You fought exemplarily, Hinata. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Naruto nodded. "Sensei is right. Without that lucky hit at the end you probably would have won."

Choji simply patted her on the shoulder, but to her amusement Hinata noticed that his eyes threatened to wander to her now clearly visible chest area. Kiba and the recently returned Shinji were far less subtle. Sakura's envious expression almost caused her to laugh. Seriously, most people forgot that she could see them even if she wasn't visibly looking in their direction. Well, she did have the most developed feminine assets in her age group by far.

Hinata was no longer shy about her body, but most people aside from her team and the circle didn't know that. If Youko hadn't taken care of that issue long ago it would have happened when Anko became their sensei at the latest. The jonin had some very unfavorable things to say about kunoichi who displayed inappropriate modesty and didn't use every possible advantage their bodies granted them.

Before anyone could make a fool of himself Hayate announced the next battle. "Eight match: Sakura Haruno against Yakumo Kurama."

A short time later the two girls had taken up position in the arena. Sakura looked hesitant before her expression became uncharacteristically determined.

"Yakumo."

"Sakura."

"I want you to fight me seriously. I know you don't consider me your equal, but today I will prove you wrong. Don't show me any mercy." Sakura declared.

'_I wonder where that came from.'_

Yakumo simply stared at Sakura before she shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Hinata noticed Ino shaking her head. "Of all times to act as a real kunoichi Sakura has to choose now. This won't end well."

The pale girl had to agree. Yakumo and Sakura had never gotten along that well. Something just rubbed them the wrong way about each other. In the later academy years it had been mostly Sakura's lack of seriousness at being a kunoichi that sparked the brunette girl's contempt. The constant fawning about the Uchiha wasn't doing Yakumo's opinion of Sakura any favors. By now she despised her.

Ino might be somewhat lenient because of her erstwhile friendship in the first year of the academy before the rivalry over Sasuke destroyed everything, but Hinata agreed with Yakumo, although with a caveat. In light of her earlier life she understood some of Sakura's problem.

Sakura needed help; someone who would finally kick her ass into gear and strip all the silly illusions away. The girl had potential, but her own mindset worked against her. They had tried a few times during the academy, but there was no getting through to her. Ino had required months of work to break out of her bad habits. They had found no starting point to work on Sakura. Kakashi had proven an absolute failure in that regard, too. Perhaps the worst thing was that Sakura didn't even realize that what she was doing was wrong and would lead to an early grave.

'_Yakumo will pull no punches.'_

"Begin!"

Both kunoichi immediately began making hand seals. Sakura created two clones and began running at Yakumo. Said girl had cast an area genjutsu, probably a relatively simple False Surroundings Technique. Yakumo probably controlled it directly to prevent Sakura from noticing it. Hinata could see that the only thing it did was making it appear as if Yakumo was still standing at her original position while the real girl was moving to the side.

When Sakura got close to the illusionary Yakumo Hinata spied a concentration of chakra at her feet, propelling her rapidly forward. It was a useful, widely used trick requiring very good chakra control, but it didn't appear to be properly integrated in Sakura's fighting style. What should have been a knockout blow would only hurt her target a bit despite the considerable momentum.

The look of surprise on Sakura's face when her fist went directly through the illusion without resistance was truly memorable. In the next moment the real Yakumo hammered the blunt end of a kunai into the back of Sakura's head, dropping the girl to the floor. She didn't get up again.

"Winner: Yakumo Kurama."

The medics managed to restore Sakura to consciousness without having to transport her to the infirmary. Sakura clearly had a murderous headache. When she realized what had happened a look of utter depression appeared on her face. She didn't speak with anyone when she returned to the gallery.

"You know, I half-expected you to do something far more vicious." Ino remarked when Yakumo had rejoined them.

Yakumo shrugged. "I didn't want to show off my skills. Any hints we give the competition might be our downfall in the finals."

"Ninth match: Hokuto against Ino Yamanaka."

"Good luck." Hinata said to Ino before the blond girl headed down to the arena.

There was no banter exchanged between Ino and the brunette girl from Hoshigakure. After Hayate started the match Hokuto used the same technique her teammate Sumaru had used to create the strange chakra limbs.

"Bull!"

Once again the chakra wrapped around a genin, this time forming the imitation of a big bull. Hokuto seemed to float in the main body. The construct immediately charged at Ino, quickly building up speed. Hinata could see the tiniest smirk appearing on Ino's face when she made a single hand seal.

The chakra construct changed course slightly, running right past Ino. Two seconds later it smacked into the wall at full speed. For a moment Hokuto seemed dazed inside her chakra shell and didn't move. It was enough time for Ino to once again make another hand seal. Immediately after that her body slumped. A few seconds later the expression on the Hoshi girl's face changed until it was eerily similar to Ino's expression.

Dispelling the chakra construct the possessed girl walked to the center of the hall, discarding all her weapons in the process. Then she bound her own hands and feet with wire. It wasn't escape-proof, but the girl would need quite some time to free herself.

As soon as she was finished with her task Ino returned to her own body. Hokuto's expression changed first to confusion and then to panic as she frantically struggled to free herself. In the next second Ino appeared behind her with a kunai in her hand, holding it to the girl's throat.

"Winner: Ino Yamanaka."

Hinata let out a small sigh. She was glad that her friend had won, but apparently she was the only member of the circle who had lost her match to date.

'_Well, it isn't like I urgently wanted to win.'_

* * *

><p>"Tenth match: Gaara against Rock Lee."<p>

Naruto had a bad feeling about this match. Gaara was a vicious killer and Lee didn't know when to stop. There was no way this battle would end well.

"Alright Lee! Go do it!" Gai shouted. He and Kakashi were standing a bit isolated with Sakura and Tenten by their side at one end of the gallery. Asuma, Anko and Kurenai along with their teams formed a close cluster between them and the other teams.

Lee jumped down to the arena. Gaara had already arrived in a swirl of sand and didn't seem very impressed by his opponent.

"Begin!"

Gai's prized pupil opened the match by closing the distance to Gaara and attacking him with a kick. Just in time a torrent of sand poured out of the gourd on Gaara's back, stopping the attack cold. Lee barely managed to get out of the way before the sand crushed him.

The green-clad genin continued to make attacks, but the sand always interposed itself in time. Slowly sand was gathering at the edges of the room, forming large heaps almost invisible in the shadows. Apparently there was a steady, almost invisible flow of sand out of the gourd because the sand directly around Gaara didn't become less. There was more sand that should have been able to fit in the gourd, but Naruto supposed that the Suna jinchuuriki could have hidden a storage scroll there. Gaara wore an utterly bored expression, but Naruto detected just a hint of a foreign, malicious presence behind his eyes.

'_Uh oh. It seems the Ichibi is egging him on.'_

"Is that all?" Gaara asked in an uncaring voice.

Suddenly Gai began shouting. "Lee! Take them off!"

Lee came to a stop on top of the stone hands in the room. "But Gai-sensei, that's only for a time when I must protect many precious people, isn't it?"

"It's alright. I'll allow it."

In the next moment Lee began taking off the weights he wore on his feet.

"Why does Gaara only watch? Lee is wide open." Choji asked.

"I'm more concerned about the fact that he needs Gai to give him instructions during the battle." Anko answered. "If you have to babysit a genin and prompt every action he is definitely not ready for making chunin."

What went unsaid was that Gai was telling Lee to disregard his earlier orders. Competing for promotion was clearly not protecting precious people. Heck, in the preliminaries it couldn't even called protecting the reputation of the Leaf.

"That isn't Gaara down there. It's a sand clone. The real Gaara is hiding in one of the sand piles." Hinata said quietly.

That made sense. Gaara probably wanted to play around before sating his bloodlust. This morning they had witnessed how he created a bloody rain out of one of the teams that had lain in wait on the path to the tower. It wasn't an efficient or safe course of action, but Naruto supposed Gaara had enough power to take risks when he wanted to.

Lee's speed had increased tremendously and the sand had trouble stopping his attack. Naruto idly listened to Gai explaining to Sakura that Lee could only use taijutsu. Finally Lee managed to hit Gaara with full force, propelling him to the other end of the arena.

Then Gaara's face began flaking off, revealing an unblemished body beneath. What was truly scary was Gaara's expression. It was clear to Naruto that his fellow jinchuuriki's bloodlust was steadily increasing. On the other hand it could be a mind game, after all the Gaara visible wasn't the real one.

In the next moment the sand reformed the armor around Gaara.

'_Lee can't win like this.'_

Apparently Lee knew this too, for he loosened the bandages around his forearms.

"Lee is opening the first gate. His muscles are flooded with the chakra. It's the same attack he almost completed against Sasuke before the first test." Hinata quietly reported.

That caught Anko's attention. "Lee did what?"

Hinata didn't have time to answer for Lee attacked Gaara. His strength and speed had increased once again, but instead of a single kick he needed an entire series to get Gaara into the air. As soon as he was high enough he wrapped his bandages around Gaara's body.

'_If this was the real Gaara I'd be worried. Killing the Kazekage's son would create a nasty diplomatic incident despite all the waivers. In the worst case killing Gaara might free the Ichibi.'_

"TAKE THIS! INITIAL LOTUS!" Lee shouted while trying to pile-drive Gaara into the ground.

Then Gaara's sand clone exploded.

Lee flew out of the explosion, bounced off the ground and hit one of the walls. Bits of shrapnel made of hardened sand had imbedded themselves in his body. He was clearly hurt, but still conscious.

Another Gaara appeared and used his sand to slap him around.

"Why doesn't Lee dodge?" Choji asked.

"Opening even the first of the eight gates has consequences. There's a reason they are normally closed, you know. It's normally a forbidden technique. All that high speed taijutsu puts a lot of stress on the body. Right now he's probably feeling so much pain he can barely move." Hinata explained.

Anko nodded. "Hinata is right. It's stupid to use such a move as a standard combat tactic and arguably not that useful even on special occasions. If an attack performed with an opened gate doesn't manage to take the enemy down the user is helpless. That isn't even touching on the long term damage it does to one's body. Not many shinobi train to open even the first gate and those that do mainly plan to use it as a desperation move. Lee's problem is that he has nothing else to fall back on if his taijutsu skills are not enough. It would have been better if he had surrendered."

Suddenly Lee began to smile and moved much faster.

"You are finished here." Gaara said impassively.

"Either way, this will end it." Lee replied.

Gai's voice reached them despite the distance. "The lotus of the Leaf blooms twice."

All the jonin in hearing range stopped and looked at Gai aghast.

Surprisingly it was Kakashi who spoke, being the closest to Gai. Apparently Gai had taught Lee to open additional gates. "The extreme lotus is a technique that shouldn't be taught. I have no interest in making you tell me what that kid means to you and your reasoning. There are limits. I have lost all respect for you."

"What would you know about the boy? That kid had a precious thing that he would give his life to prove. So I wanted to turn him into a man that could accomplish it. That is all."

"Gai, how many of the eight gates can that kid open?" Kakashi asked.

"Five gates."

Gai continued explaining things to Sakura, but the attention of the other people moved back to the fight.

"Gai is insane." Naruto heard Asuma mumble. "Is he trying to get the boy killed?"

'_If even Kakashi thinks something is dangerous and a bad idea you know that what you plan is really, really stupid.'_

Naruto watched as Lee opened the third gate. The flaring chakra was strong enough that even he could feel it. Considering that Naruto's friends had occasionally likened his ability to sense chakra to an almost deaf man trying to listen to whispers that was saying much about the released power.

Gaara was apparently intelligent enough to not wait until Lee was finished with his power-up and launched shuriken made of sand at his opponent, followed by the slower main mass.

Unfortunately for Gaara Lee dodged in time before he punched him.

Unfortunately for Lee it was only another clone that exploded upon contact, filling the air with sand.

More sand rose from the ground until the entire arena was filled with an opaque cloud, much to the displeasure of Lee and the spectators. Hayate jumped out of the cloud onto the gallery to have any hope of spotting what was going on.

"Why doesn't Lee give up? This entire thing is only about a chance at promotion. There will be others chances in the future. It's not worth to put his life in the balance. I just don't understand it. Neither the Leaf's vital interests or anything else of enormous importance is at stake here." Ino said.

Asuma sighed deeply. "Lee wants to be a great shinobi… no matter the cost. It seems Gai supports that madness. Neither Lee nor Gai know when to stop. Lee is apparently incapable of using his chakra for normal techniques. While that is an almost crippling disadvantage it doesn't mean he can't become a successful shinobi."

Kurenai nodded. "That is correct. Taijutsu alone isn't enough for high-powered shinobi fights, just like any other ability. You always need supporting abilities and several additional skill sets if an enemy is resistant against a specific avenue of attack. Lee apparently has nothing to fall back on aside from the gates."

"Lee has just opened the fourth gate. He still hasn't found Gaara in the sand cloud." Hinata interrupted. Thanks to her byakugan she was the only one able to watch the fight. "I think Gaara has cast a genjutsu over the area."

For a moment Kurenai closed her eyes. "You're right; I can feel the edges of it. It is a disorientation technique. On its own it wouldn't do much, but thanks to the sand visibility is almost zero. Suna shinobi use it to cause enemies to lose their way in the desert and wander in endless circles."

In that moment Naruto understood what Gaara was doing. He was simply waiting until the boost of the gates subsided and Lee became helpless once again. Lee might have been able to power through the exhaustion of the first gate after it closed and jump directly to the second gate, but it was practically impossible to do that with the higher gates. He had to open additional gates just to keep running.

"This is most un-youthful. Show yourself!" came Lee's shout.

Only silence answered him.

"He has opened the fifth gate." Hinata said.

That seemed to catch the attention of Hayate. He approached them. "Can you tell me what is going on in there? I can feel their chakra but I want to know if I have to call the fight."

Hinata nodded before she began whispering to the special jonin. "Certainly. Gaara has created a false floor out of his sand and is hiding there. Lee is running around, trying to find him."

In that moment Lee jumped out of the cloud and looked around before he disappeared back into the sand.

Naruto blinked. "Did Lee's skin look red?"

"That's a side effect of opening the third gate." Anko answered. "I don't think he has much time left."

Suddenly the sand cloud shrunk, growing denser and denser until it formed a medium-sized dune. Gaara or one of his clones was standing on top of it. Lee was lying on the ground clearly trying and failing to get up. He looked utterly exhausted and in quite some pain. With a movement of his hand Gaara caused the sand to move, closing in one Lee. The green-clad boy weakly tried to escape.

When the first tendrils of the sand attached themselves to Lee's left arm and leg Gaara closed his open hand.

Lee's cry of pain was piercing and very loud.

The main wave of sand was about to hit when Gai suddenly appeared in the way, deflecting it away from his injured pupil. Gaara silently stared at the man before he turned towards Hayate.

"Winner: Gaara."

As soon as the announcement came Gaara turned into sand. The real Gaara emerged from the ground some distance away. From all over the arena sand came flying before it entered the boy's gourd in a giant swirl. Soon the arena was once again free of sand and Gaara silently returned to his team.

A gasp of surprise drew everyone's attention back to Lee. The boy had stood up again despite his many injuries. Gai began to cry before he hugged him.

"He's unconscious." Hinata reported. "His injuries are extensive and just got worse by forcing himself up."

By now Hayate and Tenten had reached Lee's position. Hayate sharply drew breath before he began shouting. "Medical team, please come here quickly!"

The medical team hurried to the injured genin's side. A short time later one of them pulled Gai to the side for a private conversation. Apparently neither Gai nor the medic noticed that their voices carried up the gallery.

"He isn't breathing properly; there is some sand in his lungs. He has shattered bones and torn muscles throughout his body along with shrapnel wounds. There are other injuries from the explosions. We could do something about it if these were the only problems, but the damage to his left arm and leg where he was attacked is grave. It's difficult to have to say something like this, but with this body he will never be able to live as a shinobi again."

The silence after this statement was deafening; not that this outcome was completely unexpected. A human body's ability to absorb damage was limited. In truth Naruto had expected Lee to be killed outright. Gai hung his head and kept looking at Lee's stretcher when he was about to be carried away.

"Can't you do anything? Lee was always saying how he wanted to fight against Neji and Sasuke…" Tenten begged the departing medics.

Unexpectedly Kakashi spoke up. "That might have been what caused this tragedy. This is the result of the decision to use even forbidden jutsu to win at all costs. He put his life at risk so that he could reach the final stage to fight my pupil." Then he turned towards Gai. "I said some really arrogant things about you earlier when I think about it. If I were in your circumstances I probably wouldn't have been able to stop my student either. Gai, come on. We're in the way for the next match. Let's go and get something to drink."

"…Yeah."

The two jonin left the room. Since all their students had already fought there was no real reason for them to stay.

"Another genin needlessly ruined because of stubbornness and misguided pride." Asuma spat a piece of chewing tobacco into a pot he had brought with him. Smoking wasn't allowed in the tower. "Lee didn't know when to give up. At least the crushed arm and leg he could have avoided if he had surrendered. It was clear he couldn't win by then."

Anko nodded gravely. "You can always die in combat, but this was madness from the start. A life destroyed, five academy years and one and a half under the personal guidance of a jonin wasted. Gai should have never entered him into the exams and especially not taught him in that way. All that determination could have been redirected into far more productive things."

"A trap master or a primarily non-combat role would have been better." Kurenai looked very sad. "There are some things you can't do no matter how hard you work. Circumvent obstacles, not try to overpower them. Gai taught Lee he could do anything and the young man paid the price."

Silence descended for a moment. Hayate was still talking with the Hokage, delaying the next match.

"Would you have interfered when we would have been about to be killed, sensei? The match wasn't called by then." Choji asked.

Anko shared an uncomfortable look with her two fellow sensei before she sighed. "If the match was still on, no. I trust you to know when to give up. Technically Gai was violating the rules of the preliminaries. Several times actually, if you count his command to take the weights off."

"If you are in this exam you think you are ready to be chunin." Asuma sent his father a dark look that went completely unnoticed by the old man. "Despite some… additional considerations for nominating you: if you try to become chunin you are expected to act responsibly. That includes an honest appraisal of your chances, appropriate force and when to give up. If you are on your own out there with a team under your command there is no one you could ask for orders. No one to give you permission to use specific skills and take you by the hand. No one will rescue you if you get in over your head."

"Lee had many opportunities to give up. He chose to continue and resort to increasingly dangerous skills. As you saw earlier death happens in these exams. On missions you normally have a good chance at winning and surviving; at least that is the thought behind the assignments. If something goes wrong you will have to decide on your own when it is better to retreat and when to fight. The Leaf has expended considerable resources in training you, our time with you is one of the most valuable. If we weren't busy teaching you we would complete several high-ranking missions per month, generating considerable income for the village. You have to think carefully when to fight despite hopeless odds… and when not. Konoha can't afford to lose too many shinobi because they don't know when to give up." Kurenai explained. "Preventing great harm to the village or fulfilling the contract with an important client is a good reason. Throwing your health and life away for a chance at promotion is definitely not a good one. It is a bit different in the finals, but as long as you give a good show the overall winner isn't that important."

The announcement of the next match put an end to their conversation.

"Eleventh match: Kiba Inuzaka against Misumi Tsurugi. Choji Akimichi receives a bye."

Naruto watched curiously as Kiba and Misumi took their positions.

"Unlike Yoroi I show no mercy against little punks. I'll say it now, if I put my techniques on you it's over. Give up immediately." Misumi boasted.

Kiba sneered at him, but didn't reply.

"Begin!" Hayate shouted.

"I'll end this quickly. I won't give you the chance to do anything."

Misumi opened the fight with a straightforward attack that Kiba easily blocked. Then the unexpected happened. The adult genin's body almost seemed to lose form as he wrapped himself tightly around Kiba.

"In order to gather information my body has been altered to be able to fit into any space. I can keep squeezing until I break your bones. If you don't give up I'll keep squeezing even harder." the man threatened.

Suddenly Kiba's panicked expression changed into a smirk. "Heh. No way. Akamaru, your turn."

With a puff of smoke Kiba disappeared. In his place was now Akamaru, but since the dog was much smaller than Kiba he simply fell out of Yoroi's grip, landed on the ground and ran away.

"Passing Fang"

Misumi had no opportunity to appraise the changed situation. Kiba attacked him from behind; spinning so fast only a whirl was visible. He hit him squarely in the back, shredding his clothing and damaging the flesh underneath. The force of the attack was big enough that Misumi was propelled to the next wall. Kiba was still on target and still spinning. Since Misumi's body was still very flexible it caused an interesting effect. It looked almost as if his body rolled up.

Finally Kiba ended the technique and a severely bleeding Misumi fell unconscious to the floor.

"Winner: Kiba Inuzaka."

Yakumo was the first to ask a question when Kiba rejoined the group. "Congratulations. How did you perform the kawarimi? Your hands were immobilized."

Kiba smirked. "I didn't. Akamaru did."

The small dog gave an affirmative woof. When Naruto thought about it, it was logical. Inuzaka dogs could perform the chakra-using techniques of the Inuzaka clan. Since they couldn't use hand seals it was probably difficult for them to learn normal techniques. Difficult, but possible; as Akamaru had shown.

A few minutes later the eleven victorious genin sans Sasuke were assembled in front of the Hokage, Hayate, Aoba and Ibiki. Hayate was the one holding the speech. "With this the preliminary trials for the final test of the chunin exams have been completed. To all of you who have won the right to advance to the final round: Congratulations. It has been a difficult task and you all have proven your worth. Hokage-sama, if you would please…"

The old man continued to explain the finals. They would be held in one month. Most what he talked about were obvious facts. Certainly a genin who wanted to become chunin should know how to analyze his opponents?

At the end they had to draw numbers to determine the matches of the finals. It would be a regular tournament.

First round:

First match: Naruto Uzumaki vs. Sumaru

Second match: Gaara vs. Sasuke Uchiha

Third match: Shino Aburame vs. Tenten

Fourth match: Kiba Inuzaka vs. Ino Yamanaka

Fifth match: Yakumo Kurama vs. Temari

Second round:

Sixth match: Winner of First match vs. Winner of Second match

Seventh match: Winner of Third match vs. Winner of Fourth match

Eight match: Choji Akimichi vs. Winner of fifth match

Third round:

Ninth match: Three-way match

"Man, you're really lucky, Choji. Two byes." Naruto remarked when they were back on the way to their rooms. They would return to the village proper on the next morning.

Choji shrugged. "I guess I ate enough fortune cookies to stock up on my luck." he answered good-naturedly.

The groups retired almost immediately to their respective rooms. It had been an eventful day and they would talk about the matches tomorrow.

Naruto did have a bit of trouble finding a comfortable position on his bed. The wound on his stomach troubled him slightly. The medics had drained most of the poison almost immediately and his regeneration took care of the rest. Two days tops and he would have recovered completely.

All in all he was content with the results of the preliminaries. The presence of the ninja from Hoshigakure had been unexpected, though. He would have to talk with his parents about the strange chakra they used.

'_I wonder what surprises will await us in the finals.'_

* * *

><p>"Will the preparations be complete in time?"<p>

"Yes, my lord. The latest delivery from Orochimaru arrived on schedule and the assembling of our troops is complete. We will be ready to do our part."

"Excellent. Soon Konoha will feel our wrath. We will have our revenge at long last. Proceed with your work."

"As you command, Sorakage-sama."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

Whew, that was a long chapter; the longest by far to date. It has unfortunately not been beta'd. I thought about splitting it, but I wanted to deal with the preliminaries in a single chapter. I hope you enjoyed the read if you made it this far.

Since it's a bit difficult to remember who is one what team and who fought with whom I prepared a little overview:

**Team roster:**

Team 7: Sasuke, Sakura, Idate (gave up)  
><span>Team 8:<span> Ino, Yakumo, Shinji  
><span>Team 10:<span> Shino, Kiba, Asuka  
><span>Team 11:<span> Naruto, Choji, Hinata  
><span>Team Gai<span>: Lee, Tenten, Neji (gave up)  
><span>Team Kabuto:<span> Yoroi, Misumi, Kabuto (gave up)  
><span>Team Sand:<span> Gaara, Kankuro, Temari  
><span>Team Sound:<span> Dosu, Zaku, Kin  
><span>Team Hoshi:<span> Sumaro, Hokuto, Mizura (gave up)

**Preliminary fights:**

Fight 1: Sasuke vs. Yoroi Winner: Sasuke  
>Fight 2: Shino vs. Kin Winner: Shino<br>Fight 3: Naruto vs. Kankuro Winner: Naruto  
>Fight 4: Shinji vs. Asuka Winner: none - draw<br>Fight 5: Tenten vs. Zaku Winner: Tenten  
>Fight 6: Dosu vs. Temari Winner: Temari<br>Fight 7: Hinata vs. Sumaru Winner: Sumaru  
>Fight 8: Yakumo vs. Sakura Winner: Yakumo<br>Fight 9: Ino vs. Hokuto Winner: Ino  
>Fight 10: Gaara vs. Lee Winner: Gaara<br>Fight 11: Kiba vs. Misumi Winner: Kiba

Choji received a pass.


	30. Chapter 29: Problems, parties and predes

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto; nothing to be done about it

**Chapter 29: Problems, parties and predestination**

With a calm nod Ibiki Morino accepted another report from one of the proctors. The preliminaries had ended an hour ago and it was very late (or early, depending on the perspective), but he and the other persons in charge were still busy dealing with the aftermath. It didn't look like they would get any sleep this night. The Hokage and Hayate had already returned to the village, but the contestants of the exams were still accommodated in the tower. Ibiki was of the opinion that it had been an impressive series of battles; each of the four Konoha rookie teams had at least one contestant in the finals. Something about their performance was niggling at the back of his mind, though.

"Search party 15 found the remains of the contestants from Takigakure. No survivors. They're proceeding to the next assigned grid square." Ibiki told Aoba after he had finished perusing the report.

The man with the sunglasses ticked something off the big map of the Forest of Death on the wall. "That's another team down. Their jonin won't like it, though. Any news from the group we sent to investigate Orochimaru's ambush site?"

Ibiki shook his head. "Nothing, but there is no reason for concern yet. They will examine everything carefully and I don't expect them back for another two hours."

After the three Konoha rookie teams had brought news about Orochimaru's presence in the forest they had immediately sent out a group to investigate. Team 7 had been protected by twelve ANBU, but apparently it hadn't been enough. The team's (and his brother's) survival could only be attributed to some plan of the traitor. Sasuke's marking with a curse seal was catastrophic, but Hayate, Kakashi and the Hokage were dealing with the matter. The curse seal had been sealed in turn and Sasuke was already in the village proper under heavy ANBU guard. At the same time the search for Kabuto Yakushi and the Sound jonin who had suddenly vanished without a trace was well underway.

Kabuto had originally only been wanted for some questioning since his record seemed suspicious, but now it looked that there was more to it. No genin should been able to simply disappear from the tower. The Hokage remembered him brought back from a battlefield and adopted by one of the medics, meaning he couldn't be a recently inserted spy. Kenchi Yakushi had been Konoha's chief medical officer, but he had died several years ago. Kabuto had stayed low, not drawing attention from anyone. Ibiki pegged him now as a deep cover agent. Such agents were an unavoidable fact of life and practically undiscoverable. Konoha's population was simply too large to keep track of everyone.

Ibiki felt the urge to grimace when he thought of the Sound jonin. Orochimaru had been in the same room as them and no one had noticed. Then the traitor had possessed the sheer audacity to walk up to Kakashi while he was busy sealing the mark on Sasuke. After revealing his identity and that Otogakure belonged to him he had disappeared again, but not without sending a shadow clone back to the arena. Ibiki would have preferred dispelling the thing immediately, but Kakashi had only informed them after the preliminaries had been concluded.

'_The security of the village isn't what it should be, but that is nothing new. We have too many commitments and conflicting goals. There aren't enough resources assigned for defense.'_

He intended to bring that up in the next meeting of the department heads. Unfortunately he already knew he wouldn't be able to achieve much. The truth was that Konohagakure was overextended since around the time of the Kyuubi attack, perhaps even earlier. They accepted more missions than they could fulfill with a reasonable distribution of their forces, meaning something had to give. That something was home security. The destruction of Konoha's police force in the Uchiha massacre didn't help matters. Since the Hokage and a majority of department heads were unwilling to turn prospective clients away this policy wouldn't change. He could see their point that this generated more money and influence for the village, but in his opinion it was still the false decision.

A lull in the arriving reports gave him the opportunity to relax for a moment. Immediately his thoughts turned to Idate.

His younger brother was now a chunin at sixteen years of age. Despite Orochimaru's interference he had managed to fulfill his mission of delivering Sasuke and the Haruno girl to the tower. Ibiki was proud of him.

Suddenly he grinned. _'Making chunin isn't the only thing Idate did. Ah, to be young again...'_

On his way from the arena Ibiki had seen Idate enter a private room in the company of the blond Suna kunoichi Temari. They had been very discreet about it, but he hadn't missed the glances they exchanged during the preliminaries. It seemed his not-so-little brother had found himself another girlfriend; the beautiful and skilled daughter of the Kazekage no less. Idate surely knew how to pick them. Judging from his limited observation time there even seemed to be real affection in play.

'_Of course, it won't last. In a month she'll return to Suna and they probably will never meet again. Even if they somehow keep a relationship going Temari will have to marry sooner or later. The Kazekage will want to use her either to bind one of Suna's clans closer to his rule or perhaps one of the major nobles of the Land of Wind. Neither Idate personally nor our clan can offer anything to compete with that.'_

The Morino were a small clan; they consisted of only seven active shinobi and twenty four non-fighting members (either due to young age, old age or unsuitability for ninja life). No bloodline gave them prominence; only the individual skill of the members and secret knowledge about the creation of inanimate summons. A few years ago Ibiki had taken over leadership from his uncle.

Ibiki had achieved much in the twenty-seven years of his life, seventeen of which he had spent as an active shinobi in service to Konoha. Progress through the ranks had been slow at first. He hadn't been a bad shinobi, but he had not naturally excelled either. Only through years of hard work had he reached his position as head of the Torture and Interrogation department when he was twenty-two, making him one of the youngest department heads. The department had just seemed the right choice for someone with his sadistic tendencies and skills in psychology and genjutsu. His integrity, reliability and leadership skills as well as the success in his work had led to a steady rise in prominence. By now he was one of the most powerful and well-connected shinobi in Konoha despite never reaching the rank of full jonin.

Despite the initial problems with Idate's lack of seriousness and defection of his sensei the young man seemed to make up for lost ground. He shared Ibiki's physical strength, but concentrated on ninjutsu instead of genjutsu. His tale of the battle against Orochimaru's underlings certainly did credit to his skills. Ibiki would take the time to visit the battlefield when he left for Konoha.

'_Ha, Idate even managed to become chunin earlier than me. It took him only four years in contrast to my five.'_

Suddenly Ibiki realized what had been bothering him about the preliminaries in particular and the exams in general. Many of the Konoha rookies had seemed very skilled… too skilled, in fact. With a few exceptions they hadn't even been fazed during the first test. All the rookie teams had made it beyond the second stage, beating a lot of older genin without getting injured. They had been genin for not even half a year. One or two prodigies might have been possible, but all four teams? Then he remembered the mission reports of Anko's team he had read. The jonin was a friend and he had used his clearance to look up her reports out of interest how she was doing.

'_They have too many skills on too high a level.'_

Now, it was possible for a talented teacher with a motivated pupil to make rapid progress. What Gai had done with the boy Lee was a testament to that; even if it came at a price and all that effort had been wasted in the end. Still, it had taken Gai almost one and a half years to change Lee from a motivated if largely talentless academy student to a dangerous taijutsu fighter. More importantly, such an endeavor tended to produce overly specialized shinobi. Anko's team had too broad skill sets for that and Anko didn't have the time to teach them to such a degree. From what he gathered from the reports and displayed prowess in the exams (and knowing Anko's high standards and tendency to keep things to herself) they might already be at general chunin level. It just wasn't possible in the amount of time the team had existed. That meant they had prior training.

Ibiki was well aware that there were problems with the academy education. Idate's rather lackluster starting skills and his observation of the past and current chunin exams was proof enough for him. In the last decade graduation ages had steadily risen without a matching increase in skill. It had been different before. Ibiki himself had become a genin at age ten. He knew the same was true of Anko, but she had already reached chunin rank at twelve, special jonin at sixteen and finally full jonin at twenty-two.

Furrowing his brow he tried to remember how it had been for the other jonin-sensei. Kakashi had been a highly trained child prodigy, graduating at age five. At twelve he was already a jonin and had created his A-rank signature technique.

'_Gai: genin at seven, chunin at eleven; I don't remember when he made jonin. Kurenai Yuhi: genin at nine, chunin at thirteen, jonin at twenty-six. Asuma Sarutobi: genin at nine, chunin at twelve, jonin at twenty.'_

Those people were talented, yes, but they weren't prodigies. Chunin at twelve or thirteen had been pretty much standard for the talented and motivated elite genin with the right background after three or four years of service. With the right training it was evidently possible to become that good at that age. But who had taught this batch of Konoha rookies? It couldn't have been the standard academy education nor could the children have reached that level purely on their own. Such an endeavor required a teacher with access to restricted material. The mismatch of age and rank probably threw off a lot of older shinobi, deflecting the attention from the children. After all, the Hokage had seen dozen of generations making chunin at age twelve or thirteen; that they had barely any time as genin probably wouldn't register with most people.

'_I have to look into things as soon as I find the time. There's something fishy going on.'_

A stack of reports being dumped on his desk interrupted his thoughts. Apparently the lull was over. Between the exams, all the foreign visitors and Orochimaru it didn't look like he would have enough time to investigate such a not immediately pressing matter. He didn't even want to think about the foreign jinchuuriki. Having a potentially hostile, walking talking weapon of mass destruction with psychotic tendencies in the village gave him no end of nightmares.

'_And apparently the boy even fights smart. It would have been easier if he had been one of those jinchuuriki who rely purely on their demon.'_

* * *

><p>The Ichibi was confused. It didn't like being confused. Ever since its host had entered the vicinity of this human settlement something was different. That something was tugging at buried memories of times long past; times when it hadn't yet been the Ichibi. Times when it had been complete.<p>

Unfortunately it just couldn't seem to grasp those memories. It was like an itch it couldn't quite reach. The distraction was so great that it didn't even care that much that the green-clad human had gotten away. Amusingly its current prison seemed worried about the lack of bloodlust.

The demon actually liked its current container; at least as much as it was capable of liking anyone. The human was so deliciously insane, merciless and bloodthirsty. Of course, that wouldn't prevent him from being annihilated as soon as the Ichibi broke free of the seal. On further thought, perhaps it would keep the boy's soul as a plaything. There were still years to go, but it had made good progress.

Each life slain brought it closer to freedom; each body crushed sent another crack through the chains holding it; every drop of blood absorbed gave it more power.

Those humans knew precious little about what a true demon could do.

Suddenly something clicked into place in the Ichibi's inhuman mind. Incomplete, disjointed memories began to make sense.

'**Rise, my creation! Be what I cannot be! Destroy my enemies! Force the world outside my reign into nonexistence! Unmake all that opposes me!' **_the Allfather, Lord of Creation, commanded and the Juubi obeyed. It strode across the world in all its terrible glory. None could stand against it, not mortal, spirit, demon nor god, for it was forged out of non-creation and malice. Formed from the very substance of its progenitor it was the deity's ultimate reversal; the negative reflection of creation itself. Priests futilely sought to banish it using their patron's power, mages desperately tried to bind it with mystic energies, demons envied its strength and gods feared its might. None prevailed. The Icy Hunter fled into the churning chaos beyond the world; the Mistress of Bloody Ecstasy was wiped from existence; the Wicked Heart of Death and Slaughter barely escaped its destruction; the Lady of Love was cast down from her pedestal; the Divine Smith was devoured…_

Soon the memory fragment of the Juubi ended, but the Ichibi now realized what was different from before.

**This is magic I feel.**

'_Did you say something, Mother?'_

The Ichibi didn't answer and the attention of the human soon returned to the book he was reading. There shouldn't be any free magic left in the world. The cursed Sage of the Six Paths, pathetic and deluded mortal spawn of the Allfather that he was, had banished it from existence with the Juubi's power and only a few dregs remained. It could hardly believe it, but it was immersed in a lake of magical energy, ready for the taking. Energy it could use to increase its demonic power. Finally it would not only be able to break the seal the mortals had used to trap it but breach the bounds and limits the cursed Sage had imposed on it so long ago.

Ever so carefully the Ichibi began drawing in as much power as the seal allowed. The prison holding it hadn't been designed with magic in mind, but it still limited the amount the tailed beast could draw at any moment. A few weeks and it would be strong enough to break its chains once and for all.

* * *

><p>Temari's conscious mind slowly emerged from the blissful state of ecstasy that had blotted out all thoughts. She honestly had lost count of how often Idate had managed to drive her over the edge this night. Said young man was still entwined with her, nuzzling her neck. The pleasant heat and pressure she felt in her lower regions was a reminder of what they had just done (and had been doing for quite a while), and for a moment she considered going another round. Unfortunately she felt exhaustion settling in. Despite them breezing through the exams it had been a stressful few days. Well, and their shared activity during the last few hours had been taxing. Immensely pleasurable, but taxing.<p>

Giving her lover another kiss, Temari relaxed the hold her legs had maintained around Idate's waist. As soon as they had untangled themselves Idate flopped down on the ruffled bed. A moment later Temari snuggled up to him, putting her head on his chest and pressing her breasts into his side. Idate put his arm around her in return. None of them spoke for a while; they just enjoyed the afterglow and each other's closeness.

She had never believed in love at first sight, but if this wasn't it nothing else could be. Something deep inside her ached for Idate's company. He was intelligent, attractive and a capable shinobi. Their personalities just clicked in the right way. Heck, they even fought together like they had done it for years. The mind-blowing sex was an added (but very welcome) bonus.

"I love you, Idate."

For a moment Idate's hold on her tightened. "I love you, too."

Only after hearing Idate's reply Temari realized that she had spoken aloud. She hadn't meant to say these fateful words. If she hadn't acknowledged her feelings their inevitable separation would have been easier to bear. After a time she might have been able to convince herself that it had been just an inconsequential fling.

Turning her head, she examined Idate's face. His expression was serious. His eyes shone with affection, but there was also sadness there; the knowledge that this wouldn't last and what their mutual declarations meant.

'_No, I won't let that mar our time together. We might only have a month, but I will make the best out of this. The memories will have to last me for a lifetime.'_

"We should try to get at least some sleep." Temari said, not wanting to dwell on these thoughts.

Idate's free hand removed some errant strands of hair from her face before he proceeded with caressing her cheek. At some point her ponytails had become undone without her really noticing it.

"You're right. We've to get up early."

A bit of wriggling later a blanket covered them and Temari could feel herself dozing off. Her lasts thoughts before she fell asleep was that there was always hope. After all, no one knew what the future would hold.

* * *

><p>The being known to a select few as Youko worriedly watched her mate trying to divine the future. It was better than watching their current surroundings. Insubstantial mists swirled everywhere in an endless expanse, randomly forming elaborate structures that were not really there. It was located (if one could use that word) at the very edge of the world her mate had constructed. Nothing here besides the two avatars was real in even the remotest sense, but that very fact made it suited to look into the stream of time. She always felt lost in this uncertain place. A mortal would have immediately dissolved into nothingness. It was completely outside her domains. Life was connected with reality and the now, ever striving towards but never reaching the future. The future was a mass of endless possibilities, 'maybe' and 'what if'. As a divine being Youko could make very good predictions of the future, but that was mainly an extrapolation of the past and present.<p>

It was different for her mate. Daiki could genuinely look into the futures. His ability was a pale shadow of what it once had been and what he saw was maddeningly vague. It couldn't be relied upon completely, but it was an incredibly important source of information. He saw things they normally had no possibility of learning. Until a short time ago they hadn't been able to perceive the real world at all; only during their relatively short possessions of the children they could observe and interact.

Over the past month they had transferred minute amounts of their essence to the sanctuary using the Gate. Nothing had changed at first, but about two weeks ago isolated sensations slowly began trickling in. They were gradually gaining coherence, but they might not have enough time for them to reach a state where they could actually act. The chunin exams had always been a nexus of possibilities. Recently her mate had grown ever more worried. Disastrous events were casting their shadows across time and more than once Daiki had seen their destruction.

"What do you see? Do we have any hope?" Youko asked when she felt her mate reaching a stable state. Hopefully he would be able to relay information in a coherent manner.

"Time begins and then time ends and then time begins once again. I see it now, I saw it before, I will surely see it again. I look into the stream of time, not very clearly mind you. I gaze into the future past and I see the Hidden Leaf's doom."

That didn't sound promising. "We need details."

"I see a lone, falling Leaf shredded by Sand and Sound under a vengeful Sky. Fourfold is the strife and fourfold are the dangers. The One of Nine shall break its bonds and rise anew, bringing madness and decay. The Pretending Worm shall fulfill the ancient pact, bringing war and destruction. The Slithering Blasphemer shall strike at the Shadow of Fire with weapons from beyond the grave, bringing discord and death. The Wicked Heart's lackey shall curse the Descendants of Justice, bringing ruin and disease. Together they shall extinguish the Fire."

"What are the dangers to us?" Youko asked. The Leaf being destroyed would be nearly catastrophic for their more far-reaching plans, but as long as Naruto survived and they weren't attacked directly they could potentially recover.

"Beware the Pretending Worm. When the ancient pact is broken its growth shall know no bounds, devouring the Fire, the Light and the Night. Beware the One of Nine. When the chains of mortals and the Man Who Wanted To Be A God break it shall seek to reunite the Nine that were once One."

"Are you certain?"

"Nothing is ever certain as long as time flows. I see the Light and the Night devoured. I see the Pretending Worm crushed into nothingness. I see the One of Nine destroyed and reborn. I see the Hidden Leaf defeated and emerging victorious. All is true and yet all cannot be. The paths twist and turn, split and unite. Our fate is obscured." A change in their bond alerted Youko that her mate had stopped trying to look into the future. "This is all I could see. The conflict creates too much uncertainty and distortions for me to find out more."

Youko shook her head while the pair left the mists behind. "I hate it when you speak in riddles and allegories."

Daiki shrugged. "It's better than nothing. I do not know who or what the Pretending Worm is supposed to be, but we had best prepare for conflict with a supernatural enemy of some power."

"As if my erstwhile sibling isn't bad enough. Trapped inside a jinchuuriki the Ichibi is dangerous, but if it gets free I don't know if our son can defeat it. A jinchuuriki can only use a fraction of his demon's power. Even a fully realized form with all tails is weaker than the true beast."

"We might have another problem. A divine or demonic enemy might be able to use the free magic in Konoha's vicinity. I don't think it is perceivable from the outside, but the Ichibi will be here for weeks. It will surely notice the magic if it hasn't already." her mate explained. "See for yourself."

Youko sighed when she received the knowledge of what exactly her mate had seen. "We better begin taking additional precautions for dealing with threats in our league. Konoha should hopefully be able to weather conventional attackers." Then she changed the topic. "I wonder how the exams went. By now even the Forest of Death should be finished if they took that option."

"You're not the only one. Naruto will surely signal us when we can safely draw him here."

* * *

><p>Naruto gave his friends one last wave before he departed for his apartment. There would be a party on the evening, but until then he had some free time. The journey back from the tower had been interesting. It wasn't only a tunnel leading to the village; it was a full-blown underground canal complete with boats. He appreciated not having to run the entire distance; the shallow wound on his stomach Kankuro's puppet had given him still gave him some trouble. He might heal far faster than other people, but that didn't mean injuries didn't affect him as long as they were there. Still, by the end of the day there probably would only be a feeling of soreness left.<p>

Suddenly he felt as if someone was watching him. He wasn't completely sure how he was able to feel that; it didn't always work and was pretty vague. That wasn't an unusual occurrence, but when the feeling persisted for more than five minutes he knew that someone was on his tail. The feeling disappeared only when he arrived back at his apartment building.

"Hey guys, I'm back. Did anything happen while I was gone?" he asked aloud.

A moment later a small swallow poked its head through a hole high in the wall. It fluttered down onto the table followed by four identically looking birds. They looked like completely normal swallows that could be found occasionally around Konoha. In truth they were summons, but no one could tell just by looking at them. They didn't have any special powers either; all in all they were swallows with a human mind and ability of speech. The swallow tribe had quite a few of those.

Naruto had summoned some of them a few weeks earlier and regularly rotated them out. They weren't exactly good at spying, but they could keep an eye on things. The more swallows were familiar with Konoha the better, but he didn't want to arouse suspicion by calling an entire flock. As it was the exterior wall of his house had acquired some nests, complete with a small access directly into his apartment.

"Nothing to report, boss." "Me neither." "I didn't see anything important; just a few scuffles." "I'm still busy getting a feel for the land." "There was someone following you earlier."

That caught Naruto's attention. "Really? Who was it?"

"I didn't see him around before. Tall, white hair, relatively old as humans go. Oh, and he had a strange forehead protector that you ninja wear. It had two little horns and the symbol for 'oil'."

Naruto nodded in a thankful manner and the swallows left again.

'_Jiraiya.'_

It wasn't unexpected that the man appeared, but Naruto wondered why now. In the past he had seen him from afar on rare occasions in the village, but he had never made contact or stayed long. He certainly didn't take his duties as godfather seriously. Naruto was wary of the man; him being a toad summoner implicated him in Minato's scheme. On the other hand there was no proof that he was knowingly involved.

'_Maybe he wants to take over my training.'_

That was what had happened in many other timelines. Naruto hoped to avoid that for now. Jiraiya's training methods were decidedly on the dangerous and irresponsible side. The Toad Sage spent too much time trying to teach him to access the Kyuubi's chakra. Aside from the fact that Naruto already could do that the problem was that apparently Jiraiya didn't know himself how it was supposed to work. Naruto didn't fancy being chucked into a chasm in the hope of using it to summon something big enough to cushion his fall or someone playing around with his seal. It didn't really get better later. Who would give a stupid kid like the other hims a dangerous jutsu like the Rasengan? Why not start with something easier (and less dangerous) like some low-powered mid-range attack? All too often Naruto's skills as a shinobi had turned out completely lopsided after training with Jiraya for years.

'_I don't want to think about the so-called training trip now. First I have to deal with the current situation. I probably can't avoid Jiraiya finding out about my summons, but that isn't a reason not to try and stay away from him. Anko-sensei and the others are good enough at teaching me for the moment, especially because we plan on joint training. Neither he nor the Hokage can officially take over my training without Anko-sensei's approval, not without making a big fuss. Let's see, what would get him to leave me alone for a while…"_

Slowly a smile spread over Naruto's face as an idea emerged. Naruto wasn't certain if it would work, but it would be funny. He just would have to clear it with his summons in advance and ask the others to play along.

* * *

><p>"We lost how many ANBU?" Homura asked in horror.<p>

Koharu's face was grim. "Twelve in the forest, two on patrol outside the village and another four guarding Sasuke at the hospital. Kakashi arrived just in time to prevent young Sasuke's abduction or murder by Kabuto Yakushi."

"That's almost a tenth of ANBU gone. How did Orochimaru manage that?"

In contrast to widespread perception members of ANBU weren't necessarily the strongest shinobi. In fact, the majority of them were about chunin level. ANBU operatives were the eyes, hands and voice of the Hokage. They were outside the normal rank system. The one non-negotiable requirement to join ANBU was absolute loyalty to the Hokage. Still, Homura knew that there had been three jonin-level combat specialists assigned to keep watch over Sasuke's team. Even Orochimaru shouldn't have been able to defeat them that easily.

His old teammate grimaced. "According to the people who investigated the site in the forest eight ANBU were killed while they slept. They used a shift system to make work easier for them. In all likelihood they died first before Orochimaru took out the four awake ANBU. One was poisoned by a snake, probably with a surprise attack. The second one had his neck snapped from behind. The third was impaled through the heart with a sword and the last one was decapitated. My best guess is that they didn't take their assignment truly seriously and only prepared for chunin-level threats at best."

Homura barked out a short laugh. "'We should have taken this more seriously.' makes a nice epitaph, don't you think? How can it be that Orochimaru can simply walk into the village and no one notices a thing? That isn't even mentioning that enemy spy Kabuto. He must be jonin level. I always said we don't do enough for the village's security."

"We need the money from the missions, Homura. You know that. In some ways we still haven't fully recovered from the third shinobi war and the Kyuubi attack. Likewise, we can't allow other villages to gain more influence. Influence they would get if we refuse missions." Koharu answered, clearly exasperated. "You gave your agreement to that policy."

The bespectacled man nodded. "You're right; I did that. It was a sensible measure at first. The other villages were too war-worn to capitalize on such an opening. We urgently needed to get back on our feet and prevent them from snapping up clients. What I didn't want was that becoming our permanent policy. It has been thirteen years since the Kyuubi attack, Koharu, thirteen years. By now the other villages have recovered. We might have infiltrators by the dozens inside our walls. Heck, a determined enemy could mass a large force only a few kilometers away and we wouldn't discover them. Then they could quickly advance on us thanks to the lack of barriers and traps, disable the few sentries we do post and be inside the village before we could even man the wall."

"Don't you think I don't know that, Homura?" Koharu snapped. "What do you expect me to do? For very different reasons both Hiruzen and Danzo want to continue in this way and most department heads agree with them. They mostly only see the influence and money we gain, not the downsides. It's the same for the clan heads. The civilians will believe whoever explains his viewpoint better, meaning they will follow whatever Hiruzen tells them. I'm not as free as you in expressing my dissent."

Homura breathed deeply and tried to calm himself. In an effort to regain lost influence Koharu had associated closely with Danzo, meaning she couldn't really go against the man. They didn't need that argument, though, not now. "I apologize for bringing this up. What is Sasuke's status?"

"He's still unconscious from the aftereffects of the overlaying seal Kakashi applied. Kakashi wants to take him away for one month for extra training. The Hokage has already given permission." She proceeded with telling him the details about the sealing method Kakashi had used, at least as far Koharu understood it.

Frowning, Homura thought about Kakashi's choice. It was a rather crude counter-seal that relied on pure power and the will of the sealed person to keep another seal suppressed. He didn't think it would work long-term. According to all reports Sasuke was a very driven person. Sooner or later he would want the power one of Orochimaru's curse seals offered. While he hadn't been able to completely unravel the secrets of the seal on Anko's neck he had learned some things, namely that using a curse seal had an addicting effect and its use would over time erode one's body and mind. Anko was lucky that her seal didn't appear to be functioning correctly. Unfortunately it was a sure bet that Orochimaru would have improved the design in the meantime. Some influence would leak through; Kakashi's method was far from foolproof.

There were better sealing methods available to Homura than what Kakashi had used, but that would have required them bringing Sasuke to him. Since the seal was acting up Hiruzen and Kakashi didn't have the time for that. On the other hand it had been sheer insanity to let Sasuke fight in that state. Now he couldn't put a more effective seal on Sasuke without risking additional problems, meaning Kakashi's seal would have to suffice. Well, that was spilled milk.

"How do you think Itachi will react?" he finally asked.

"I don't know. It isn't like we didn't do everything in our power to keep the boy safe, but Itachi might not see it that way. I'm more worried about pitting Sasuke against the Suna jinchuuriki."

Homura groaned. "I wonder whose bright idea that was. Judging from my reports that is almost a death sentence. If the boy had any sense he would make a show before surrendering. Sometimes I wonder if Hiruzen and Kakashi are trying to get him killed. According to my sources the Kazekage's son has a high degree of control over his demon."

"Could Naruto counter him?" Koharu asked curiously.

He could only shrug. "Who knows? He can draw on the Kyuubi's chakra and Anko's reports are promising, but I have no idea how he would fare against Gaara. In the event of such an escalation collateral damage would be immense anyway. Since the fight will happen inside the village, well, I'm not sure there would be a village left afterwards. It might be possible to take him out before he has time to do anything with an assassination technique, but we might as well declare war against Suna if the Kazekage's youngest son dies in a match with shinobi from an allied village."

"I wouldn't go that far, but it would surely produce a diplomatic incident of the highest order." She sighed. "It is out of our hands. Is there any new information about the defector from Sound?"

Homura shook his head. "Apparently the girl hasn't woken yet, but the switch was successful. The records show that her body has been incinerated after a thorough examination, just like her teammates. We'll have to wait until the Aburame are ready to give us more information. She belongs to them now, not the village as a whole."

* * *

><p>Kin woke with a choked cry. Panicked, she looked around. She was in some dark, windowless room. A massive grate blocked the only exit. Light from an oil lamp was falling though the grate. It was too dim to make out any details of the room. Slowly her breathing and heartbeat slowed down when she came to grasps with her situation.<p>

'_I'm alive.'_

She was pretty sure she had died, but then again she wouldn't be here now if that had been truly the case. Her last memories were exceedingly unpleasant. For a moment she had feared that the Aburame were going back on their deal, but apparently they had followed through. She was still feeling as if someone had put her through the wringer. All her muscles ached and the insides of her chest hurt somewhat. Even the small movements she had used to look around had exhausted her. The bed she was lying in was very comfortable, though.

'_Chakra exhaustion in addition to some other issues.' _Kin thought. _'It could have been worse.'_

Relief flooded her and she almost giggled. She had successfully escaped the madness that was Otogakure. Now she had a future again that didn't involve death or horrible medical experiments. Of course, she didn't know how the Aburame would treat her, but it couldn't really be worse than what she had been through in her early life. Feeling profound happiness she closed her eyes and soon was asleep.

Kin opened her eyes. She had just woken again, but she didn't have any indication how long she had slept. The weariness she felt was still there, but it was somewhat diminished. Suddenly she noticed two figures standing outside the grate.

"Who are you? Where am I?" she addressed them.

A moment later the light shifted and grew brighter, allowing her to see more. A man and a woman were standing outside, but judging from the light a third person was somewhere out of her line of sight. Both wore high-collared outfits and dark glasses. The middle-aged man had short, spiky black hair, a thin mustache, wore trousers and had a tassel hanging from his glasses. His face down from the upper lip was covered by the collar of his jacket.

The woman looked a quite a few years younger as far as Kin was able to tell. Chin-length, slightly wavy blond hair framed her face. A pair of red earrings adorned her ears. Kin wasn't sure because of the light, but she thought a small mole was situated under her left eye. Her jacket was longer than the man's, but it looked more like a lab coat. She wore it open, revealing a blue blouse hugging a generous bust, a short black skirt and full-length fine mesh stockings. Both kept their hands in their pockets.

Kin felt herself being scrutinized for a while until the man spoke up. "I am Shibi Aburame, head of the Aburame clan and Shino's father. You are currently in the Aburame clan compound under our protection and will stay here for the foreseeable future. Once you are strong enough we will verify your sincerity. Your ultimate fate will be decided then. Until then you will be kept in this room. Do you have any time-critical information you wish to relay to us?"

She thought for a moment. Most of what she knew could wait a few days. Now that she was out of harm's way there would be no sense in holding things back. She had committed herself to this course of action and couldn't go back on her word anyway. "The jonin accompanying my team was Orochimaru. He marked Sasuke Uchiha with a seal that he uses on his most valuable subordinates. My team was sent to kill him, but now I believe that was only intended as a test for Sasuke. By the way, what happened to my teammates?"

"Both were killed in the exams. We are aware of Orochimaru's presence. If there is nothing else I leave you in my wife's expert care. She will be in charge of your health for the next few days."

The ex-Oto kunoichi shook her head. After giving the woman a nod Shibi left. Kin wondered if they would open the grate, but her unasked question was answered a moment later. Untold bugs left the woman's clothing, forming a cloud that easily passed through the space between the bars. Once inside the room it condensed into a copy of the woman. The original left a moment later without a word.

"I will examine you now. Any objections or questions?" the clone inquired.

"How can a clone do your work?" Kin asked before she could hold back her words.

"This advanced bug clone carries part of my mind. As long as the distance doesn't grow too much I can be present at multiple places at the same time."

When Kin said nothing else the woman approached her and removed the blanket covering her. Kin only now noticed that she was completely nude, but she didn't let it bother her. Her sense of shame had died a humiliating death a long time ago. She was still too weak to move much on her own, but the woman had no trouble setting her upright or moving her into other positions. Kin felt herself prodded in different places and subjected to what looked like medical techniques.

"Good, you are recovering without complications. There is no permanent damage from your death."

"I… died? For real?"

"Only for a short time. As soon as you left the arena the kickaichu my son left inside your body jumpstarted your heart and forcibly injected their chakra load into you, counteracting the chakra exhaustion." the woman explained while she continued treating Kin. "It kept you alive for the few minutes we needed to make the switch."

Apparently it was question day. "Shino is your son?"

The woman's professionally neutral expression changed into a slight smile. "He is and I'm very proud of him. You will probably see more of him in the future."

A moment later the woman helped Kin lie back down and made sure the blanket covered her. Then she approached the grate where the original was waiting with a cup in her hands. Kin noticed slight ripples running through the air when the woman outside put it on one of the wooden bars. The effect only ended when the clone inside removed it.

'_Huh, that's a barrier of some sort. They really don't take any chances.'_

Meanwhile the clone of the woman had returned to her side and put the cup to her lips. "Drink this; it will help you recover faster."

Seeing no reason not to Kin began to drink. The mixture was very sweet with countless spices mixed in. After draining the entire cup Kin closed her eyes. The examination had completely exhausted her. She was already drifting to sleep when some softly spoken words reached her ears.

"Yes, you just might do…"

* * *

><p>From one moment to the next Naruto awoke. The first thing he noticed was that he had a headache. The second thing he noticed was that he could hardly move. The third and far more important thing he noticed was that this state was caused by a warm body resting on top of him.<p>

'_I didn't plan to visit mom and dad this night, meaning I shouldn't be in bed with anyone.'_

When he opened his eyes he saw an unfamiliar ceiling, dimly lit by rays of light streaming through closed shutters. He was half-sitting, half-lying in a cushioned seat. A softly snoring Yakumo was lying on top of him, pinning him into the chair. One of her hands had found its way under his shirt. Her other hand had his right hand in a tight grip. A careful inspection with his free hand reassured him that they were still decent despite having shed some clothes.

'_How did we end up here?'_ he asked himself_. 'Oh, right. The party.'_

Last evening Teams 8, 10 and 11 had thrown a wild party in Asuma-sensei's house. Two members from each team had advanced to the finals. That had called for a celebration. Originally all Konoha teams should have participated, but no one had been able to find Sasuke or Kakashi. Sakura didn't want to come. Tenten and Gai had only been invited for politeness' sake; everyone had expected them to stay with Lee and Neji in the hospital.

Turning his head from one side to the other Naruto tried to get an overview over the room.

Kiba and Akamaru were passed out half on the floor, half on the table were they had performed a drunken dance.

Choji, Asuma and Kurenai occupied various couches. The boy and the man were snoring loudly, the woman softly.

Shino was lying on the floor, stiff as a board.

Shinji and Asuka shared a fourth couch. The boy had lost his shirt and the girl lying on top of him was only wearing a thin wrap around her breasts. Her kimono still covered her lower body, though. The scene when they woke up and found themselves in that position would be a sight to behold.

The last pair caused Naruto to goggle. Entwined in a cushioned seat not unlike the one he and Yakumo occupied Hinata and Ino laid in a highly compromising position. Both were only wearing undergarments and Ino had her face buried between Hinata's breasts.

'_Okay, what happened? I recall the adults saying something about teaching us the dangers of partying without restraint.'_

The hangover made it a bit difficult to remember all the details. It had started harmless enough; just a normal victory party but with more alcohol than he would have expected. In preparation he had locked all his potentially incriminating memories away; an easy thing for someone knowing his mind as well as he did and it was a subject talked about at the academy. Naruto remembered being goaded into a drinking contest, first with Kiba, then Choji and finally Shino. When he was still standing after that Asuma had taken up the challenge… and lost. Then Kurenai had taken over. Unfortunately they couldn't determine a winner because a very drunk Yakumo began making advances on him. That had occupied his entire attention, the contest forgotten. A short time later they must have passed out.

More and more memories came to him. He was pretty sure they were not in order they had occurred.

Shino went completely stiff after the last drink of alcohol, admitted defeat, stood up and then toppled over without relaxing or moving a single muscle in his body.

Kiba danced with Akamaru and the various girls on the table. Several times. After he lost the drinking contest it was only him and his dog.

A completely smashed Ino unexpectedly grabbed a plastered Hinata and began kissing her while the still awake spectators cheered them on. After a moment of confusion the pale girl kissed back. Naruto was pretty sure there had been lots of tongue involved.

Choji simply rolled to the side and went to sleep after drinking too much.

Halfway through the drinking contest Shino began singing. He actually had a good voice.

Ino and Hinata pulled him into their embrace. Yakumo managed to pull him away, but was drawn in instead.

Asuka scolded Shinji for making her lose until the boy shouted "Shut up!" and closed her mouth with his own.

Naruto frowned. During the entire time Anko didn't drink anything and he remembered a few meaningful glances between the jonin. Had they tried to make the genin absolutely drunk?

'_Probably. They might have wanted us to experience the dangers of getting drunk in a safe environment. Anko never drinks much and in all likelihood volunteered as minder to prevent anything truly inappropriate from happening.'_

"Ow."

A look to the side showed him Asuma waking up. The jonin sat up and looked around with bloodshot eyes. After a moment he closed his eyes again and began massaging his head.

Yakumo began squirming in his arms, drawing his attention to her. She was still asleep, but a ray of light from the windows was shining into her face, causing her to frown. Naruto used his free hand to shield her eyes. Immediately the brunette girl's expression relaxed and she snuggled closer to him. It made him feel warm inside, but there was also an ache. The closer he grew to her the stronger it got. He knew very well why he felt that way. Effectively cheating on someone he loved was slowly tearing him apart.

Naruto knew he shouldn't have entered a relationship with Yakumo and keep up one with Hinata in the other world at the same time. He had known at the time it was a bad decision and gone through with it anyway. It didn't help his conscience any that the relationship with Hinata was for all intents and purposes undiscoverable. Hinata had manipulated him in that direction in an effort to enable him to have children when she couldn't risk having a physical relationship with him in the real world. That didn't absolve him of any blame.

'_I have to talk with Hinata about this. Things can't continue in this way.'_

Suddenly Anko entered the room. A sadistic smirk graced her face. Naruto was pretty sure he knew what was to come. Anko didn't disappoint.

"It's a beautiful day outside. RISE AND SHINE." she shouted loudly.

Naruto had lowered the sensitivity of his hearing as a precaution, but he still winced. Yakumo's eyes shot open and she looked around panicked. As soon as she realized where she was she closed her eyes again and let out a heartfelt groan.

Curses and groans emerged from all over the room as people were waking up. Asuka jumped away from Shinji, beet-red and shouting before her face went sickly green and she vomited on the floor. Naruto paid it no mind, his full attention was on Ino and Hinata. He didn't want to miss anything.

Ino didn't move her head. Instead her hands were fumbling around until they came to rest on Hinata's breasts. Then she squeezed. Several times. Hinata opened her eyes and looked down. Ino slowly raised her head from between Hinata's breasts and looked up. The two girls were looking at each other for several seconds in silence. By now the eyes of everyone coherent were on them. Then Ino looked at what her hands were touching. Then she looked back at Hinata's face.

"You know what? I'm either dreaming this or I'm still drunk. I'll deal with this situation when I'm completely sober." Ino said and moved her head back into its earlier position.

For a moment Hinata simply looked at the top of Ino's head. Then she blinked twice and blushed slightly before she too closed her eyes again.

'_That was not what I was expecting.'_

A quick look around showed Naruto that everyone was staring open-mouthed at the scene, but soon the individual problems demanded their attention.

"Ow, my head." Yakumo moaned when Naruto gently helped her stand up and steered her in the direction of the nearest bathroom. It was probably best to get there first.

Twenty minutes later Naruto, Yakumo, Choji and the jonin were sitting around the kitchen table, water-filled glasses in their hands. Several different hang-over cures were in the process of being prepared. The other genin were still busy in the bathrooms. Why a bachelor like Asuma possessed such a large house away from the traditional Sarutobi residence Naruto didn't know, but it sure came in handy.

"So, this was an attempt to show us the dangers of excessive alcohol?" Choji asked. He seemed remarkably fresh after the events of last night.

"Among other things like the downsides of losing control, yes. At least that was the plan." a bleary-eyed Kurenai answered before she sent a slight glare at Naruto. "A certain someone required far more alcohol than planned, though. I've never seen a thirteen-year-old consume so much alcohol and still be conscious."

"Kid, how did you manage to beat me? I was winning drinking contests when you weren't even a gleam in your father's eye." Asuma grumbled. "My reputation will be ruined."

Naruto shrugged before he winced. His headache didn't like movement. The hangover was already getting better since he had begun to drink water to counter the dehydration, but he was a far cry from being fine. "I guess it's either because I'm an Uzumaki or have the furball in my gut. Perhaps both."

"This is so unfair." Yakumo moaned. She had placed her head on Naruto's shoulder and kept her eyes mostly closed. "You drank far more than me and are recovering faster."

Naruto gave her a slight squeeze before addressing Anko. "I noticed you didn't drink anything, sensei."

Anko nodded. "I rarely drink anymore and someone had to stay sober to keep things from going too far. If I hadn't paid attention Asuka and Shinji would have gone at it like rabbits. As it was I had to use an induced sleep technique. You two lovebirds passed out on your own."

In that moment Hinata and Ino entered the kitchen. Both were blushing furiously and apparently didn't want to look at each other when they sat down at the table.

"You two I had to almost forcibly restrain. I almost thought you would manage to take off all your clothes before my sleep technique took hold. Do you want to tell us something?" Anko teased.

The only answer was a deepening of the two girls' blushes.

Kurenai laughed lightly. "Don't think about it too much. There are many things you do while drunk that you would never do sober. In the future it will only be a funny story."

Suddenly Asuma perked up. "Speaking of which, is that story about you, Anko and Yugao Uzuki in that hot spring resort four years ago true?"

Kurenai blushed deeply, but Anko gave the bearded man only a wink. "A lady never tells. You have to keep guessing."

"Drat."

The byplay seemed to have calmed Hinata and Ino down. It was probably the reason why Asuma had brought it up, come to think of it. Curiously Naruto didn't feel any jealousy. It might be because Ino and Hinata had been drunk and it had been in good fun, not anything serious. Perhaps it was because he was male and found watching two pretty girls going at it hot. Whatever it was, he was sure to tease Hinata about the matter as soon as they could talk privately.

'_I have to talk with Hinata about dealing with Jiraiya anyway. If I can include Ino, so much the better. I wonder if the pervert has already approached Anko.'_

* * *

><p>Sasori of the Red Sand carefully examined the body growing in the specially prepared seal-covered vat. It was coming along nicely, but it would be some time before it was ready. If it managed to reach that state and didn't turn out to be a failure like his earlier attempts that was. Examining the hidden laboratory Orochimaru had used during his time at Akatsuki again had paid off. The traitorous snake had been Sasori's partner when he was still a member, meaning Sasori knew much about his activities in that time. Immediately after his partner's defection he had already paid it a visit, but he hadn't really looked at the research. At that time he had been more interested in Orochimaru's possible whereabouts. Now though he had found a use for the Sannin's studies.<p>

One of the problems Sasori had encountered in the pursuit of his plan to leave Akatsuki was that he couldn't simply craft another puppet body for himself to use after faking his death. While his puppets were human-based they couldn't pass as living humans, at least not for longer than a short-lived deception. His own more life-like body wouldn't pass extensive scrutiny either, not in a village full of puppeteers. That wasn't even considering shinobi with good sensor abilities or medical examinations.

The solution he had come up with was a combination of his own art with Orochimaru's research. Instead of using a human-based but dead shell he would create a truly living body he could steer from the inside. Orochimaru had pursued the creation of new bodies from a sample, but in the end given up on that avenue of research. Apparently the bodies created in that way were vegetables without a mind, which had made them worthless for what he wanted to do with them. At least that was Sasori's best guess judging from the scribbled 'Transfer always fails; soul apparently needed; no sharingan present for harvesting' in the notebook.

Combining his own art with the snake's research was an exceedingly difficult project with many stumbling blocks, but Sasori was making progress in leaps and bounds. It reminded him of the time he had first developed his human puppetry. He had missed that feeling.

When Sasori was honest with himself he had to admit he had stagnated in the improvement of his art before. Oh, his collection of human-based puppets had continued growing, but there had been no true improvements; no challenges to stimulate his mind. In truth, he had been bored without realizing it. By now he knew that his earlier approach had led him into a dead end. He was neither dead nor alive. For all his efforts he was incapable of taking the last step and turning himself completely into a puppet. Ultimately he had failed in attaining immortality and eternal beauty. His puppet body would never decay and could be rebuild again and again; that was true. It couldn't heal either and he had cut himself of from most shinobi arts due to his lack of a normal chakra network. Unfortunately the small part of him that was still alive was very much mortal. His tests had proved it.

Now though the options seemed endless again. Even when he was finished with his current project the general field would provide many options for interesting research. He would be busy for years, maybe even decades before he had exhausted all the possibilities. Of course, he would first have to legalize it, but that shouldn't pose much difficulty in the long term. It seemed the Kazekage was determined to lead Suna into disaster. It would create a unique opening. The only question was if Sasori would manage to complete his project in time. Some of the involved seal work was very tricky.

'_I have to hurry. Time waits for no one.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

Originally I wanted to have the encounter with Jiraiya in this chapter, but it grew too long and would have taken me several days more to complete. It will take place in the next one instead.

Pairings: The developments in this chapter might foreshadow the future... or they could be a red hering. Not telling at this point.

Regarding the power level of the characters: One thing I noticed while doing a bit of research into the jonin was the age of graduation and promotion. Practically everyone of the older generation graduated at an earlier age than the Konoha twelve; in fact most had already reached chunin by that age. That does counteract the (supposed) message of the manga that the younger generation surpasses the old one, doesn't it? It was one of the measuring sticks I used when I planned what skill level Naruto's group would reach upon graduation.

Canon data

It goes age at promotion to genin/chunin/jonin

Kakashi: 5/6/12 invented an A-rank technique at age twelve

Yamato: 6/6/?

Jiraiya: 6/?/?

Orochimaru: 6/?/?

Tsunade: 6/?/?

Itachi: 7/10/? ANBU captain by age 13, slaughtered whole clan around 14

Gai: 7/11/?

Rin (Kakashi's teammate): 9/11 skilled medic-nin by age 12

Asuma: 9/12/?

Kurenai: 9/13/26

Shizune: 9/13

Anko: 10/12/?

Ibiki: 10/15/?

Iruka: 11/16

Fun timeline facts thanks to math: At least Yamato's data has to be wrong. His age is given as 26 (I assume this pertains to the Shippuden era). He was freed from Orochimaru's Konoha laboratory after the snake fled and before he entered the academy. That means Orochimaru defected at least twenty years ago. Somehow I doubt Anko became his apprentice at the ripe age of 4…

For the purposes of this story Orochimaru defected around a year after the Kyuubi attack.

On another note, I recently started a Sasuke-centric story. Destiny and my Draco-centric Harry Potter story will take precedence and updates will be slow, but if you're a fan of my work you might want to like to take a look.


	31. Chapter 30: A perverted encounter

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto; nothing to be done about it

**Chapter 30: A perverted encounter**

Anko sniggered slightly when she left Asuma Sarutobi's house. Seeing all the genin and even the two jonin nursing their hangovers gave her some malicious pleasure.

'_Oh yes, the joys of drinking. It's better for the kids to learn restraint early.'_

It had been one of her better decisions to give up excessive drinking once and for all after she had woken up in Mizuki's house after returning from their nearly disastrous encounter with the Jashinists. She had already moderated her drinking habits after Naruto dragged her out of the gutter years ago, but now she never consumed alcohol in excess. No more waking under unfamiliar ceilings for her.

After a short walk Anko sat down at one of the countless small restaurants and ordered something to eat. There was nothing she had to do urgently; the others would need at least the morning to recover from the party and her meeting with her mentor wasn't until noon. Tomorrow would see the beginning of training for the finals. To her surprise the genin had approached them with the idea of joint training. When she had thought about it for a moment she had come to the conclusion that it was a wise measure. The finals were not about winning; they were about giving a good show and displaying one's skills. None of the three teams' genin really wanted to hurt each other and they had reasoned that their chances for promotion were actually higher that way. After all, if they fought for real at least some of them would go for ending the fight too quickly. Additionally they could train skills that would help them during their entire career, not only a specific fight.

Of course, they wouldn't train as one large group. The teams would primarily stay with their sensei, but there would be some cross-training. Naruto would finally learn channeling elemental chakra properly through weapons and perhaps some wind techniques from Asuma while Anko would tutor some of his students in exchange.

Anko was already finishing her meal when someone slid into the seat behind her. The interesting thing was that she almost didn't notice his earlier approach, only when he sat down did she get a clear feeling that someone was there. She had noticed someone snooping around her team during the last day, but didn't manage to get a clear look at the person responsible. That alone told her much about the skill of that person. The few other hints she had been able to pick up allowed her to make a pretty accurate guess, though.

After swallowing the last dango ball (Yum Yum!) she turned towards the man she immediately recognized. She had met him occasionally during her apprenticeship and her erstwhile master had told her much about him. Well, and if you had seen him one time (or had an average description) you pretty much couldn't mistake him for anyone else.

"Good morning, Jiraiya-sama. To what do I owe the honor of your presence?"

If the man was surprised by this manner of address he didn't show it. "Good morning, Anko-san. Why do you think I want anything aside from a meal? Our meeting could be completely random."

"A likely story. I noticed you snooping around yesterday. So excuse me if I don't believe that this meeting is a coincidence."

Jiraiya laughed. "It seems I'm not that good at shadowing someone like I thought. Perhaps I only want to see how you're doing or do a bit of research for my next book." He leered at her, his eyes wandering to her breasts.

While that explanation wasn't completely unlikely considering her physical attributes she didn't believe him. Jiraiya preferred spying on bathing women (or others in a similar state of undress), not fully clothed ones. According to him he needed inspiration for his pornographic novels. Apparently they were selling quite successfully. Personally Anko didn't see the appeal, but Kurenai swore on them. Her old friend had a complete collection in her house, but in contrast to Kakashi she never read them in public.

She let out a short laugh. "Since you never sought me out in all those years after I returned to the village I find it hard to believe you're starting now. There are other places where you can pursue your hobby; places where you aren't likely to be picked up by ANBU. The Hokage has been looking for you for a long time, you know. Are you here because of Orochimaru?"

"No, sorry. That isn't why I came back. I'm just here to work on my novels."

Anko narrowed her eyes. If there was one thing she really disliked about Jiraiya it was his annoying habit of never saying outright what he wanted. He was always playing his games. It had annoyed her when Orochimaru left her in the man's care for a few days during her apprenticeship and it annoyed her now. He was perhaps the strongest Konoha shinobi alive (especially if you took the Hokage's age into account), but sometimes he played the fool far too well.

"Cut the crap, Jiraiya. I'm not in the mood for your games. Spit out what you want from me or get lost."

Jiraiya looked at her, obviously gauging her mood. "According to my information you have Naruto Uzumaki on your team. I would like to take over his training for the time until the finals."

The jonin considered her answer for a moment. "No."

That took the man by surprise. "What do you mean; no?"

"No means no. Naruto is my pupil. I see no reason to give his training into another's hands, especially because we've already made plans for training. Did you really think you could just walk up to me, ask nicely and I would agree?" Anko asked.

"Honestly? Yes. Most people would jump at the chance for one of their pupils being trained by one of the Sannin."

"I'm not most people." Anko looked directly into Jiraiya's eyes. "You forget that I was trained by a Sannin as well. At his current level there isn't much you can teach Naruto he can't learn from me."

Jiraiya leant back in his seat. "I could always order you to leave his training to me."

"No, you can't. Despite you being called a Sannin and a sage you don't have any actual authority over me or anyone else for that matter. You are just a jonin without formal area of responsibility, assigned subordinates or mission. We're equal in rank. Even the Hokage can't order me to simply loan out one of my genin, not during the chunin exams and without just cause. I need a better reason than a simple 'I want to train him' if you want me to even think about it."

For a moment Jiraiya seemed to ponder his answer. "It's time he learns to access the power sleeping inside of him. I want to teach him how to draw it out."

"He can already access the Kyuubi's power at will." Anko answered after checking for potential listeners.

"What?"

Anko sighed. "Really, Jiraiya? You come to me without knowing anything about Naruto, not even bothering to ask about his skills before you decide you want to train him?" She held up her hand. "No, don't answer that. I'm pretty sure you have reasons you aren't telling me."

"Why would you think that?" Jiraiya asked, his face giving nothing away.

The jonin snorted in amusement. "I have a brain. In the past years you visited Konoha perhaps two or three times per year, if even that. Naruto would have told me if you had ever approached him; we are on good terms and you are rather memorable. Then you suddenly turn up and offer to train him out of the blue. Mind you, what you propose training him in wouldn't really help him during the exams. I doubt the villagers would like it if he uses the Kyuubi's chakra; the feeling is quite… unique and would stir up bad memories. Consequently you have additional motives. Am I wrong?"

Jiraiya let out a short laugh. "You've always been bright, Anko. I guess I have no choice but telling you more. I've come across signs of an organization that will target Naruto sooner or later because of what he contains."

"I thought as much. There are always those that covet the power of the tailed beasts. That still doesn't explain why you want to teach him about drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra."

The white haired man didn't seem fazed by her question. "I have my reasons, but there are always other things I can teach him. Do I have your permission to take over his training?"

"My answer remains no. It's too early for him to leave my care; there are still more intermediary things he has to learn before he can really profit from your instruction." Anko replied.

"You know, you're quite obstinate. Practically everyone would have caved by now."

"That is true. Still, Naruto's education is my responsibility and I'm not convinced you teaching Naruto is advisable at the current time. " Anko shrugged. "I can't prevent you from approaching him; I can't keep a fulltime watch over him, after all. If you want to talk with him about an apprenticeship you're welcome to try, but I will allow no interference until after the chunin exams are over. We've quite a strict training regime planned. Depending on the outcome things may change. If Naruto makes chunin it will be his decision alone to enter such an agreement, otherwise you will still have to contend with me."

"Well, if that's your opinion…" Jiraiya stood up. "It was good to see you again, Anko. I'll be around."

A moment later Jiraiya disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

'_That didn't go too well.'_

Anko knew that she had been unnecessarily confrontational, but she just couldn't help it. She had waited a long time for a team to teach and no one would take one of her pupils away from her without a very good reason. Additionally, she didn't have an especially high opinion of Jiraiya. Oh, he was strong and loyal to Konoha; no doubt about that. That didn't necessarily make him a good teacher.

Say what you will about Orochimaru (and Anko had a lot of very negative things to say about the man), he was one of the best teachers alive when he actually took the time to train someone properly. He was methodical, patient and made sure his pupils understood what they were supposed to learn and achieve. In contrast, Jiraiya favored a rather haphazard sink-or-swim approach, often with minimal clues and little regard for the student's safety. It could work… or it could produce spectacular and career-ending training accidents. When Orochimaru retrieved her from Jiraiya he had not been amused about what they had done in the meantime. Anko had been proud that she had made much progress in her fire mastery, but that didn't last when her sensei told her exactly how risky the training had been. He had originally planned several preparatory steps that would have required more than triple the time, but with almost no risk of burning herself severely. She had been one mistake away from suffering severe and possibly permanent injuries. If you combined that approach with a jinchuuriki, even one as responsible as Naruto… Anko didn't even want to think about the possible consequences.

Then there was the matter of Naruto's parents. Jiraiya had always been close to the Yondaime. There was no way he didn't know. Neglecting the boy for thirteen years was inexcusable. Granted, Jiraiya might have duties outside the village, but visiting every few months for a few days was easily possible. Anko wasn't in a position to judge Jiraiya's professional performance, but Homura had remarked several times that Jiraiya would be far more useful if he stayed in the village.

'_No, it's better to keep Jiraiya at arm's length for now. Naruto can always enter an apprenticeship with him later if he wants to.'_

* * *

><p>Tsume Inuzaka looked at her visitors from narrowed eyes. They had just told her an outrageous tale and she wasn't sure if this wasn't a prank or complicated scheme.<p>

Her son Kiba did seem honest, but he had no actual way of verifying things. It was clearly visible that he was uncomfortable with the situation. The female redhead was very nervous, but again it didn't seem that she was lying. Inoichi's daughter appeared sincere as did the Yamanaka mind healer.

Tsume concluded that a prank was unlikely and the story was true, but she wanted to confer with her daughter before she announced her decision.

"Very well; I will think about it. Yamanaka-san, I thank you for your time. Kiba, why don't you show Karin around the compound while I talk with your sister?"

A minute later Tsume and Hana were left alone in the office Tsume used for all the things her position of clan head entailed. At times like this she wished her husband hadn't left. Kenta had been much better at dealing with all this crap. In contrast to what most people believed she hadn't actually scared off her husband. The truth was that Kenta possessed an almost unbelievable amount of wanderlust. He always wanted to see new lands, animals and people. Even Tsume and their children couldn't hold him in Konoha forever. Nearly six years ago he and his partner had left the continent with a ship to shores unknown. Formally it was an open-ended scouting mission. Tsume still believed he was alive, but it was hard rearing the children and leading the clan without his help.

"What do you think, daughter? Is this story true?"

Hana paced in the room, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It could be. I remember a reference to sensor imprinting from my medical studies and the girl does exhibit the symptoms. We have no way of verifying it ourselves. I think the main question is do we trust the Yamanaka to tell us the truth?"

Tsume nodded. "If that condition exists at all I believe they are telling the truth. I don't see anything they would gain from lying to us and the demonstration of Karin's sensor talent was very impressive. She had no other way of knowing the exact number of newborn pups."

"She is a very valuable kunoichi in that respect even if her other skills are rather lacking. That isn't anything remedial training can't fix, though. If we can treat her mental issues she will made a good addition to the clan, especially if her talent turns out to be inheritable. What worries me is that she and Kiba will have to sleep in the same room or rather the same bed. That seems like a recipe for problems."

The older Inuzaka shrugged. "Two teenagers of different gender forced to stay together for a long time? There are only two possible outcomes. In a few months they will either be at each other's throats or fucking each other at every opportunity they get. Personally I'm betting on the latter option."

Hana goggled at her. "And you are okay with that, mom?"

Tsume held up her hands in a helpless gesture. "There isn't much I can do about it. You heard the mind healer. Karin will seek Kiba's proximity anyway. If we keep her here we might as well go the entire way. I already had a look at the mind healers' report earlier. It's practically unavoidable that she will develop an attraction to Kiba. The only thing we'll have to watch out for is her mind deteriorating or Kiba behaving in an abusive manner. I don't believe he will, but it is something to keep in mind. For the next few years Karin will be very vulnerable. Over time she'll become more independent, but some dependency will be there permanently. Creating a normal relationship seems the best way. Besides, it will mesh well with the cover story."

"It takes Kiba's choice of a mate away. I grant you Karin seems nice enough, but it is very cold and calculating."

A sigh was Hana's answer. "This is the duty of a clan head, Hana. One day in the future you'll have to make such decisions in my place. The good of the clan comes before the good of the members, especially if there is no direct harm done. I think having Karin here will benefit the clan in the long term. To keep her sanity she needs to be so close to Kiba that it would be difficult for him to form a relationship with another girl. I don't even have to do anything other than perhaps occasionally nudge things along. Their hormones will do the rest." The older woman gave her daughter a grin. "At least that way I'll get some grandchildren."

Hana rolled her eyes. "Please stop bringing that up. I'm only eighteen."

"And? When I was your age I was already pregnant with you. It isn't like there is a lack of suitors."

The younger Inuzaka huffed. "None of them is the right one. I don't want to talk about it. Anyway, what about the transfer fee we have to pay Kusa? Will it burden the clan's finances?"

Tsume laughed. "Hardly. The idiots from Grass don't even know what a treasure they have with Karin. The jonin already left with the bodies of the deceased. Apparently she wasn't very interested in Karin's future. Later today I'll send a query to Grass via messenger bird. In a few days we'll know more. That is if you don't have any objections?"

Her daughter thought for a moment. "No, I agree. In the end this is the best option for everyone. I only hope Kiba and Karin will get along."

"That is something only the future will reveal." Tsume agreed. She didn't like what she had to do, but the good of the clan came first. Besides, if everything went well Kiba might even be happy with the arrangement. Not that anyone would tell him that his mother and sister expected him to become an item with Karin. That would only lead to him digging his heels in; people generally didn't like getting their choice taken away.

* * *

><p>Special jonin Hayate Gekko was about to leave the roomy apartment he shared with his lover Yugoa when her voice reached his ears.<p>

"Do you really have to go?"

He hesitated. Originally he had planned to make another patrol around the village tonight, like he had done in the past two days. He was one of the few jonin who knew of Orochimaru's presence; it had been deemed bad for public morale if the traitor's infiltration became public knowledge. That meant there was no general mobilization for a thorough search of the village possible. He and a few others in the know had taken to patrolling the streets in the hopes of spotting something or someone suspicious, but to no avail.

"Please, I don't want to be alone this night."

Yugao had only returned a few hours ago from an assignment outside the borders of Fire Country. It was then that she had learned about the ANBU killed by Orochimaru. One of the deceased had been a childhood friend of Yugao. They had been nearly inseparable and as close as sisters, doing almost everything together, even joining ANBU at the same time. Her loss had hit Yugao hard.

Hayate turned away from the door. "I guess I can stay home tonight."

He had found nothing during the last days; it was very improbable that he would simply stumble across the traitor this night. His lover was more important.

* * *

><p>"What exactly will we be facing?"<p>

"I don't know."

"How can we deal with the problems?"

"I don't know."

"That isn't very helpful."

"I know."

Despite the seriousness of the situation Hinata couldn't suppress a giggle. It was their second day in the world of Naruto's parents. The day before had mostly been spent relaxing, but today Youko and Daiki had shared their fears about the future with them. It had dampened their good mood considerably.

Naruto sighed. "Then let's recapitulate what we do know. From what you've seen it's pretty certain that Oto and Suna are allied and will attack at some point in the near future. That alone isn't out of the ordinary; it's a relatively common occurrence in the visions you showed me. What about those Sky guys? I remember they were a rival village that was destroyed in the second shinobi war, but nothing else. They were never in any visions."

Hinata tried to remember more details from what she had learnt about Konoha's history. "They specialized in aerial combat. I don't think Konoha does have any really useful air defenses other than the individual jutsu of the shinobi so they can do a lot of damage with dropped exploding tags or similar weapons. There were unsubstantiated rumors about an ultimate weapon of some sort they didn't get an opportunity to use before their forces were scattered, but such stories are pretty much standard for every defeated shinobi village."

"We have no hints what their forces or strategies will be. Perhaps your summons can do something about the aerial assault." Youko suggested.

The blond boy nodded thoughtfully. "I think so, but I don't know if they will be enough. Three villages can bring a lot of resources to bear. It isn't like I can just summon one boss swallow and everything will be fine; against a full-blown army that is used to fighting in the sky I will need to call almost the entire swallow tribe to have any hope of making a difference. That will drain even me of chakra and it takes time."

"It still counters one prong of the attack at least partially; that's something. That still leaves the forces from Sand and Sound." Hinata interjected.

Daiki shook his head. "You can't do much about them. We don't know when exactly the attack will come, but that matters greatly. Shinobi can cover a lot of ground in a short time. From what you said there is nothing in the way to stop them from moving rapidly on Konoha. They might attack during the finals, the celebration thereafter or the following day when most people will still be inebriated. There is no way you can give a timely warning, especially considering that you will be busy with the finals and need to conserve your chakra. A false alarm will do more harm than good."

Naruto sighed. "You're right. My swallows can scout around, but the area is too big, the trees offer too much cover and the swallows might not be able to mass in time to counter the Sky ninja if I disperse them for a search. I hope we can get some information from Kin, but the normal Konoha forces will have to handle Sand and Sound without our support. I see no way of stopping them cold."

"Then let us proceed to the supernatural threats. Of the four threats I saw we have been able to identify three while we have no idea what the Pretending Worm is or if it is associated with one of the other factions. I can offer no information or advice about that one. The Wicked Heart refers to Jashin, but we have no idea who its agents will be nor what exactly they will do, meaning we can do nothing about them. Orochimaru is most likely the Slithering Blasphemer. Our best guess is that he will use the Edo Tensei technique we found in the forbidden scroll to resurrect some famous shinobi and will attack the Hokage. His title means Fire Shadow, after all."

"Great. I'm pretty sure even my two-tailed form isn't enough to beat Orochimaru."

"Most likely not." Youko agreed. "If the Hokage and enough other forces gang up on Orochimaru they have a good chance of winning, but with his immortal minions things get very dicey. I don't believe any of you will have the time to interfere in that battle. The other threats will keep you more than busy."

Hinata posed the most important question she saw. "Do we really want to save the Hokage in the first place?"

The blond boy was silent for a few seconds. "No. In all my life I have found no definite proof that the man wants to harm me or knows about Minato's plan, but many of his actions furthered it. Without mom's and dad's interference I would have led a crappy life. I don't trust him. He is one of the main factors the village is this vulnerable in the first place. In this situation it makes him an enemy."

Daiki nodded in acceptance. "The best possible outcome would be for the Hokage and Orochimaru to kill each other. I don't see any way for you to influence this; there is a far more dangerous problem for you to deal with anyway. We do know that the Ichibi is trying to free itself. I already verified just now that it is drawing magic from the surroundings. There are many uncertainties, but my best guess is that it will try to free itself at the time of the finals." Daiki explained. "The seal will not hold it and neither will anything else once it freed itself completely. The magic empowers it greatly."

"What would happen if we simply kill Gaara now?" Hinata asked.

"That will only free the Ichibi immediately. Applying additional seals will do nothing either. The only measure with any hope of success is calling directly on our power."

"Which will most likely bring Jashin down on our heads." Naruto remarked.

"Correct."

"Three enemy villages are invading, a group of Jashinists with a grudge is running around, Orochimaru brings back the dead to fight for him, an incredibly dangerous jinchuuriki is here whose demon will inevitably get loose and there is another threat we know nothing about." Naruto summarized. "I don't see how we will be able to survive this. How about we simply desert and flee? That seems the best chance at survival."

Hinata had to admit she harbored similar thoughts. The dangers were simply overwhelming. Getting away would not really be a problem thanks to Naruto's summons. On the other hand they couldn't just leave their friends behind.

"You don't really mean that, kit. There is no way you would leave your friends and you know it." Youko admonished as if reading Hinata's thoughts. "It's too late for that anyway."

"How so?" Hinata asked curiously.

"Because of the sanctuary." Youko answered with a sigh. "Once the Ichibi is free it will find it if it searches long and hard enough, and it will. The spring of magic is too valuable a resource to ignore. We could deal with its loss, but unfortunately we are metaphysically connected to that place. If my erstwhile sibling successfully takes it for its own it can attack us directly. In our imprisoned condition and without you present to act as conduit for our power it will win. I'm sorry to say that but if we perish you will join us in oblivion, my son. We are too tightly connected. Hinata, you have some slight chance to escape relatively unharmed if the connection in your soul to this place snaps, but your chances aren't good."

Hinata hugged Naruto closely. "I don't want to live without Naruto anyway. It just wouldn't be worth it."

She truly meant that. Even if she survived, without Naruto the world would be too empty for her to bear.

"So we can't run even if we wanted to." Naruto said after several minutes of silence. "That means we will have to put up a fight. I might be able to defeat Gaara using mom's chakra and all the tricks in my bag, but if the Ichibi escapes anyway that's futile and a waste of resources. I will need most of my chakra for the summons or other fights and can't afford to waste it against Gaara."

"We agree. One thing is certain: You will have to call upon our divine power at some point. You won't be able to defeat the Ichibi in any other way. I can't reiterate enough that it will be far more powerful than usual once it frees itself." Daiki said.

"But then Jashin will take notice." Hinata objected.

"It's a risk we'll have to take." Youko admitted. "Our hope is that once the Ichibi is free and the fighting rages for a while the view of outside parties like Jashin will be obscured by all the disturbed energies; a metaphysical fog of war if you will. That means you will have to wait until the Ichibi breaks its bonds until you call on our help. There is a very real and big chance none of us will survive this. We will do our utmost to win, but we might not succeed. Your father and I have already come up with several ideas that might help us win, though. We will refine them over the month that remains to us. Hopefully you will be able to gather more information in the outside world. Enjoy your life to the fullest you can without compromising the future in case all goes well; if it goes badly none of us will have one."

About two subjective days later Hinata wandered through the blooming fields not too far away from the cottage. Getting around in this world was still rather cumbersome in spite of their shinobi speed. Despite years (or even decades in Naruto's case) of trying neither she nor Naruto had been able to learn what Youko and Daike termed as the Direct Way. It was very frustrating to be unable to master that means of traveling great distances in hardly any time, even if it would only be useful in this world. Unfortunately there seemed to be some fundamental disconnect in how their minds and the minds of Naruto's parents worked.

"You wanted to speak with me, Naruto?" she asked when she reached him. Their current location was the top of a hill amidst the fields. An enormous oak provided shade and the view was simply beautiful. Hinata wasn't sure if this particular landscape had existed before; this world often changed at Naruto's parents' whim.

Naruto visibly steeled himself. "Yes. It's about our relationship and Yakumo."

Hinata felt a stab of guilt. Originally it had seemed such a good idea. She would have Naruto in this world when she couldn't be together with him in the real world. At the same time one of her two female friends would have a happy relationship (really, considering their personalities and Naruto nothing else was possible) and Naruto would be able to fulfill one of his dreams; founding a family. This way three people would gain at least some amount of happiness even if the situation wasn't ideal. Unfortunately it wasn't really working as planned.

Yakumo was her first true female friend. She had helped her enormously in the time her timid and shy personality was still shifting to her current one. Considering what had happened to her clan the girl had every right to find happiness. From what Hinata had observed the relationship with Naruto had made her very happy indeed, meaning at least that part of her plan had worked. Hinata felt incredible sadness that it couldn't be her every time she saw them together, but simultaneously she was glad for them. Unfortunately Yakumo was too perceptive for her own good. The last Kurama clearly noticed that there was _something_ going on between Naruto and her.

Naruto clearly felt that he was somehow betraying Yakumo's trust. In contrast to him Hinata had no such qualms, especially because she wasn't taking anything from Yakumo. Hinata supposed that made her a lesser person in some way, but considering what she daily saw in the village with her byakugan about all forms of human relationships this was nothing out of the ordinary. The important thing was that when her friends were unhappy Hinata became unhappy, too. It was clearly an uncomfortable situation for Naruto.

Her suspicions were confirmed when Naruto explained his feelings.

"… I just can't continue this way, Hinata."

Hinata sighed deeply. "I understand. If you're that uncomfortable with this we will have to make changes. The only thing I ask is to wait until the exams and the immediate dangers are over. If we lose it won't matter either way. In case of our survival we will deal with this together."

Reluctantly, Naruto accepted. There was no need to cause one of them anguish when they might not survive past the next month.

* * *

><p>'<em>The moon looks strange tonight.' <em>Gaara thought.

There seemed to be some dust in the sky, making the full moon looking blood red. Normally Mother was especially active during the full moon and her voice especially loud, urging him to shed ever more blood. Tonight there was only silence. Mother had not spoken a single word since she had stopped mumbling two nights ago after the end of the preliminaries. It was very disconcerting.

Suddenly a singing voice accompanied by barely audible music startled Gaara from his thoughts. Sand under Mother's control was dancing around him, forming strange symbols and figures in tune with the singing.

**Red Moon, Red Moon,**

**Cleanses the sinful world and makes it anew,**

**Shining brightly in the night sky, waiting for the souls.**

**Who will be born again in the night?**

**Who will be born again in the night? **

Then the sand returned to his gourd and there was once again only silence. Mother's voice had sounded different. It was full of dark longing for something Gaara couldn't fathom.

'_Mother?'_

No answer was forthcoming.

After a few minutes of silence Gaara continued to watch the night sky. He barely paid any attention to Baki and the spy some distance away. It seemed the ex-Leaf ninja gave the Suna jonin a scroll before taking his leave. Gaara didn't know what it was about and it didn't particularly interest him either. As long as his siblings were safe and he regularly had something to kill he couldn't care less. Well, he would like to slowly crush the Kazekage (he refused to think of the man as his father), but that was a long-term plan and still years in the future.

No, what really worried him was Mother. Her behavior was really beginning to scare Gaara.

* * *

><p>Naruto let out a content sigh when he slid into the warm water of the hot spring a bit outside of the busy village. His muscles were aching from today's training. In contrast to the usual spars the three teams had performed a mock mass battle. Since the jonin participated the odds were eleven against one at first. Later on they had changed that to ten against two and nine against three. It was very different from the normal fights against a single opponent. There was simply no time for tactics; you had to be constantly on guard for additional threats and evade instead of counterattack. It was incredibly stressful; far more than even a normal life and death battle. Both Team 8 and Team 11 had been in mass battle situations during past missions, but in neither case had the enemies been shinobi.<p>

'_I wonder why Anko came up with this idea. It won't help us in the finals, but it was valuable training nonetheless. If the invasion happens as we fear it might make the difference between life and death. '_

Ever since Naruto learned of Orochimaru's presence he had been expecting an attack on Konoha. It looked like it would happen later than he had feared but earlier than he had hoped. At least he and his friends were able to put up a fight. Two years earlier and they would have been well and truly fucked. Unfortunately the additional things his parents had revealed to him and Hinata on their visit last night meant that it might happen anyway. The hardest part was not being able to tell anyone about it. He had no proof and claiming that the forces of an enemy shinobi village destroyed decades ago had gathered again and would attack Konoha sounded completely ridiculous. Heck, until Kin began to spill what she knew there was no indication that Orochimaru would go for a large scale attack in the first place or that Suna would betray them.

His main occupation for the month that remained to them was training as hard as he could and simultaneously enjoying his life. However, the first priority was getting Jiraiya off his back. The man had been following him the last two days and it grated on his nerves. That wasn't even talking about the danger it posed. Naruto had to visit the sanctuary regularly to conduct some experiments but didn't dare to do it while Jiraiya was following him. He couldn't even detect him with any certainty; Jiraiya was that good at staying hidden when he wanted to. At least his swallows could keep tabs on the man; otherwise he wouldn't have gone to the sanctuary last night. No human paid animals much attention as long as they didn't behave irregularly.

Naruto had increased their numbers in Konoha, but he had to be careful not to make it too abrupt. Some shinobi would pick up on even the smallest hints and he didn't want them discovered at this point in time. If hardly anyone knew about them enemy spies wouldn't be able to report them. At least the swallows he had sent back after they became familiar with the village were able to give the larger, more noticeable ones a good overview of the terrain. They would need it.

'_I wonder how long it will take Jiraiya to approach me.'_

Anko had told him about their encounter. Naruto was very glad that his sensei wouldn't pawn him off to the man for several reasons. His suspicions about Jiraiya's involvement in the plan to turn him into some sort of savior weren't even chief among them. No, the main problem was the training he would miss if he left Anko's care. Judging from what he had seen Jiraiya wasn't that good a teacher. He tended to waste time or resort to rather unsafe methods and that was simply something Naruto couldn't afford. Any serious injury would hamper his ultimate survival. Wasting an entire month with trying to learn to control more of his mother's chakra would be very bad, not to mention aggravating. Naruto knew more about the tailed beasts and their power than Jiraiya would ever learn, but he couldn't exactly tell the man that he called the former Kyuubi mother. He already knew what he had to do to expand his ability to control more than two tails of power; it just wasn't a quick process. A year, perhaps two, would be needed before he could reliably control a four-tailed state for longer than a few seconds. Tails five to eight would present an entire new level of difficulty, though.

'_I guess he could teach me more interesting things, but that would be isolated skills, not building me up generally.'_ Naruto thought while he watched the sky. He was currently in the curiously empty mixed section of the hot springs. Of course, his two small avian friends flying overhead of him meant that Jiraiya was here, too, but Naruto couldn't spot him. The old man was certainly adept at hiding, but Naruto hoped that he would soon show himself. It was better to get over that quickly and the situation had been deliberately engineered to make it more likely.

Choji and Shino were busy doing some clan training with their families, Asuka had dragged Shinji off for shopping 'to make up for his lewd behavior' and Kiba was doing some additional training with Asuma-sensei. That left Hinata, Ino and Yakumo as well as Kurenai-sensei and Anko-sensei. All of them were still in the changing rooms and would remain there for a few more minutes, giving Jiraiya an opening.

His friends and the two women had been surprisingly cooperative when he and Hinata explained their plan. Apparently none of them liked having Jiraiya skulking around the entire time. The gleam in Kurenai-sensei's eyes and especially the perverted giggle when she thought herself out of hearing range were worrying, though.

As if on cue another perverted giggle reached his ears, this one male. Looking around, Naruto spotted a white-haired man kneeling near the fence separating the mixed bathing area from the women-only area. Jiraiya had dropped his concealment technique. Apparently it was time for the show to begin.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Naruto called out. When nothing happened he shouted again. "Hey, are you listening to me?"

"Huh?" Jiraiya asked before he turned around. "Man, keep it quiet. Do you want to get me caught?"

"Well, considering that my Hyuuga teammate and her friends will soon enter the baths and she always checks if someone's peeking I'm doing you a favor." Naruto said in an uncaring voice. "Of course, be my guest if you want to piss off a Hyuuga, a Yamanaka mind walker, Anko-sensei and two genjutsu specialists; one of whom happens to be my girlfriend."

Jiraiya actually winced and moved away from the fence before he got his expression under control again. "I'm not peeking; I'm gathering data for my next novel."

"Really? Who the hell are you anyway?"

"Alright, hold on!" Smoke exploded from under Jiraiya, revealing a large toad. "Thanks for asking! I'm Mount Myoboku' holy master sennin, also known as the Toad Sage Jiraiya! Remember it!"

"You're the writer of the Icha Icha series, aren't you?"

Jiraiya began to grin. "Oh, you know about my books? I'm getting pretty famous."

"I read most of them when the Old Man left me alone in his office. He doesn't keep them hidden as well as he thinks he does." Naruto answered with a shrug. "You must be pretty perverted to write something like this."

"I'm not an ordinary pervert; I'm a super-pervert." Jiraiya announced proudly.

Naruto adjusted his position in the pool slightly. "If you say so. Do you want anything from me, Ero-sennin? Anko-sensei told me you asked her about training me."

That threw Jiraiya for a loop. "You know about that? And don't call me that."

The blond boy sent the white-haired man a disbelieving look. "I occasionally talk with my sensei, you know. One of the Sannin asking to train a genin is something that doesn't happen every day. Is it because of a certain furball in my gut?"

"Among other things, yes." Jiraiya seemed to have regained his balance and seemed more serious. "I want to help you control the Kyuubi's chakra."

"I see. Do you know how a jinchuuriki usually controls his beast? Have you spoken with another one? Were you involved with the design process of my seal?" Naruto asked.

"Well, not exactly…"

"Then I don't see how you can help me. The red chakra is always there; I always feel it and can pull it out when I want. I'm already working on it and my control is slowly improving. Somehow I just know what to do. I don't think my body could handle the full power anyway."

Jiraiya seemed thoughtful upon hearing this. "Well, you would be the one to know. I'm still looking for an apprentice. How about it?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I don't know you and you don't know me. Why are you offering something like this to someone you only really met a few minutes ago?"

It was doubtful that Naruto would be able to get Jiraiya to admit the connection to his parents, but that wasn't a reason not to try. It certainly served to make Jiraiya uncomfortable. Even if Naruto had been inclined to learn from Jiraiya (the man was one of the strongest ninja alive and a seal master, after all) now wasn't a good time. Jiraiya literally didn't know what his skills were and what the best way to teach him was. Developing an efficient teacher-student relationship under these circumstances would take too much of the available time before everything hit the fan.

As expected the man tried to ignore the core of the question. "That sounds like you would spurn my offer. Don't you want to become the next toad summoner?"

That was a bait practically every shinobi would have gone for, but Naruto had expected that offer. "I don't need a summoning contract, I already have one."

"What! That's impossible." Jiraiya shouted, now seriously taken aback.

Naruto bit on his thumb had enough to draw blood and made the necessary hand seals. 'Summoning Technique'

Two puffs of smoke later two swallows were sitting on his shoulders. "Greetings, my lord." "Hey boss, how's it hanging?"

"Hello Natsu, Fuyu. I just wanted to prove that I'm a summoner. Ero-Sennin here wants me to sign the Toad contract."

The two swallows turned towards Jiraiya who had an expression of complete surprise on his face while the large toad he was sitting on sent Naruto (or the swallows; he couldn't tell because they sat on his shoulders) a death glare.

"Out of the question!" "Yeah, no summoner of ours will sign a contract with those smelly amphibians."

Naruto didn't believe his ears at first, but the toad actually growled and seemed ready to attack the swallows. From the corner of his eyes Naruto could see that the two swallows were readying themselves for a fight. When the toad began to move it startled Jiraiya out of his daze. "Hey, stop it!"

With another growl the toad backed off. It sent the swallows a last glare before it dispelled itself, depositing Jiraiya on the ground. After receiving a nod from Naruto Natsu and Fuyu disappeared, too.

"What the heck was that about?" Jiraiya asked, now thoroughly rattled.

Naruto shrugged. "Apparently the swallows and toads don't like each other. Sorry, it does appear I can't become a toad summoner. I'll never give up the swallows; they're my friends."

For a few seconds Jiraiya simply stared at him. Naruto could almost see the gears working behind the man's eyes. That meeting had definitely not gone like Jiraiya had planned. "Well kid, there are still many things I can teach…"

In that moment Yakumo, Ino, Hinata, Anko and Kurenai entered the area wearing only towels. Something about the three girls appeared a bit strange to Naruto, but he couldn't tell exactly what gave him this impression. All of them spared Jiraiya barely a glance. When they reached the pool both Anko and Kurenai dropped their towels before sliding into the water. Jiraiya's eyes became as wide as saucers and his mouth dropped open. Naruto had seen Anko naked before since private bathing on missions was something you usually couldn't afford. Additionally Anko tried to inure them against losing their concentration at the sight of some (or very much) flesh. It was the first time he saw Kurenai without clothing, though, and he had to suppress an appreciative whistle. He doubted Yakumo would like it if he ogled other women.

Then the three girls dropped their towels, too, causing Naruto's thoughts to come to a crashing halt. That had definitely not been in his plan.

Naruto felt Kurenai touching his leg under the water for a second and he felt a genjutsu envelop him. His mind became curiously calm and accepting, wrapped in a pleasant haze. He wasn't sure if he could break the jutsu, but his attention was thoroughly captured by other things. The three girls had entered the pool. Yakumo settled directly in his lap while Ino and Hinata latched onto his arms.

"Now remember, seduction is a very delicate subject. We will explore the proper strategies and counters in great depth. The most important thing is the proper mindset and the general willingness of the target." Kurenai lectured. "Kisses are always a good way to start."

Yakumo turned her head and gave him a deep kiss. He had hardly time to recover before Ino used her free hand to twist his head towards her. In the next moment her tongue entered his mouth. Naruto could feel his body reacting and a certain part of his anatomy began poking against Yakumo's body. Then it was again his girlfriend's turn to kiss him. On some level he recognized that this situation really shouldn't happen, but it was simply too pleasant to do anything about it. Between the kisses, Yakumo in his lap and two feminine bodies pressing into his sides everything was just perfect.

Anko's voice penetrated the pleasant haze that surrounded Naruto's mind. "You said you wanted to teach my pupil things, Jiraiya? Would it be as good as this? If not I fear he'll have to decline. Isn't that right, Naruto?"

"Hell yes, there's no way I skip this training. Sorry, Ero-Sennin." Naruto managed to get out between the kisses. Some part of his mind noted that Hinata wasn't doing anything besides holding his arm and maintaining contact, but most thoughts were driven from his mind when Yakumo began to wriggle in his lap.

Jiraiya had watched everything in silence, his mouth hanging open. Finally he seemed to regain his wits and gave Naruto a double thumbs-up. "Jiraiya approves! I like you, kid." A moment later he whipped out a notebook and began scribbling furiously, giggling occasionally.

"Now, this is a private lesson, Jiraiya-sama, I fear I can't allow observers. Please don't try to peek or Anko-chan and I will have to become nasty." Kurenai announced before she made a string of hand seals. Apart from feeling another genjutsu nothing changed for Naruto. Then she addressed the girls. "You may stop now."

"Hey, no fair!" came Jiraiya's cry.

Yakumo stopped wriggling and simply relaxed against him as did the other two girls. For several minutes Jiraiya tried to see something, but apparently the occupants of the pool had become invisible for him. Finally he left with slumped shoulders.

A small snake appeared at the edge of the pool a short time later. "The toad man has left the area." it hissed before it disappeared in a cloud of chakra smoke.

Kurenai watched Naruto and the girls with a calculating expression. Under normal circumstances it would have sent shivers down Naruto's spine, but everything was still a pleasant haze.

"That's enough, Kurenai. We don't want this to go any farther." Anko said with a furrowed brow. "I've played along until now but this is enough."

When Kurenai didn't react Anko made some hand seals. In the next moment the haze lifted from Naruto's mind and he truly realized what was happening. The three girls froze for a second. A splash of water later Hinata and Yakumo had removed themselves to the farthest edges of the pool, their faces becoming beet-red although he was pretty sure Hinata was faking it. Ino lingered for a moment longer. Naruto had to suppress a squawk when he felt a delicate hand touching his intimate parts. His head whipped around towards Ino.

Despite her red face she seemed relatively composed and gave him a playful wink. "Just checking the merchandise." she whispered. After an exploring stroke across his full length Ino withdrew her hand and left her position at his side.

"Sensei, what exactly did you do to us? This wasn't what we agreed to." a shocked Yakumo asked after almost a minute of silence. Her face was still red, but to Naruto it appeared as if the embarrassment was slowly replaced by anger.

Kurenai giggled. "Oh, I only used a technique that lowers your inhibitions and made you receptive to suggestions. I am one of the highest level genjutsu users in Konoha, after all. It made everything more believable and I was sure you could take it in stride. Much better than the original plan. Although it's a shame Anko dispelled the technique early. You see, I read that scene in a book and I always thought I could improve on it by…"

Anko bopped Kurenai over her head. "Bad Kurenai-chan. No using the genin to re-enact your fantasies."

"This isn't retaliation against the prank we played on you in last week before the exams, sensei?" Ino asked suspiciously.

Kurenai adopted an innocent expression. "Why in the world would you think that?"

"This isn't funny." Yakumo shouted in an angry voice.

"No, it isn't." Kurenai replied in a suddenly serious tone. "Neither was the prank you two played on me. I'd like to consider us friends aside from teacher and pupil, but you were far out of line with that one. Respect my limits and I will respect yours."

"You didn't have to involve Naruto."

Kurenai leant back and crossed her arms. "You're right, I didn't have to, although I'm sure he doesn't mind too much and the opportunity was too good. All things considered I was merciful. Nothing happened aside from a few kisses and some skin-to-skin contact. It hurts when personal things are involved, doesn't it?"

The two girls and their sensei stared at each other silently. Naruto's gaze wandered to Anko who mouthed a 'Sorry about this.' towards him before she approached Hinata and began whispering with her.

"We're sorry, sensei." Yakumo and Ino finally said almost in unison.

"Good, then I will consider the matter closed and we will never speak about it again."

Naruto had stayed silent throughout the exchange. Only three thoughts were going through his head. _'I wonder what the two did to Kurenai to justify this.' 'This was very nice.'_ _'I need a cold shower.'_

* * *

><p>Jiraiya knew he was beaten. There was no way anything he could offer would match training with five beautiful women, all of whom seemed to be very friendly towards Naruto. If he had been in the same position as his godson he would have done exactly the same. Well, if most girls had let him do that. Tsunade would have smashed him into the nearest wall if he had even suggested something like this. The Hyuuga girl on Naruto's team was apparently far more accommodating. Not to mention the brat's girlfriend and the blond girl.<p>

'_My, my; a girlfriend willing to do foursomes at that age. The brat certainly has his priorities straight.'_

He simply had to get his hands on the kid, now more than ever. If that was the brat's usual effect on women he would never want for research opportunities. Oh, he had realized that he was being played, but the willingness of the girls to go along with such a scheme said enough. For coming up with such a plan or perhaps simply playing along the kid had to be pretty perverted. Spending time with him would be a joy. Anko was really going to great lengths to keep her pupil. Naruto was different from what the Hokage had told him or what he had seen himself on his rare visits, but almost half a year with Anko could easily do that. He was glad to see that the girl was doing well, but her stubbornness about her responsibilities as a teacher was very detrimental in this situation. The last detailed report about Naruto he had read was from several months before his graduation. It spoke of an eager but slightly stupid kid, but Jiraiya knew that the minds of children were rather flexible. A person as young as Naruto could change much in that time.

If Kakashi had taught the kid like he had expected there would be no problems. His pupil's pupil would never deny him training Naruto. Jiraiya wondered what had caused Naruto to be assigned to Anko of all people, but he wasn't involved enough in the internal developments of the village to find out without a lot of digging. His spy work in search of Akatsuki and especially his research caused him to be absent almost constantly. The last time he had spent more than a week in Konoha was before Orochimaru defected.

The one thing that truly shocked him was the swallow summon contract though. Considering how rare summon contracts were it was virtually impossible to acquire a new contract. Naruto apparently had a demon's luck. He had read about the swallows in some historical texts. The mutual dislike between them and the toads was very unfortunate. He really didn't enjoy the prospect of talking with Shima and Fukasaku about it; the two elder toads had looked forward to welcoming Minato's kid into the ranks of the toad summoners. That ship had sailed, though.

'_Maybe I should have introduced myself to Naruto a few years earlier. I can't do anything during the exams. My best chance is talking with Hiruzen-sensei when the finals are over. It shouldn't be too difficult to assign Naruto to me when the Hokage wants it.'_

Jiraiya nodded to himself. He would leave the village for now, try to get some more information about Akatsuki, do a bit of research and return in time for the finals of the chunin exams.

'_I'm sure Hiruzen-sensei and the village can deal with Orochimaru without my help.'_

* * *

><p>"Why?" the Yondaime Kazekage managed to gasp out before the light vanished from his eyes and his impaled body slumped to the ground.<p>

"KAZEKAGE-SAMA!" one of the guards cried out. A blow from one of his subordinates silenced the man.

'_That was pathetically easy.'_ Orochimaru thought as he wiped the Kusanagi clean. Granted, it had been a surprise attack, but he had thought that the Kazekage would at least put up a fight. Really, the man was supposed to be the leader of his village and should have been at least suspicious when he requested the meeting in the desert. On the other hand this wasn't the first poorly thought out decision the Kazekage had made. Agreeing to attack Konoha while they still had an alliance was the height of stupidity and would ruin Suna's reputation for years. Sure, it coincided nicely with Orochimaru's interests. That didn't change the fact that it was completely stupid in light of Suna's long-term interests and would cost the village valuable manpower. Heck, considering that this idiotic behavior was par for the course for what the man had been up to during his tenure he had done Suna a favor by killing him; not that the Village hidden in the Sand would learn that fact anytime soon.

Orochimaru was about to give the order to kill the guards when he hesitated as another idea entered his mind. Originally he had only planned to kill and impersonate the Kazekage to remove one (at least nominally) Kage-level shinobi that he couldn't control, make sure he didn't stab him in the back and ensure that there would be no fuck-ups on Suna's part. Now though he saw an additional way in that the dead man could be useful to him; one more thing to tip the balance in his favor. It would delay him a bit in assuming the man's identity, but he had enough wriggle room in his timetable and it would be well worth it in the end. In fact, he wondered why he didn't think of it in the first place.

"Restrain one of the guards, but keep him alive for now. Kill the spares." Orochimaru commanded before he severed the Kazekage's right arm and picked it up. "As soon as we return to our nearest hideout prepare everything for the Edo Tensei ritual."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

There will be another chapter before the finals start, but I probably won't go too much into the details of training.

The Ichibi's song is 'Red Moon' from Disgaea with some changes to the wording.

One thing I noticed when I reread the relevant manga chapters was that Jiraiya never really explained anything to Naruto or that the training he did would really help him in the finals. Almost the entire month was wasted by Naruto expending all his normal chakra and then trying to summon something in the hopes of drawing out the Kyuubi's chakra (not that Naruto knew that this was what was supposed to happen). Jiraiya had apparently not a clue how he was supposed to go about things. Heck, the last-ditch attempt with the chasm could have easily gone wrong with deadly results.

By the way, good going, Kakashi (or really anyone). The team has been attacked by a notorious traitor who has at least some knowledge of seals and no one checks if he did something to the village's jinchuuriki.

So long.


	32. Chapter 31: Final preparations

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 31: Final preparations**

Hanabi Hyuuga, first-year academy student and best pupil in the class, was currently experiencing an unfamiliar emotion: She was bored out of her mind. Iruka-sensei prattled on and on about subjects she had already learned from the books or her clan, completely failing to hold her attention. Not that anyone was able to see it; she was very good at faking an attentive exterior. Her big sister had been absolutely right about Iruka-sensei's teaching methods. It wasn't as if the man was an outright bad teacher; he was just very dull and the learning material wasn't really challenging enough for someone who had prior education like her.

The young Hyuuga had been trained and tutored by her clan as long as she could remember. As soon as she mastered an exercise or learned a piece of knowledge her teachers had moved on. Here in the academy it didn't really matter how fast she learned; the lessons kept their standard pace. Well, Mizuki-sensei had been nice enough to give her some additional pointers and learning material, but that didn't help with her real problem, namely suffering through extended lectures that couldn't teach her anything.

The short break between lessons brought only short-lived relief; the second half of the morning and the afternoon were still looming before her. At least there would be some practical exercises after lunch. Far too soon for her peace of mind it was back to lectures about basic chakra theory and other beginner subjects. Hanabi had to forcibly suppress a groan when they once again covered the hand seals she had already learned years ago.

'_It wasn't this bad before. The lessons were the same, but I wasn't this bored. What changed?'_

Suddenly she realized what was different to before: Konohamaru wasn't causing problems. Ever since the first few weeks of the academy she had been busy stopping Konohamaru from acting out. It had almost been a full-time job. Since she was at the top of her class she had been given some limited leadership duties by their teachers and was allowed to leave the academy and track Konohamaru down if he skipped class. The boy seemed to only want to play pranks, skip class and ineffectively attack his grandfather despite his stated ambition of becoming Hokage. It had been an incredibly frustrating task at first, but after a while she had managed dragging him back to class, preventing him from goofing off and getting him to do his homework more often than not. Now though he seemed to listen attentively to the lecture. It was a somewhat disconcerting change.

Hanabi tried to remember when his behavior changed. _'He hasn't been the same since about two weeks ago. I didn't realize it at first because classes were suspended for a while. Did I finally succeed in making him take his training seriously?'_

She had almost given up on that task, but she didn't see any other explanation. Considering that he had shown no signs of improvement for a long time such a sudden change was extremely suspicious, though. More worrisome was that Hanabi actually missed keeping him in line. Constantly having to keep an eye on him had been troublesome, but it had prevented utter boredom from setting in. Had she actually enjoyed chasing Konohamaru down?

'_Surely not. And yet…'_

Her thoughts circled around the issue without coming to a conclusion. At least it distracted her from the boring lecture and lunch break arrived far sooner than expected. The young Hyuuga was peacefully eating her lunch in the shadow of a tree when the subject of her thoughts approached her with a somewhat hesitant expression on his face.

"Hey Hanabi. Can I ask you something?" Konohamaru asked.

"Hello Konohamaru. What do you want?"

The boy was about to answer when he stopped and a look of realization spread over his face. "You're calling me by name!" he shouted.

Hanabi's expression became slightly annoyed, but her composure didn't crack yet. "I always call you by your name, Konohamaru. I have been doing that since we started at the academy. Are you deaf or brain-damaged? Of course, if you prefer dobe, idiot or dead-last I will be happy to oblige."

Konohamaru waved wildly with his arms. "No, no, no. I just never noticed."

This time Hanabi couldn't prevent herself from rolling her eyes. "Really. With an attention capacity like that you will never become a shinobi. You never paid attention to the lessons either."

An expression of anger briefly flittered over Konohamaru's features before it was replaced by an embarrassed one. The boy hesitated for a moment. "I know. That's actually why I'm here. I wanted to ask you if you could help me catch up." The last part came out in a single rush and Hanabi had trouble separating the individual words.

For a moment nothing happened, but then realization about what the boy had said set in and Hanabi's mouth dropped open. Konohamaru, class clown and notorious trouble maker was asking her for help in matters of education? The world must be coming to its end.

"Are you serious?" she finally asked.

"Very." Konohamaru replied before he scratched his head sheepishly. "I realized that what I've been doing was stupid. I already missed so much and need help catching up. Udon and Moegi have problems of their own and aren't really good enough to help me."

"And you thought that I would be the right person to help you, being the best in class?"

"Well, yeah." He appeared to struggle with himself for a moment. "Will you please help me, Hanabi?"

For a moment Hanabi was tempted to let him struggle for while longer and make him grovel some more, but she thought better of it. This was what she had been trying to achieve ever since Mizuki-sensei had given her the task. If Konohamaru had a genuine change of heart she wasn't about to do anything to endanger it.

"Okay. You are better serious about this, though. If I catch you goofing off or wasting my time I will juuken you so hard that you will be paralyzed for days. Do you understand me?"

Konohamaru gulped. "Sure. Thanks."

Hanabi was in a very good mood when she returned to her home this day. She had tried for months and now she had finally succeeded. One thing that kept niggling at the back of her mind was the question what had caused Konohamaru to change his ways. In spite of constantly reassuring herself that her efforts were the reason Hanabi couldn't suppress the unfortunate doubt that she had precious little to do with Konohamaru's change in behavior.

* * *

><p>Shibi, head of the Aburame clan, watched impassively as two men and two women wearing dark glasses sat down around a large table in a room deep in the Aburame compound.<p>

"Before we begin I would like for you to give us an update on our guest's status, dear." he addressed the blond woman at his side.

His wife, the by far younger of the two females present, nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "Kin's health is improving. She has regained almost her entire mobility and will be completely recovered in about six days. During her entire stay she has proven cooperative. All of our tests show that she is sincere about her wish to defect and is telling us the truth as far as she knows it. The Yamanaka mind walker we consulted concurs. We have concluded the interrogation sessions yesterday. Kin will be allowed limited freedom inside the compound, but will not be allowed to leave."

"Who was the Yamanaka?" Elder Shikoru asked. While he had been informed about the generalities the old man wasn't aware of all the details yet.

"Inoichi's daughter Ino. Shino considers her a trustworthy friend. Neither her father nor clan is aware of her involvement; the favor is owed to her personally." Shibi replied. "Despite her young age she is already very accomplished in her clan's mind arts. My son's connections have once again proven useful."

The three elders nodded. All of them were aware of Shino's circle of friends. They had supported Shino's involvement with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki from the beginning and done their utmost to deflect anyone else's attention. After their enormous casualties in the third shinobi war the Aburame had lost a lot of influence and were on the brink of losing their status as a great clan. Anything that could help them re-establish their position was acceptable. Years ago they had secretly allied with Danzo Shimura and sent Shikoru's son Torune to serve in the old councilor's secret organization ROOT (and spy for the clan), but the arrangement had proven far less profitable than expected. The man gave them only crumbs instead of true influence in return and the clan leadership only continued the alliance because of a lack of other options.

It had been early in the academy education that Shibi had prodded Shino into approaching people who took their training very seriously and might offer useful political connections in the future. His son had chosen Choji Akimichi and surprisingly Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Many had opposed Shibi's decision to allow that friendship, but more and more of those voices had become silent when it became evident what a boon it was as the energetic blond boy added more clan heirs to his circle of friends: Akimichi, Aburame and Kurama were joined by Hyuuga and finally Yamanaka. A deep friendship at such an early age would lay the foundation for a close alliance in the future. The five clan heirs supported by the power of a jinchuuriki would be a force to be reckoned with, both in combat and the political arena. Shibi was well aware that his son was a solitary person who didn't make friends easily. He would never have been able to do it on his own.

When Shino asked him to pull a few strings to appoint their teacher Mizuki as supervisor for a study group consisting of his friends he had been happy to oblige. Shibi had been even happier when his son's skills had soared even more thanks to the group. Naruto's determination drew the children along with him into a very ambitious training regime and apparently Mizuki was a very good teacher if he didn't have to stick to the standard academy curriculum. Normally such an exclusive group would have drawn a lot of unwanted attention, but thankfully everyone concentrated on the last Uchiha. The Hokage was too busy to pay more than token attention to the jinchuuriki, the Kurama heiress was an orphan without any remaining relations who could keep watch over her and the Hyuuga seemed to try to ignore Hinata. Inoichi saw his daughter more like a civilian child than a serious kunoichi-in-training. It was virtually certain the Akimichi suspected that there was more going on than a simple group of friends spending time together, but Choza had never mentioned anything and tried to keep it quiet.

Shibi knew that Konoha was suffering a long-term decline even if the vast majority of the villagers didn't realize it and would most likely be unwilling to accept it. He was the one who had passed certain classified information to Shino during the children's 'Grand Investigation' to create some awareness of the problems among the young generation, although he had to admit what the kids had found had exceeded what he had known and expected by far. It was surprising what a group of determined children could dig up, especially if all the children belonged to the leading families of Konoha. Their plan to get into important positions and work from there to turn the village around was certainly ambitious; ambitious, but possible.

The Aburame clan head gave it perhaps an even chance of succeeding. The forces who currently controlled the village wouldn't simply give up; the Hokage chief among them.

The civilians stood firmly behind the Hokage as did the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka, even if it seemed during the last years that Choza was slowly distancing himself from his policies. Shikaku's relationship with the Hokage was strained since the Wave affair, but it didn't yet noticeably influence their political alliance. Inoichi was a staunch supporter of the Hokage. The Hyuuga and Inuzaka were in opposition, but Hiashi was always too occupied with internal power struggles to assert much influence in the village and Tsume didn't have enough clout on her own. Danzo was unwilling to actually go against the Hokage while Homura and Koharu were completely overshadowed by either him or the Hokage. The department heads and jonin mostly followed the Hokage's lead. As long as Hiruzen held power Shibi saw no way for the urgently needed more martial policy to gain sufficient supporters. He wasn't about to publically fight a losing battle and squander what diminished influence remained. Consequently, Shibi had kept quiet about his leanings. He doubted anyone realized what views he held.

Shaking off his thoughts, Shibi continued his speech. "Now to the information Kin was able to give us. It is clear from the available evidence that Orochimaru plans to attack Konoha during the next months. Kin's best guess are the finals of the chunin exam, but she has no definite information about the date or exact target. Unfortunately she was unable to give us a clear picture of Orochimaru's forces. They are split into medium-sized groups of between fifty and one hundred combatants with most on the low side. Each group occupies a hidden base. Kin is aware of four bases: three within the Land of Rice and one in the Land of Tea. Two more she has heard rumors of, but no specifics."

"Is that a definite number?" the female elder asked.

"No. Kin was seen as low-level cannon fodder and didn't have the access to get a complete picture." Shibi's wife Ritsuko answered. "On the other hand she made a conscious effort to collect as much information as possible. To be on the safe side we are assuming the existence of double the number of bases, giving Orochimaru a force of six hundred to one thousand shinobi."

"If he is feeling very adventurous it would be possible to commit three quarters of that number for an attack. That isn't enough to defeat us." one of her male counterparts mused. "Enough to do some damage, but even surprised there are enough forces in the village to repel such an attack. What is the quality of these shinobi?"

"Most of those forces consist of sub-standard shinobi with only the barest of training." Shibi replied. "To compensate experimental medical enhancements are very common. It gives them one or two dangerous tricks per individual, nothing more. There is a cadre of strong shinobi bearing a curse seal that enhances their strength further, but they are very low in number."

"That makes an outright attack on the village as a whole unlikely." the female elder surmised. "Do we have any clues about Orochimaru's plans? His marking of Sasuke suggests a smash-and-grab operation targeting bearers of bloodlines. If he attacks the visitors during the finals he could do a disproportionate amount of damage to the village's reputation. It would be well worth a few hundred disposable shinobi if he can ruin Konoha's relations with clients, the Fire Daymio's court and other villages."

Shikoru cleared his throat. "I have additional information. My son Torune sent me a message just two hours ago. Danzo has acquired some reports from spies inside Otogakure that suggest Orochimaru plans to target the Hokage personally."

"That would be logical considering Orochimaru's personality." Shibi said after a moment of consideration. "By all accounts he harbors a deep-seated hatred for his erstwhile teacher. His forces would be able to shield him while he and his elite take out the Hokage and enable him to flee afterward. Kin did say something about the leader of her last base training in a specific barrier technique. From what she overheard it is supposed to be nearly impenetrable, but she didn't learn its purpose. It might very well their plan is to catch the Hokage alone and without support able to reach him."

"What do we do now? Do we tell the Hokage about our suspicions? What about the girl?" the male elder asked.

Silence descended for a few seconds on the gathering as Shibi and the others weighed the consequences of each possible course of action. Only a slight buzzing sound indicated that some of the Aburame present were agitated and exchanged arguments via kikaichu.

The Hokage wasn't especially well-liked among the Aburame. Everyone respected his personal skill as a shinobi, but his political agenda was another matter. His pursuit of peace and unity of Konoha was admirable. The same couldn't be said of the measures intended to get there. Prominent among all the policies that in Shibi's opinion weakened Konoha was the gradual reduction of the privileges held by the formal shinobi clans. Naturally the Aburame objected, being the owners of such privileges. Additionally, while the privileged status might indeed create tensions between the general populace and the clans it was the primary incentive to form and maintain clans. Without the cohesion of a clan it was exceedingly difficult to preserve and hand down the more advanced techniques, especially the ones relating to bloodlines. Normal-sized families just couldn't do it; it was far too likely that the older members would die either on missions or due to other maladies before they could relay everything. Writing things down went only so far. The academy and genin cells certainly didn't do the job properly; neither did most other pupil-teacher relationships. Even the Aburame had difficulties to preserve all of their more esoteric techniques with their loss in numbers in the last war. Not everyone could use every branch of their techniques and keeping them available for future generations without an active user was far harder than it sounded.

Unfortunately this and other policies wouldn't change as long as Hiruzen was in power. It would be better for the clan if he could no longer press his project. A successor might see the matter differently.

Finally Shibi decided on a course of action. "No, we will not reveal the possible assassination plot. We will report the bare facts of what Kin told us, not any conclusions on our part. The barrier technique will be mentioned in the report, but not emphasized. This way we retain deniability. If the Hokage doesn't take the necessary measures to ensure his survival no blame can be assigned to us. Danzo is not reliable and I'm not willing to risk exposing Torune's ability to pass us information. Regarding the girl; she will remain in our care. The tests have proven Shino's initial assessment about her suitability for our purpose. He has already given his consent. The matter will be broached with her at an opportune time; currently both are too young anyway. Are we in agreement?"

One by one the Aburame present gave their assent.

"We will warn against a possible attack against the spectators. They present mostly soft targets." Shibi paused for a moment before he continued speaking. "I want all members of our clan inside of the compound during the entire duration of the finals, especially the children and other non-combatants. Active shinobi will take a temporary leave if possible. We will lock down the compound. I will not allow any further harm to our clan; we can't risk that some of Orochimaru's forces attack us directly. There are far too few of us left to chance more losses. Ritsuko, can you cover the entire compound with a barrier?"

His wife nodded thoughtfully. "It's possible. We have enough chakra storage devices and people capable of using chakra to fuel the Absolute Territory Field for about five days in ready mode and a few hours under assault. It would be easier if Shino was here. He is one of our three barrier specialists including me, after all."

"Unfortunately, that will not be possible. Our son has to compete in the finals. Likewise, my presence in the village will be needed. If there aren't any objections or questions this meeting is closed."

The three elders filed out of the room after giving their consent, leaving Shibi and his wife alone. He hoped he had made the right decisions to ensure his clan's future.

* * *

><p>"Lee-kun! Please stop this! Your body isn't…" Kaori, nurse at the Konoha hospital, pleaded.<p>

"Please be quiet for a while!" her charge shouted.

She could only watch as the boy tried to do some exercises, mainly doing pushups with his one good arm and leg. Kaori wasn't a kunoichi; she wasn't able to restrain a shinobi if he didn't want to. A short time later the unavoidable happened and her patient began coughing and convulsing in pain. Seconds later he fell unconscious.

Kaori sighed deeply while she hurriedly hefted the boy into a stable side position (on his relatively uninjured side, of course). Judging from the flecks of blood on the ground he had re-damaged his lungs and other wounds seemed to have re-opened, too. A moment later two orderlies with a stretcher arrived, carrying Lee away to be examined by a doctor.

"Another stubborn one who doesn't know when to stop?" the chief nurse asked sadly. The middle-aged woman had observed from the sidelines and called the orderlies when it became necessary.

The young nurse nodded. "Yes. Every time Lee regains some mobility he starts training again. His injuries are becoming worse every time. At this rate he will kill himself sooner rather than later. He tries so hard; it breaks my heart to see a young man like this."

A supporting hand was placed on Kaori's shoulder. "There is nothing we can do about it. The doctors did all they could; it is up to the patients to accept their new situation. You know what happens to those who can't."

Kaori hadn't been a nurse for that long, but she wasn't exactly new either. She knew what the chief nurse was talking about. The medic-nins could heal a great deal of injuries, but sometimes a case was even beyond their almost miraculous skills. Living crippled appeared worse than death for many shinobi. The patients either accepted that they couldn't be active shinobi any longer and moved on or… they didn't. The last option usually led to suicide, either deliberately or by overstressing their broken bodies in pursuit of something they could no longer have like Lee was doing. There wasn't much the hospital personal could do about it besides offering what comfort they could and try to prepare them for the different lifestyle.

Those who accepted their new status usually found employment as teachers or in other bureaucratic positions. Some turned towards a completely civilian life. The lucky ones whose disability wasn't too crippling even continued serving in Konoha's shinobi forces in some role. For example, the maintenance division was always looking for people who could fix damage to the training fields.

Unfortunately it seemed as if young Lee wasn't among those who could accept their injuries. The damage to his left leg and arm was already crippling. Most of his other wounds the medics had been able to fix, but there was permanent damage all throughout his body. He would remain an invalid for the rest of his life. Kaori figured he could still find employment as a clerk even if all physically demanding jobs were impossible. If only he could accept that he could still live a full life. Others were so much worse of; like the shinobi who had lost all his limbs due to infected wounds or the kunoichi who had been horribly burned.

A scowl appeared on Kaori's face. _'That irresponsible sensei of his is making things worse. Every time I make a little headway with Lee that madman shows up and gives him false hope. Sometimes I wonder if he has convinced himself that he is doing that for Lee's sake instead of his own ambition.'_

By now Kaori really disliked Gai. Since Lee was one of her charges she had access to his medical file. Even without his crippling injuries Lee's body would have failed in his mid-twenties. His training and fighting style was just too abusive to his health. For a while he would have burned brightly before the fire of his life burned out. She didn't bring that up with either Lee or his sensei, though. It simply wasn't her place. If the leadership allowed this they probably knew what they were doing.

* * *

><p>Ino was lying on her bed, thinking hard. She wasn't feeling well lately. More and more issues were weighing on her mind and she didn't have any real idea how to deal with them.<p>

The most important problem was that she feared her personality was shifting thanks to her acquired memories. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing. It had been a bit less than a year since ancient Izumi Yamanaka had stuffed her complete memories into Ino's head and by now she had made considerable progress in making them accessible. There wasn't any actual mixing of memories; she could tell precisely which memories were her own and which had belonged to Izumi. It was the same when she entered other people's minds. After all, it wouldn't do for a mind walker to lose herself. The third-hand memories from Izumi's victims were even fainter.

No, the problem was the sheer scale of the memories and how her mind integrated the experiences derived from those memories. At first the problem hadn't been really obvious to her because she couldn't really access most memories in an organized fashion. With increasing integration it became a different matter, though. On one side there was Ino Yamanaka, thirteen-year-old genin, generally capable practitioner of the mind arts, maiden. On the other side was Izumi Yamanaka, deceased centenarian, jonin, elder, five-time mother, many-times grandmother, nearly unparalleled mistress of the mind arts and famous seductress.

Ino had never been with a boy (or a girl). Izumi had been with a large number of both in various combinations and quite exotic ways. Heck, the orgy of the Emperor of Diamonds she had participated in during the clan wars had made the history books and that was only one example. Two weeks of legendary debauchery had served to distract the emperor and his court while their realm collapsed around them under the onslaught of rival kingdoms. The payment had been enormous; appropriate for a task that had to be completed without the slightest trace of chakra. It had been a matter of pride for Izumi that she never used her mind jutsu when seducing worthy victims she respected. Unworthy ones never even got to touch her body.

Ino had always been a bit of a flirt, but in the last time she had been decidedly more forward; more forward than she was truly comfortable with. Ino blushed when she remembered feeling Naruto's private parts (thanks to Izumi's memories she knew they were somewhat above average for a boy his age, but not unusually large). Even now she wasn't completely sure what had come over her to do that. The kissing she could attribute to Kurenai-sensei's genjutsu, but not this. It wasn't as if she harbored any serious designs on becoming Naruto's girlfriend. She wouldn't do that to Yakumo, although Naruto was a delectable boy and the only one of her acquaintance she considered for that role. Then there was the episode with Hinata during the party. It hadn't felt wrong and none of the others had made an issue out of it, but Ino was very unsure about herself.

'_Is it all me or are Izumi's memories influencing me unduly?'_

Of course, sexual escapades were only a small part of everything. She had been curious and perhaps paid a bit more attention to those sorts of things than was proper, but there were so many other things that influenced her further. Images of enticing beauty and terrible atrocities and everything in between. There simply wasn't enough time to explore everything. Battles, atrocities, training, politics and family stuff. More than once she had to forcefully restrain herself from exploring more lest she drown in all those memories. At one time she had explored the memory of Izumi giving birth to one of her children. That had looked and felt very messy and she didn't really look forward to the time when it was her turn to bring a new life into the world.

Ino had followed the baby girl's life through Izumi's memories. A too short childhood was accompanied by training until the girl started to accompany the older, more experienced members into battle. She had felt Izumi's anxiety every time she was parted from her daughter and her happiness when the girl had returned alive. Marriage was followed by the birth of several grandchildren, but the woman continued to go on missions. One day she didn't return alive. Seeing Izumi cradle the lifeless body of her dead daughter, feeling everything the woman felt at the time had reduced Ino to tears. Thankfully she had been able to cover it up without anyone noticing. She still couldn't shake the impressions how it had felt for Izumi when she outlived all her children, grandchildren and even younger generations.

Then there was all the other historical stuff like the ground-breaking ceremony for Konoha. No other villager alive was old enough to have been present at that event. The vast majority of memories was still unorganized and not readily accessible, though. Ino's best guess was that it would take her at least two years to adapt the more important stuff to her mind's structure and maybe a decade for everything. She would have to prioritize. Jutsu knowledge was more complicated than normal memories because she couldn't afford the slightest mistake. It didn't matter much if a memory was slightly incomplete; she could always fill in gaps later. In contrast, getting an important detail of a technique wrong would be very, very bad. 'Bad' ranging from slight headache to turning herself into a vegetable, with all sorts of other unpleasant possibilities of mental damage mixed in.

All this gave her a perspective no girl of thirteen years could enjoy, not even a kunoichi. She really wasn't a child anymore.

Unfortunately, her parents still treated her as one. Earlier today she had just had another row with them about her helping out in the flower shop. Ino wasn't exactly unwilling to occasionally help out when needed, but it cut into her available time. Since Kurenai-sensei wasn't really talented with elemental ninjutsu (her forte in combat were genjutsu, taijutsu adapted for either speed or stealth and some rather exotic space-time ninjutsu) Anko and Asuma had been tutoring her in earth jutsu and elemental manipulation. It was an area of her skills she hadn't really pursued until now and she was very thankful for the help.

Between all the training and urgently needed relaxation there just wasn't enough time in the day for a steady part-time job. Unhappily that was apparently what her parents expected. Her mother she could understand. It pained her to admit it, but her mother could be incredibly air-headed about some topics, the needs of a young kunoichi among them. How she was able to manage that feat after living in a shinobi village all her life, being part of a great clan and after being married to the head of their clan for one and a half decades Ino couldn't understand. It wasn't as if she was a bad mother or Ino didn't love her; her interests were just confined to the flower shop, civilian life and social gossip. In effect she was a complete civilian and Ino found it increasingly difficult to get along with her. Sometimes Ino wondered what her father had seen in her, not that she would ever voice that thought. It wasn't her place to judge her mother, but her shortcomings became more and more obvious the more perspective Ino gained from life experience both personal and borrowed from Izumi.

'_Perhaps it is the contrast. I suppose after dealing with the depths of human minds all day coming home to a completely normal life can serve to balance oneself. After all, most people Daddy has to mind walk are shinobi and are not of the nice variety.'_

No, the one she was disappointed in was her father. He should have known better, but in effect he was hampering her growth as a kunoichi. Getting additional training in the mind arts from him was like pulling teeth. In reality she didn't need him to train her thanks to Izumi, but she still had to be able to explain where she had learned a skill if she was seen using it by someone knowledgeable. Keeping everything secret from her father was already very hard. Ino could have accepted his reasoning if his reluctance had been due to her not being ready because she lacked skill to safely use more advanced techniques or didn't use her abilities responsibly. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. No, his argument was simply that she was too young.

Ino suspected her father still saw her as his little princess, someone to be kept safe, away from harm and shielded of the world's horrors. She wasn't sure how her father could keep that conviction up in face of reality; normally he was a very rational person. Of course, it would have been far too late for that even without Izumi's memories. She had killed more than once and wandered the minds of captive bandits. They hadn't been nice people.

That thought triggered the memories about what Ino had found in Kin's mind and she shuddered slightly. The girl had lived a rather shitty life, although there were far worse fates. Hopefully it would get better from now on. Ino had a pretty good idea why the Aburame wanted to keep her around and she didn't think Kin would find it unpalatable once the time came. Verifying Kin's faithfulness to defect had earned Ino her first large favor someone owed her. It was the first step on the long way to become politically connected in her own right.

'_I wish she knew more about Orochimaru's plans.'_

It was a chilling thought that one of the most dangerous missing-nin could simply walk into and out of Konoha without anyone noticing. It was another sign of their lacking security. Putting that seal on Sasuke for whatever reason was bad enough, but there was more. Thanks to her exploring of Kin's mind she knew of the impending attack and had warned her friends. A few days later their sensei had informed them of the danger (without orders, but the three jonin thought the genin needed to know because they would be at the center of everything). Apparently the Aburame had passed the knowledge along as soon as they got the information from Kin.

What truly unsettled her were Naruto's and Hinata's thoughts on the matter. They feared the attack would be much bigger than anticipated. Both had voiced the suspicion that Orochimaru wasn't acting alone. It was possible that the Snake Sannin was only striking at some of the dignitaries present during the chunin exam finals or conducting a raid, but what if he was aiming at a larger goal? There existed a lot of villages that were potentially hostile towards Konoha. Granted, currently there existed no open hostilities with anyone, but that was no guarantee that another enterprising village wouldn't use the opportunity for a surprise attack.

When Ino tried looking at the situation through Izumi's perspective she had to agree. While someone like Orochimaru would probably be completely willing to let hundreds of disposable subordinates get killed to reach his goal it was unlikely he would throw them away needlessly. By all accounts the man could be incredibly convincing and calculating. It would be relatively easy to get at least one or two minor villages on board by use of some promises, turning a suicidal raid into something far more dangerous.

The most frightening possibility was that Orochimaru had enlisted the help of Suna. A foreign jinchuuriki in the village was just too convenient, but it could still be a coincidence. Suna might be the smallest of the five great villages, but they could still bring more forces to bear than any two minor villages combined. Ino would have liked to get confirmation one way or another from the Suna shinobi's minds, but she couldn't risk it. Besides, there was always the possibility that they currently didn't know and would only be informed shortly before an attack. What they didn't know they couldn't give away, after all.

'_Kurenai-sensei did say the village leadership was preparing for a larger attack. Considering the current state of the village's defenses that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence, though.'_

With a sigh Ino turned on her bed. She really should get some sleep.

'_Okay, let's summarize my problems: Fear of mental contamination, trouble with my parents, keeping my skills secret and an impending attack on Konoha.'_

Ino couldn't do anything about the first problem. Even if she had been willing to reveal what Izumi had done it was too late to do anything about it. The memories couldn't be isolated or erased without doing serious damage to her mind. She could only hope that her fears were unfounded.

'_That leaves the connected problems two and three. I'm not sure how much longer I can stand my parents.'_ She sighed heavily. _'I guess it's time for me to get an apartment of my own, but that will have to wait until after the exams are over. If it gets unbearable I can always go to Yakumo's house for a while. I'm sure she will let me stay. At least I have that option unlike Hinata.'_

There was nothing she could do about the potential invasion. She simply wasn't in a position to do anything about it. Her only hope was that the people in charge would take the warning seriously.

* * *

><p>Homura inspected his work one last time, finding no flaw in the intricate design. The past days had been spent with carefully carving a specific pattern into the ground and charging it with chakra. He grimaced slightly when he climbed out of the tunnel after completing his survey. His arthritic knee was acting up again. It really sucked to be old. His fighting days were long over.<p>

"You can fill up the tunnels. My work is finished." he addressed one of the shinobi waiting for him.

"As you command, Mitokado-sama."

A few minutes later no trace of his nightly excursions was left; the work of days had become invisible. The arena floor was once again completely smooth. No one would suspect that a seal array spanning the entire arena was resting far beneath the surface of the future battleground.

'_That should hopefully take care of the Ichibi jinchuuriki if it becomes necessary.'_

He wasn't completely sure if it would work. Theoretically it would immobilize a demon or a jinchuuriki using his demon's power, giving them time for other measures. He had developed this design in the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack in case the beast ever managed to break free of the seal even if Hiruzen didn't believe it was possible. His old friend always said he had faith in Minato's work, but he allowed Homura to create some contingencies if worst came to worst. Not that he had needed Hiruzen's approval.

Homura had a different opinion about the security of seals. He readily admitted Minato had been the best seal master he had ever seen, but it was always wise to be prepared for all eventualities. There was always a seal master who was better than oneself, knew a specific trick or was just plain lucky. There wasn't a seal that couldn't be broken under the right circumstances.

'_I have to tell Anko that Naruto shouldn't use the Kyuubi's power in the arena. From the looks of it the Suna jinchuuriki is incapable of not using his demon's chakra constantly.'_

Hopefully the big seal wouldn't be needed in the first place, but unfortunately there was always the possibility that Otogakure wasn't acting alone. They had no indication that Suna was working with Orochimaru, but it was better to be prepared. Their intelligence network had come up with nothing until now. Hiruzen had decided to prepare as many forces as possible to repel any attacker, but without a general mobilization the number of battle-ready shinobi was strictly limited. Unfortunately that was something Hiruzen refused to do; it would have required the cancelling of the exams. Homura had been all for that despite the loss in prestige, but then he never like the damn exams in the first place. They created just too much vulnerability and posed a veritable security nightmare.

The top jonin and department heads had been informed, but the general shinobi and civilian population would be kept ignorant. In the event of an attack it would take some time to get organized; time during which they would probably sustain painful losses. It all depended on how many forces would attack and what their exact objective would be. Knowing Orochimaru's thirst for knowledge, he might completely ignore the Hokage and the visitors and go for the Hokage's library instead.

'_Thank the gods we have a defector to give us at least some information.'_

* * *

><p>Temari managed to keep her composure until she was in the privacy of her room. Then she threw herself on her bed and began punching the pillow until it disintegrated into a shower of feathers. She felt tears on her face.<p>

'_The Kazekage and the Suna council have gone mad.'_

Just a few minutes ago Baki-sensei had informed them about the plan to attack Konoha during the chunin exam finals. It was pure insanity. Even working with two other villages success was far from certain. Heck, even if they succeeded in destroying Konoha there would be considerable damage to Suna's forces and she didn't think Suna could afford it. The village was already in trouble and if they were weakened further other villages would smell blood. Additionally, despite of all its drawbacks the alliance had been all that kept Iwa from encroaching on Suna's territory. This invasion could very well trigger the fourth shinobi war.

Furthermore, she didn't consider Orochimaru or his village trustworthy enough not to stab them into the back after they were no longer useful. That didn't even mention the mysterious third party that would support the attack. Suna's reputation was another issue. If push came to shove few shinobi villages cared overly much for alliance agreements; Temari knew from her historical studies that all shinobi wars had seen short-lived alliances that were broken as soon as convenient. Unfortunately, the villages that did care about such things were the ones that were important to Suna and maintained non-aggression pacts of their own with them. It was possible and even likely they would band together and try to destroy Suna before the Village hidden in the Sand could do the same to them. Even if Suna miraculously survived that the village would be a broken shadow of its former glory. They just didn't have enough forces for any other outcome to be possible.

The entire invasion plan was detrimental to Suna's long-term interests or even the village's survival. Unfortunately it seemed as if her father had gathered enough support in the council to put the plan into effect. That wasn't surprising; those idiots and yes-men never put up a resistance. Those that did had been killed years ago and the remaining dissenters were either cowed or marginalized. This was exactly like the Kazekage's bright plan to turn her youngest brother into a jinchuuriki while he was still unborn: a catastrophe in the making. Temari would never forgive her father for that; not only had it killed their mother (she was the only one of the three children who had at least some memory of her), but combined with his later treatment it had turned her brother into a monster. In the last year he had recovered somewhat, but that didn't make it any better.

Even worse, the plan was nearly suicidal for her team. It called for Gaara to unleash the Ichibi in the middle of Konoha while she, Baki-sensei and Kankuro covered for him. Temari didn't trust the assurances one bit that there would be Sound forces to support them. Neither was Gaara exactly able to differentiate between friend and foe in that state. If Konoha's jinchuuriki got involved (and he would) they were looking at indiscriminate and widespread destruction. In conclusion their survival chances weren't exactly high. It served as a nice reminder in what regard their so-called father held them.

All that didn't even touch on a personal issue: Idate. Temari loved him with all her heart. The time since the preliminaries had been one of the happiest in her life. She would not only be part of Suna's attempt to destroy Idate and all he held dear, if things went wrong she might be forced to fight against him personally. Temari wasn't sure if she could actually bring herself to harm the young man. Briefly she entertained the possibility of confiding Idate in and running away with him. A life as missing-nin didn't sound that bad. Or perhaps she could confess everything to Konoha's leadership and get asylum.

With a sigh Temari stood up and used one of her small fans to create a few weak gusts of wind, causing all the loose feathers to drift into a corner. Of course, it was only a fantasy. As important as her love to Idate was to her, she couldn't betray her own village. If the Kazekage and the council commanded she and her siblings had to obey. In the same vein Idate would never abandon Konoha and his clan. No, the only choice was to keep everything secret and go along with the plan.

After Temari had recovered enough she locked the knowledge about the attack inside herself. It wouldn't do to act differently around Idate. Maybe they would even be fortunate enough to survive. Perhaps Idate might even understand why she acted as she planned. She could only hope that the tides of battle would keep them apart.

* * *

><p>Naruto was concentrating hard, oblivious to his beautiful surroundings. Free magic was flowing from the spring of magic into him. Once there his own power and will weaved it into the patterns he desired. He could feel the spell slowly taking form.<p>

Casting spells with his own power was very different from when he called on his parents' power. On his own he was limited by his personal magic supply, the available magical power he could draw from the vicinity, his knowledge of specific spells and ability to form the neutral magic into the structures required for a spell. In contrast, with his parents' power he could do anything he wished as long as he could keep it under control. Especially in larger quantities it was easy for him to get overwhelmed and the mental side-effects were bothersome. Luckily that problem didn't exist when he used his own spells; he was actually unable to draw more power than he could handle.

Around ten minutes after he began casting the first stage of the spell was completed and Naruto activated the construct. Invisible patterns unfolded and he could feel his mind expand. Sensations of wind, temperature and humidity began trickling in. When the spell finally fully activated a picture of the weather in their region slowly formed in his mind. It looked like the coming weeks would be mostly warm and dry. That didn't mesh well with his plans.

Having learned from many experiments what to do, Naruto used the spell to make changes while steadily drawing power from the spring of magic.

'_There. A little more air pressure here, a little less there. More wind, but not too much.'_

Several minutes went by until he was finally satisfied. The weather within several dozen kilometers would follow his wishes as long as the spell held. Content with his work, he stopped drawing power and let go of the spell. He had imparted it enough power that it would take about a week for the weather to return to its natural, uninfluenced state.

"And?" Hinata asked when she noticed him coming out of his trance.

Naruto stood up and did some stretches before answering. "Everything went without a hitch. The next week will be full of cold rain, heavy winds and general unpleasantness. I tried to keep it a bit better around the village, but the spell isn't really fine-grained enough for that. Still, it won't hamper our training much."

Hinata nodded in understanding. "But for anyone without proper shelter it will be very unpleasant. Like, say, for the shinobi forces of Sand and Sound waiting to attack."

In truth, neither of them expected it to do much. Shinobi were trained to survive adverse weather conditions. Of course, the attacking forces would still be inconvenienced since they couldn't exactly erect proper shelters without being discovered. If they were very lucky some diseases would break out, but that was only a faint hope. Still, even a minor reduction in combat effectiveness might make a difference in the end. Hopefully the weather would hamper the forces from Sky even more.

"I'll probably have to renew the spell one time before the finals, but I think I'll let the weather return to sunny immediately before the finals. Bad weather might cover our enemies' final approach and we don't want that. By then there should be enough humidity for your part of the plan."

Both their gazes were drawn to the top of the rocky spire in the center of the sanctuary. From their position only a blue and white glitter was visible, but they knew what was growing there. To the unsuspecting eye it looked like a sapphire and a diamond. In truth they were instruments for their plan to take out the Ichibi. The sapphire was absorbing nature chakra and transforming it into water nature. It would enable Hinata to command water to an unbelievable degree far beyond her normal capabilities… for about ten or fifteen minutes. All the humidity from Naruto's weather manipulation would give her enough water to work with. They hoped it would be enough to immobilize even the free Ichibi and keep it contained.

The diamond served another purpose. It was absorbing a large part of the magical output of the spring. Naruto would be able to use it for a single, devastating attack. If they were lucky it would suffice to slay and disperse the Ichibi for a few years. As a back-up option Naruto was working hard at controlling more of his mother's chakra. There was absolutely no way for him to reach a stable three-tailed state in the available time, but if everything went well he would be able to control his four-tailed form for a few seconds – enough to point himself at a target and launch a single bijuudama. After that he would be most likely out of the fight for a few hours, though. In effect it was a desperation move.

'_There isn't much that can withstand a tailed beast ball, even if mine will be far weaker than mom's. Maybe it will be enough to deal with the unknown threat.'_

Unfortunately, all of those measures were one-shot weapons. Naruto didn't expect their plan would work perfectly; there was just too much that could go wrong. It was the only way they had come up with that would work without directly calling on the power of his parents and the danger that entailed. Even a slight chance was better than none.

Naruto's shinobi training was progressing well. Asuma-sensei was showing him the tricks of wind elemental manipulation only an experienced, native wind-user knew and it was helping enormously. Thanks to him Naruto had ironed out the kinks of his ability to channel wind chakra through weapons and discovered what was wrong with his Shield of the Four Winds technique. Unfortunately he would have to scrap a large part of the technique and rebuild it before it would work. He just didn't have the time for that project before the finals started. Asuma had taught him one wind jutsu, the Gale Palm, which would work well with his use of shuriken and throwing knifes. Hinata mainly learned genjutsu from Kurenai-sensei and continued studying medicine under Hana Inuzaka. Of course, the standard taijutsu and combat tactics training was continuing at the same time.

All three jonin were more worried about Orochimaru's attack than about the exams and they didn't hesitate to make that known to their pupils. They had made several different plans of action in case the arena or the village was attacked during the finals.

There were so many things he wanted to do and try, but there just wasn't among time. Researching the unique plants and creatures in the sanctuary was chief among them. Developing more jutsu was another time-demanding task. Unfortunately there was always something more important.

Something tugged at Naruto's mind and he remembered their other purpose here. In the last few days he had occasionally felt the personal presence of his parents in the sanctuary. He knew of their project to transfer parts of them here, but it didn't seem likely they would gain the ability of communication in time for the finals. Faint touches in his mind like just now had been all that happened.

"Okay, I'll summon the swallows now. Hinata, are you ready?"

"Anytime, Naruto."

'Summoning technique'

With two puffs of smoke Fuyu and Natsu appeared, quickly followed by the contract keeper and a very old looking swallow with a kindly expression wearing a headscarf and a blanket on her back. In contrast to the human-sized contract keeper it was the same small size as the first two swallows.

Naruto knew her as Grandmother Tsubame. She was one of the elders of the swallow tribe and one of the nicest persons Naruto had ever met. From what he gathered from personal interaction and the other swallows she never uttered an angry word and was loved by all. She wasn't a fighting summon (even when she was younger she had never fought), but she knew everything down to the most insignificant detail of every member of her tribe.

"Hey boss." "I bid you a good day, my lord." "Up for another round of questions, Naruto-sama?" "It is nice to see you again, my boy. Do you want to have tea with me?"

It took the swallows a moment to take in their surroundings. As soon as they did they fell silent. The atmosphere in the sanctuary was quite different than any other place Naruto had ever visited and it was obvious the swallows recognized at least part of the sanctuary's otherworldly nature. Until now the swallows didn't know about his parents, but Daiki and Youko had judged it too risky if it remained that way. If he or Hinata were forced to call upon their power during the invasion the surprise could prove disastrous. Naruto hoped they would react well. After some digging in the Juubi's memories Youko had found no reason for the swallows to be hostile to them; they had been created as the servants of one of the gods of the sky and been left behind after that deity was destroyed. Still, they would have to take the risk that the swallows sought to break the contract after they learned about his parents.

"Hello Fuyu, Natsu, Contract Keeper, Grandma."

"Where are we?" Fuyu asked. "This place is extraordinary."

The blue-feathered swallow was about to take off to take a closer look at their surroundings when Natsu stepped on his tail feathers, causing Fuyu to land in the dirt.

Naruto couldn't suppress a chuckle, but he resumed speaking before Fuyu and Natsu could begin squabbling. "I called you here for something very important. We now know each other for about two months now and I've come to trust and like you. Do you trust me?"

The swallows exchanged glances for a moment. It was the contract keeper who spoke. "Although you have yet to summon one of us into battle you have proven a worthy summoner and made no unreasonable demands. We have come to know you and you are very promising. Why do you ask?"

"There are things about me and my friend Hinata you don't know; things that might change your opinion about me."

Tsubama cocked her head thoughtfully. "Oh? What would that be? Is it about you being a demon container? I'm able to feel the demonic chakra inside you, you know."

"That is part of it, but the truth is far more complicated. I think it is better if I show you."

Naruto nodded to Hinata and gave his mother's chakra a short pull. Hinata closed her eyes and swayed lightly for a second. When she opened her eyes again they had changed from her usual pale lavender to two solid, golden glowing orbs. The already faintly existing divine presence of Youko became almost overwhelming. By now Naruto was used to it, but it was still an elating experience.

"**Greetings, noble swallows. I'm pleased to make the acquaintance of my son's allies.**"

His mother used her own voice, decidedly different from Hinata's. Its resonances somehow evoked impressions of sunlight and a warm summer day in his mind. The four swallows seemed to have fallen into a state of shock. Tsubame and the contract keeper were the first to shake off their daze. The two old swallows bowed deeply.

"Show your respect, you young fools. We are in the presence of divinity." the contract keeper hissed towards Natsu and Fuyu. The admonishment was enough to free the two swallows from their stupor and they too bowed deeply.

"Might I ask who you are, Your Divinity? It has been a long time since we have had any contact with higher powers." Tsubame asked respectfully.

"**I am the Lady of Light, though my beloved son refers to me as Youko. I assume you have many more questions. Unfortunately, my time here is short.**"

"Why are you speaking to us through this girl?" Fuyu asked before Natsu could stop him.

"**I am imprisoned together with my mate, the Lord of the Starry Night. Naruto is our son in all but blood. Hinata willingly pledged herself to us. Aside from my son she is one of the few conduits we have into this world. I ask you: Do you have any issue with my relationship to your summoner?**"

That question seemed to surprise the swallows greatly. The contract keeper was the one to answer. "Why would we? It is a great honor to serve a summoner with such a pedigree. Of course, we would serve Naruto-sama regardless. The summoner and his deeds are what counts."

A smile graced the features of Hinata's body and the day seemed to grow even brighter. "**This is good to know. I fear the end of days draws near for us and our sacred children. We are in dire need of your services to avert that fate, noble swallows.**"

"Your Divinity, we are happy to serve your son in any way possible. Even without your request we will serve him faithfully. This is our way." Tsubame replied.

"**Thank you, noble swallows. I will call my mate to explain more. He will take possession of our son's body. Fear not, this is not an unusual occurrence.**"

After seeing Naruto's affirmative nod the swallows turned back. "Please proceed, Your Divinity. We are very interested in what you have to say."

Naruto was relieved when familiar darkness engulfed him. It seemed the meeting had gone very well. It was a good start for spending time with Hinata and his parents.

* * *

><p>Akamaru let out a long, silent yawn after he awoke. Then he sat up and scratched himself extensively. A look out of the window showed him that it was still early and his nose told him that his partner's mother hadn't yet started on the breakfast. He decided to lie back down in his dog basket and watch the morning's amusement that the other occupants of the room never failed to provide.<p>

His partner Kiba and the red-headed female Karin were still sleeping as usual in Kiba's bed. The small dog didn't really understand why they went to the trouble of going to sleep in different beds; the red-haired female always ended up in his partner's bed by midnight at the latest. Curiously that seemed to embarrass both of the humans greatly. It had led to Akamaru sleeping in his dog basket instead on top of Kiba; he didn't fancy getting caught between the two much larger humans.

He liked Karin. The female smelled nice and was always willing to pet him. She complained a bit much about the training Tsume and Hana as well as other Inuzaka put her through, but thankfully that had become far less already in the weeks since she lived with them. Kiba and he certainly didn't do any less training and they didn't complain. The human adults and even his human friends were all slave drivers. All his humans were worried about someone attacking Konoha, but Akamaru was confident their pack was strong enough to repel every enemy.

The smell of breakfast was already enticingly wafting into his nose when the morning games finally started. Both humans awoke at the same time and tried to disentangle themselves from each other. Since the sheets had become entangled and they didn't coordinate their movements that endeavor ended with both of them in a heap on the floor.

"DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!" Kiba shouted as he struggled to get free.

"THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!" Karin yelled back.

After some more shouting the two finally managed to sort themselves out and went about their morning routine, still arguing and red in the face. A sniggering Akamaru made his way out of the room and down the stairs. Tsume and Kuromaru were already there. The one-eyed dog was busy with worrying on a steak, but he stopped for a moment to acknowledge Akamaru.

"Good morning, Akamaru. The two lovebirds are still at it, aren't they?" Tsume asked amusedly when she put down his filled feeding dish.

Akamaru yipped affirmatively before he dug into his breakfast. Tsume seemed amused about her son's situation. The small dog found it funny, too, but the actual reason for his partner's strange actions eluded him.

In his understanding both his partner and the female were at a state in their life where they began showing interest in potential mates. He didn't really understand most of the more complicated human mating behavior, but he could smell that Karin and Kiba were attracted to each other. None of the other nice females of his and his partner's acquaintance had ever displayed such an inclination. Tsume, Hana and all the others certainly expected them to get together. Why couldn't they just do away with all those antics?

Not that their actions when they were together during day time were less funny. They were prone to argue and sometimes shout at each other, but they always reconciled. At the rare occasions they were able to spend free time together in the village Karin always took Kiba's hand in her own after a while, seemingly without realizing it. At first they had immediately jumped apart as soon as they noticed what they were doing, but by now they kept the contact even if they were still getting red in the face. Sometimes when they didn't argue they were tongue-tied, making their faces look very funny.

At the moment their antics were still amusing, but Akamaru suspected it would soon get old. In his opinion the two should either decide they didn't want to mate and go their separate ways or do the sensible thing: get on with it and produce a litter.

* * *

><p>Yakumo awoke slowly with a smile on her face, feeling warm and secure. She could feel Naruto snuggled to her back, still sleeping peacefully. One of his hands was resting on her stomach. It felt nice. Of course, both of them still wore their night clothes. She wasn't ready to take their relationship to <em>that<em> level yet.

Judging from the lack of light there was no hurry to get up. With a soft, content sigh Yakumo moved closer to Naruto. She always enjoyed the warmth his body produced. They had gotten closer in the last month. Naruto had been more affectionate than before and they had spent a good part of their sparse free time together. The nights when they slept in the same bed had become more frequent, too.

Yakumo continued dozing comfortably until the light shining through the shutters indicated that it was time to get up. She wriggled around, intending to wake Naruto with a kiss, but when she came face-to-face with the boy she saw that he had opened his eyes.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun."

"Good morning, Yakumo-chan."

They still kissed, of course. The opportunity was too good to waste. Breakfast was spent with idle talk before Naruto prepared to take his leave.

"I have to complete some preparations for tomorrow. Everything should be finished by noon. What are your plans for the day?" Naruto asked.

"I plan to go shopping with the girls; there are a lot of merchants visiting the village because of the exams. We could meet for lunch and explore together."

Naruto smiled. "Sure, I'd like that. I'll meet you at our usual place."

Some kissing and light cuddling later Naruto left. Her boyfriend still disappeared for hours at a time to who knew where. She knew Naruto was an intensely private person and always had some secret projects going on and she was only privy to some of them. That was part of what made him him.

Naruto had been her first true friend she made after her clan's demise. Six years ago, during her first academy session, she had noticed him because of his determination. Over the years they had developed a deep friendship. He was the one who had helped her most to deal with her uncle's death. Yakumo still recalled the nights he had spent at her house, holding her while she slept. Somewhere along the line he had stopped sleeping in her bed after she got better. Since he became her official boyfriend before they graduated from the academy they had grown closer again. Yakumo didn't recall the exact date when they had once again started using the same bed occasionally, but one thing she could say was that she slept much better this way.

Almost as an afterthought she checked her calf before she headed out into the village.

'_Good, the bruise has faded and won't bother me in the finals tomorrow.'_

Her taijutsu and general physical training was becoming more and more difficult. She was still making progress, but it was noticeably getting harder. For the same amount of improvement she had to work much longer and harder than her friends. Taijutsu and physical combat just weren't her strong suit. Oh, she wasn't weak in absolute terms, but her aptitude for it was low for a shinobi. Trying to become better required more and more time until the cost-benefit ratio made it barely worthwhile. Kurenai-sensei estimated she would be able to reach low jonin-level before her skills peaked if she continued training diligently, but it would be difficult. Relatively weak bodies had always been a common problem in her clan. Judging from the information her uncle left behind her body placed her in the top quarter of her clan while it was slightly below average for the general shinobi population.

In the one month training period she had learned a lot. As if to make up for her problems with taijutsu she had taken to ninjutsu with ease. Anko-sensei was a good teacher and had done wonders for her fire jutsu. Not that she neglected her genjutsu training; it was her strongest skill and would always remain her weapon of choice. She hoped she was good enough to deal with everything that might happen during the finals.

The sound of arguing voices greeted her when she left her house.

"How can you do that to me?"

"Please, you have to understand. It's just…"

"I don't want to hear it!"

Yakumo winced slightly and hastened her steps. Her neighbors were once again at it. From what gossip she had overheard it was a complicated love triangle. It reminded her uncomfortably of her own situation. She had no doubts that Naruto loved her; she was good enough at reading people and had so much close contact with him that she would recognize when he was trying to fool her. Being a practitioner of genjutsu required a fine eye for minute details. No, the problem was that Naruto had feelings for Hinata, too, and the girl reciprocated. Both tried to hide it, but Yakumo knew them too well (and Hinata had revealed her feelings to them before she got Naruto to choose between Ino and Yakumo).

Of course, with her being a Hyuuga they could never be together, at least openly. It wouldn't be long until the Hyuuga clan arranged a marriage for Hinata; fifteen or sixteen was the usual age for the actual ceremony in most clans with around two years of preparation beforehand. It would be hell for her dear friend and the one thing preventing Yakumo from putting her foot down. The Kurama clan had been somewhat different, but it was still far too easy to imagine herself being in Hinata's position. Without a clan she was completely free in her choice of partners. Ino's crush on Naruto complicated things further, but after the talk they shared after the hot spring episode they had established that the blond girl didn't seriously intend to seduce Naruto away from her. She just was that flirty, forward and shameless.

A blush stole over Yakumo's features when she remembered the feel of a naked Naruto under her. The entire thing had been horribly embarrassing (especially with that old pervert watching!), but a not inconsiderable part of her had liked it very much. Yakumo didn't feel quite ready yet to take her relationship with Naruto to the next level, but it looked more and more attractive to her.

One problem she had was that there was no real mother figure she could ask for advice in intimate matters. Kurenai-sensei was nice, but she didn't exactly have a track record of stable relationships. Yakumo wasn't close enough to Anko-sensei to ask such things, even if the woman seemed successful in creating a lasting relationship with their old academy teacher Mizuki. The academy had done an adequate job of preparing them for the physical realities, but emotional advice required a person familiar with the individual details. Normally Hinata had been the one to give her advice; through the use of her byakugan she had collected an enormous amount of observational experience over the years. Following her advice had helped her and Naruto, but she just didn't feel comfortable talking about that with her anymore due to her own emotional involvement.

Nonetheless, Yakumo was growing older and the duty to revive her clan was looming closer. Finding a man she could love to do it with had always been one of her goals. Naruto fulfilled that image perfectly. Unfortunately, by now she wasn't sure anymore if she could manage that revival. Bearing children would hamper her career somewhat, but it would be manageable. If she had been male it would have been easier, but even so she should be able to birth up to six children without harming her career unduly.

No, there was another issue she had come to realize. It wouldn't be the Kurama clan of old; it would be a new clan that only bore the same name. A clan was more than a simple crowd of related people, even ones with a bloodline. They shared a history, traditions and secrets. Most of that was gone in case of the Kurama. Yakumo had only vague memories from her early childhood and the incomplete teachings of her uncle. That wasn't enough by far. Naruto had it even worse; the heritage of the Uzumaki was gone completely. To keep a clan really going you needed about a dozen adult members at minimum. The young girl was unsure if it was worth the effort to try and revive the Kurama clan.

Yakumo knew some historical examples where clans had been reduced to a few or a single member and recovered. Usually the problem had been solved by the male members taking several wives. After all, a man could easily father children on multiple women; a woman was far more limited in that regard. She didn't know if Naruto had truly thought about that, but if he really wanted to found a new clan that would be almost unavoidable.

Plural marriage was a legal if seldom used custom. Normally it presented far too much problems and was only relatively common among very rich people or nobles. Mistresses, paramours and half-official or secret lovers were far more widespread; the gossip in the village and the political classes at the academy were proof enough of that. Furthermore, especially among the non-clan shinobi existed a lot of relationships that normal people considered rather strange or would shun. As long as one didn't become a public nuisance everything was possible in Konoha; assuming the ability to take the gossip, of course. No one in the upper hierarchy wanted to create a nasty incident if trained killing machines were refused a consensual relationship for silly reasons like being of the same sex. Of course, clan shinobi were usually far more regulated by their clan.

She dimly remembered cousin Suzaku and his two wives, the twins Aika and Aiko. At the time the remarks she had occasionally overheard didn't make much sense, but now she understood better. It wasn't what she wanted, though. She wanted Naruto all for herself. The thought of him being with another woman almost physically hurt her.

Still, things couldn't continue this way. The situation was hurting her, it was hurting Naruto and it was hurting Hinata. They would have to find some solution before it went too far.

'_We are still young; there is enough time to deal with it after the exams.'_

* * *

><p>"Will we be in position in time, helmsman?"<p>

The man he had just addressed wore a decidedly uncomfortable expression. "I fear not, Sorakage-sama. The weather was very unfavorable and some of the airships were damaged. Ancor Vantian remains completely intact, but our journey was slowed considerably. We will not make it at the date you set although we are still on schedule for our ally's plan. I humbly ask for your forgiveness."

Shinno simply waved him away. The man hurried out of the door, leaving him alone in the throne room. For all his faults he wasn't the sort of leader that would take out the frustration about a failed plan on the back of subordinates who had done all in their power to make it succeed. Besides, he was still in a far too good mood for something like that. He would have preferred wiping out Konoha without the help of his allies to show them the Sky ninja's strength, but apparently it was not to be. Well, at least this way he would see some action instead of simply wiping out Konoha from the safety of his fortress.

Playfully flexing his muscles, Shinno admired his new/old body. He was finally young again. In fact, he was far more physically powerful than he had ever been.

A deep, dark voice tore him from his reverie. "**Is your new body to your satisfaction?**"

Turning his head, Shinno looked at the intruder. To a casual observer it looked like a girl of perhaps thirteen years, but the emotionless face, glowing red eyes and the far too deep voice told a different story. Occasionally shadows seemed to flitter around the girl, outlining a far larger and decidedly non-human form. It had been years since the girl's face had shown any human emotion; the demon had completely taken over a long time ago. Shinno didn't mind. Amaru had fulfilled her purpose to nourish the demon until it had been able to emerge from his hibernation form. Physically the demon never truly left the central chamber of Ancor Vantian, but using a host it could be at two places at once. If the thing wanted to keep the girl as a puppet to personally partake in slaughter he wasn't about to object. It was only another weapon.

"It is. You fulfilled your part, demon. I expect you will continue in this vein."

"**Of course, master. The ancient pact binds me to your service. How long until I may devour your enemies?"**

"Soon."

The demon didn't react in any visible way, but it turned around and left the throne room. Shinno was glad about that. The thing was his most valuable asset, but that didn't mean he liked to have it constantly around him. Ever since he had renewed the blood pact the demon's dark chakra was coursing through his body.

'_And to think I originally planned to build up the girl's despair over the years…'_

In retrospect it had been a very good idea to continue working with Orochimaru despite the snake being a Leaf shinobi. They had hit a rough spot a decade ago after the man joined some secret organization, but they had continued working together. It had been the best decision Shinno had ever made. A month in Orochimaru's capable hands had plunged Amaru into deepest despair, reviving the demon years ahead of schedule. Furthermore, the Sannin had provided him with lots of failed human experiments. Normally they didn't live long, but their last days were always spent in exquisite pain and despair, feeding the demon further. If that wasn't enough Orochimaru had managed to steal a scroll from Konoha that contained a part of the final stage of the demon revival ritual Shinno had been missing. Originally he had planned to let his forces to perform a risky raid while personally stealing the scroll, but luckily that had proven unnecessary. Konoha never realized what prize they had in their possession.

Shinno idly wondered how the original leaders of Sky had managed to summon and bind the demon serving as the power source of the fortress. He had been a relatively young jonin during Sky's fall and had not been privy to most secrets. Too many people and too much knowledge had been lost in the years before Shinno took over leadership. One thing he did know was that it was the ancient tablet resting in the heart of the fortress that truly controlled the demon, but he didn't really know how old it was.

'_We would never have lost to the Leaf if Ancor Vantian had been finished in time.'_

Completing the flying fortress in secret had been the main project of the scattered Sky ninja in the decades since their village's destruction in the second shinobi war. Work had been slow because many specialists had died in the village's fall and materials had been hard to come by without rousing suspicion, but the exiles finally managed to complete even the chakra collectors and the… unusual weapon system that had been missing in the past. A good part of Sky's current forces had never known the original Soragakure, but they were determined nonetheless.

Now Ancor Vantian was a fully functional battle station three years ahead of his original schedule. He would show its power to the world; power even Orochimaru didn't know about. The Sky would get revenge on the Leaf, wiping the hated village from the face of the earth. Vengeance would be done and Shinno would become the Sky Emperor.

* * *

><p>Naruto watched as the two jewels left their place atop the central spire and floated down into his outstretched hand. He would have to give the sapphire to Hinata later; she hadn't been able to visit the sanctuary today and they had wanted for the crystals to absorb as much power as possible.<p>

The boy let his gaze wander over the sanctuary one last time after he pocketed the crystals. "I guess this is it. The exams will start in two hours. Thank you for everything. I love you."

The wind seemed to stroke his hair affectionately for a moment and he thought he could hear a faint whisper over the creaking of the trees. _"We love you too. Good luck."_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

Just so you know, I'm hereby issuing a harem warning. At some point in time Naruto will be together with several females.

So long.


	33. Chapter 32: The Leaf's glory

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 32: The Leaf's glory**

Natsuhi, the Yondaime Hoshikage (not that any major villages would recognize her right to the title of Kage) watched with idle interest as more and more people were filling the large stadium. She and her companions had gotten here early to avoid the crowd and now there was nothing to do for a while.

"Mom, how much longer until the matches start?" her youngest son questioned from the seat beside her.

"Not long, sweetie. Just be patient."

The boy nodded, paying no attention to the sniggers of his middle brother and two sisters. He was still at an age where he would accept such terms of endearment without complaint.

"Look, you can see your big brother Sumaru from here. Some of the other contestants are already there, too." her husband Hotarubi added, drawing the boy's attention and causing Natsuhi to give him a smile.

She had taken Sumaru reaching the finals of the chunin exams as opportunity for a little family vacation. It was her fifth visit to Konoha and the third one as the village leader of Hoshigakure. Konohagakure still impressed her greatly; it was the largest of all Hidden Villages in the Elemental Nations. It would do her children good to get some comparison to their own small village in the Land of Bears.

Her husband Hotarubi had already been here, acting as their oldest son's jonin-sensei. It was a little sad that Sumaru's teammates Mizura and Hokuto didn't make it to the finals, but all in all she was content with how things had played out. Her purpose in entering a team for the chunin exams was showing off their village's skills and Sumaru would manage that without a doubt. Sumaru being in the finals was already creating publicity for their village. None of the participants from the other minor villages Takigakure, Amegakure, Kusagakure, Otogakure or Getsugakure had managed to get that far. Heck, not even the teams from Kumogakure had gotten beyond the second test. She doubted he would be able to compete in more than one match (the list of participants read like a who-is-who of Konoha's great clans), but getting to fight in the first place would be enough. From what her husband told her it had been a close fight against the Hyuuga girl and more would probably pushing their luck. All her genin had made it without permanent injuries and she hoped it would stay that way.

'_I wonder if his opponent really is an Uzumaki.'_

The villagers had been unusually tight-lipped about one of the two non-clan contenders from Konoha. Information about the girl Tenten had been relatively easy to come by, but almost no one had wanted to talk about Naruto. It had made preparing to fight him much more difficult since he hadn't shown any real specialty during the preliminaries.

"Mum, can we buy something to eat? I'm hungry and thirsty."

"Certainly. Why don't you all go together? Your father and I will stay here." she answered after a moment of thought.

Immediately the two youngest children jumped from their seats and began dragging the two genin with them while the other two children followed behind. With a slight gesture Natsuhi signaled the two guards she had brought with her to accompany them. Her second son and his twin sister would very soon become genin while her second daughter and youngest son were still years away from that. Konoha was friendly territory, but she preferred to take no chances. Besides, having alone time with her husband was always a thing to be treasured, even if they were in full view of other visitors. No one knew who she was and she didn't have to keep up her front as village leader.

Hotarubi put his arm around her and voiced her unspoken thoughts. "We're really lucky, aren't we?"

Natsuhi simply nodded. Seeing her children reminded her how easily things could have turned out differently. All came down to their village's greatest secret and the outcome of a single encounter almost a decade ago. The 'star' that was the origin of their village's name was a meteorite with peculiar effects. Long-term exposure to it changed a person's chakra permanently. It gave the affected much higher chakra levels and control than normal. The chakra became more physical, enabling the use of the Mysterious Peacock style. The downside was that the exposure caused health problems for many trainees and even the life of those completing the training was often cut short.

After discovering that fact Natsuhi and her husband had tried to steal the meteorite only to be caught by the Sandaime Hoshikage. The old man had listened to their reasons and was about to let them go while promising to end the star training when he suddenly broke down. He confessed that he and the other older villagers had always known about the harmful effects of the star training. The sad truth was that despite the losses caused by the side-effects more of their shinobi actually reached the age of thirty and beyond than if they had done away with the training. Hoshigakure was one of the smallest minor villages; they had no other powerful techniques or bloodlines and only a very limited pool of recruits. Without the star leveling the playing field their village would soon cease to exist.

'_We were really naïve back then to think no one was aware of the effects of the star training. Our village was founded only a few years later than Konoha and has used the star training for longer than half a century. Of course the more experienced shinobi knew.'_

At first they had been appalled, but they soon came to realize that the Hoshikage was right. Without the training they would lose even more people. Instead of leaving Natsuhi and Hotarubi stayed in the village and tried to find ways of mitigating the undesirable side-effects. Of course, thanks to them staying they had been able to have several more children (and she still managed to retain her figure. Ha!). Sumaru was followed by the fraternal twins Naoki (boy) and Noriko (girl), the girl Hoshiko and lastly the boy Susumu. Over time Natsuhi and Hotarubi became two of Hoshi's very limited number of jonin. When their fellow jonin Akahoshi murdered the Hoshikage and tried to take over it was Natsuhi who defeated him. Fortunately Akahoshi lacked the necessary support and had only a few hard-core supporters following him.

'_Akahoshi thought we could compete with the major villages. He was mad; even if the star training gives our shinobi an advantage over the rank-and-file most can't go toe-to-toe with other elites or clan ninja. Besides, we just lack the numbers.'_

She shuddered to think what could have happened if she and her husband had left the village as they originally planned. If the star training had been suspended Akahoshi would have been able to gain the support of a far larger part of the militant faction of the village and probably would have implemented a confrontational policy that would have seen their village destroyed sooner or later. After the conspirators' defeat and execution Natsuhi had been unequivocally proclaimed as the Fourth Hoshikage, being the strongest ninja in the village and having made a name for herself. She had made the improvement of the star training the priority of her reign. In that vein she had managed to recruit a medic-nin fleeing the chaos that was the civil war in the Land of Water as well as two medics-in-training from the slowly disintegrating Ishigakure. The star training still wasn't exactly safe, but it was safer than before and had a higher success rate. People like her son's teammate Mizura now could look forward to several decades of life when they would have died in their teens before. Natsuhi and her husband probably wouldn't reach sixty, but that was still a high age for ninja. It would be enough time for them to get to know their future grandchildren and perhaps even see the birth of their great-grandchildren.

The voice of her son's female teammate Hokuto interrupted her thoughts. "Would you like something to eat or drink, Hoshikage-sama? I fear we have bought far too much."

Natsuhi smiled at the girl and took some of the offered food. "Thank you, Hokuto-chan, but there is no need to be so formal. We will be one family in no time at all."

The girl blushed, but smiled back at her before returning to her seat. Hotarubi chuckled slightly. "Still going on about that? The wedding won't be for another two years."

"It's so much fun to tease her; she blushes so prettily." Natsuhi whispered back. "Besides, I really want to break her out of that habit. Respect is well and good, but at least my future daughter-in-law should address me by name."

The betrothal was only three months old, but Natsuhi already saw the girl almost as a daughter. She already knew her son had feelings for the girl and that she reciprocated when Hokuto's family approached her. The two children had been friends and teammates for years; a good basis for a relationship. Both had shown a high resistance to the harmful effects of the star training as well as an aptitude for utilizing star chakra. It was the village leaders' hope that the couple's children would inherit the trait. In a few generations it might even develop into a bloodline.

"By the way, how did your meeting with the Hokage go yesterday?"

Natsuhi shrugged. "Well enough I suppose. The old man was polite, but there was clearly something else on his mind. He praised me away as soon as he could while not saying anything other than platitudes. Our villages' relations remain unchanged. He didn't invite me into the Kage box if that is what you're asking."

Hoshigakure maintained friendly relations with Konoha, which was a nice way of saying Hoshi tried to stay out of Konoha's way and avoid anything that might antagonize the major village. In effect Konoha utterly dominated them, but there wasn't much they could do about it. The Village Hidden in the Leaves was just so much bigger, wealthier and more powerful than Hoshigakure with many times over the population and military strength. Going against them would have been sheer madness. As it was they survived on the missions Konoha didn't want to take or on those clients who preferred to stay in their corner of the woods. The Land of Bears wasn't exactly isolated, but it wasn't a pinnacle of civilization either. Hoshigakure was stable and slowly growing in strength, but it would be decades until they could contend even with most other minor villages. Natsuhi applying for an audience had been more a courtesy call because she was already in Konoha and not doing so would have been impolite; it wouldn't do to cause offense.

Natsuhi's eyes narrowed as she looked towards the Kage box, now occupied by the Hokage and Kazekage. Something was clearly going on. Most people in Konoha seemed to act normal, but some of the higher ranked shinobi seemed to be very tense even if they tried to hide it. It could have been the general situation of the chunin exams, but somehow Natsuhi doubted it. As a consequence all of them stayed together and remained armed and alert at all times.

When her eyes returned to the arena she saw that almost all genin were now present. "It seems a contestant is still missing." she remarked.

One of the guards nodded. "Sasuke Uchiha is still not here. He still has some time left; his fight is the second one scheduled."

The sharingan was a bloodline of fabled power and she would like to see what the last wielder remaining in Konoha was capable of, but the fight of her son was far more important. A moment later the Hokage greeted the visitors and announced the beginning of the tournament. All contestants aside from her son and Naruto Uzumaki left the arena. Then the referee started the match.

"Mysterious Peacock Method"

Immediately chakra feathers surrounded her son, moving lightly in the breeze. It seemed something in the arena amplified the voices of the contestants, enabling the spectators to hear them. In contrast to his match in the preliminaries Sumaru didn't change his feathers into an animal shape. It was a good strategy to stay flexible; each shape had its advantages and drawbacks and once formed it took some time to change out of an animal shape of the beast-branch of the star techniques.

The blond Konoha genin had meanwhile increased his distance and launched a single throwing knife at Sumaru. Her son easily batted it away with a chakra feather. A moment later he formed some of his feathers into ropes and launched four of them at his adversary, keeping six feathers in reserve to defend himself.

Naruto managed to evade three of the ropes, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge the fourth one that was cutting off his way to escape. He seemed to realize that, too, for he took out a large knife and slashed at the approaching rope. Natsuhi raised one eyebrow when he easily severed it. Not many things could do that. The severed end fell to the floor and dissolved into nothingness.

Apparently Sumaru was surprised, too. "How did you do that? Chakra ropes are supposed to be uncuttable."

"The wind can cut everything. I infused my blade with wind chakra using the elemental chakra flow technique." his opponent replied.

Normally it wasn't a good idea to explain techniques during a fight, but this was more of an exhibition match. The watching shinobi could recognize most techniques when they saw them, but the other visitors and potential clients wouldn't. Natsuhi knew the chunin exams were more a show for clients and visitors than an actual process of determining worthy chunin candidates. Numbers and math alone said as much. A chunin exam took place roughly every six months and the number of competitors in the finals was almost always in the single digits. Only some of them were promoted. In a village the size of Konoha more than a hundred genin had to be promoted to chunin per year in her estimate to keep the numbers stable; promotions gained in the chunin exams were a mere drop in the bucket.

"That isn't enough to defeat me." Sumaru answered confidently.

Natsuhi could see the smile on Naruto's face even from her position. Internally she sighed. It seemed her son had grown somewhat cocky. He was the best of his generation in Hoshi and the victory over the Hyuuga had probably given him another boost.

In that moment Naruto launched a small barrage of shuriken, but this time he clapped his hands as soon as they were free. Stirred up dust covered him and the shuriken immediately gained an enormous speed boost from whatever jutsu the boy had used. Sumaru had already put some chakra feathers in the way, but the shuriken punched through the first two layers until they got stuck in the third feather. A moment later Sumaru lowered his feathers to shake out the shuriken.

"Big brother, watch out!" Hoshiko shouted, not that Sumaru could hear her.

Natsuhi could see the realization on the face of her son. The stirred-up dust from the first attack had obscured Naruto launching a kunai with an exploding tag on it that was now stuck in the fourth feather… with only two additional feathers protecting Sumaru. In the next second an explosion engulfed her son.

'_I really have to put more emphasis on dodging during training. Too many think our chakra feathers are an ultimate defense.' _Natsuhi noted mentally. She wasn't especially worried; the remaining feathers should have been enough to absorb an explosion of this size.

"You know, I really start to hate exploding tags." Sumaru's voice came out of the dust cloud.

The blond Konoha genin shrugged. "One man's misery is another man's joy." he said before he jumped away to avoid two chakra ropes striking out from the dust.

When the dust cleared Natsuhi saw that Sumura had covered himself in a dog beast form, but it was smaller than usual. Roughly half his chakra was invested in another large, dog-like beast that was charging at his opponent. Sumaru himself engaged from a different direction to keep Naruto from launching any counterattacks. Said genin continued to evade all attacks, but Sumura kept moving to prevent a repeat of the exploding tag ambush.

The match continued for almost a minute in that vein with neither opponent gaining an edge.

"I can keep that up for hours, you know. Your luck will run out at some point." Sumaru shouted when Naruto once again narrowly evaded an attack.

Naruto scoffed while the chakra beast tore up the ground where he had just been standing. "Luck has nothing to do with it. Do you have anything else you'd like to show off? This is getting boring."

Sumaru simply continued to attack him.

"Okay, if that's all you're gonna use… then I guess it's time for me to stop playing around." Naruto stopped evading and began making hand seals.

"Ha, I've got you now." Sumaru shouted when he jumped at the now immobile genin… only to pass right through him. "What?"

In the next second a bright disc of crackling lightning emerged from the trees at the edge of the arena. Sumaru probably saw it from the corner of his eye, but he was still committed to his attack and the disc was too fast. With a resounding BOOOM it collided with Sumaru's personal chakra beast, obliterating a good part of it.

Sumaru staggered, clearly disoriented from the attack, but he visibly tried to reform his protective envelope. He might have succeeded if not for the second disc arriving in this moment. A third disc slammed into the resulting dust cloud, reducing visibility even further. The fourth disc caused an even bigger explosion, tossing Sumaru to the side and out of the growing dust plume. By now he had lost control of his Mysterious Peacock technique and the chakra tails as well as the chakra beast separate from him faded away.

Natsuhi saw her son rolling several meters until he came to rest, but after a moment he tried to stand up. A fifth lightning disc slamming into the ground directly by his side cut that endeavor short. Once again Sumaru was hurled away by the force of the explosion. This time he didn't get up.

When no other attacks followed and Sumaru stayed down the referee approached him. A short examination later he shouted "Winner: Naruto Uzumaki!"

Polite clapping started with some cheering mixed in. Natsuhi anxiously watched her son while Naruto waved to the crowd. She hoped Sumaru didn't sustain any serious injuries. Judging from where the last attack landed his opponent had aimed to incapacitate, not to kill. She didn't recognize the technique, but a direct hit without a protective chakra cover would probably be quite dangerous. Natsuhi breathed a sigh of relief when Sumaru stirred once again.

After giving a few more waves Naruto approached the downed Sumaru and seemed to exchange a few words with him before helping him up. Soon the medics arrived, but after a short examination Sumaru managed to limp away on his own feet even if he needed the medics holding to his shoulders to keep upright.

"An impressive display," one of the guards remarked, "I never saw the boy replacing himself with a bunshin."

She too hadn't seen when Naruto had done it, but it was clear in hindsight. "He must have gone into hiding right after he launched the kunai with the exploding tag. There was a lot of dust in the air and all eyes were on my son."

The faces of her children meanwhile had become disbelieving and distressed. "Big brother… lost?"

Her husband addressed the children. "He did. Sumaru is a good genin and the best shinobi of his age in our village, but that doesn't mean he's the best overall. Never forget: There's always someone better out there."

Mizura nodded. "Yeah, I don't see what he could've done differently. His chakra rope attacks were clearly not working. Using a beast form to get into close combat was the best thing he could do. If you've got an exploding tag directly in your face you tend to overlook things like your opponent replacing himself with a bunshin."

"From what I saw he would have lost against most of the other finalists, too. Do you remember the blond girl with the ponytail? She was the one who took me out in the preliminaries. She's a Yamanaka and is able to take over other people's bodies. The red-headed boy can control sand and likes to crush people with it; the blond girl with the pigtails can control wind and use it to slice people apart. She needed only a single attack to completely dismember her opponent. " Hokuto explained.

"That's scary."

The second guard laughed. "Kid, all shinobi are scary. That's part of our job. It's just that the big villages have so many more people than our little village that more of them are scarier than us. Begging your pardon, Hoshikage-sama."

"It's no matter; you're right. Our three genin did very good to come as far as they did."

Natsuhi leant back in her seat, letting the chatter flow over her. It was a bit of a shame that her son had lost, but at least he got to fight. His opponent had been clearly superior. Sumaru's display wasn't the epitome of shinobi fighting, but it wasn't a disgrace either and he had come out of the fight largely intact. All in all it could have been worse.

'_Where is the Uchiha? Shouldn't the next fight have started by now?'_

* * *

><p>Sasuke was still not here. Tenten wondered if he would be disqualified. By now Naruto had returned to the competitor's box and accepted the congratulations of his friends. Tenten had joined in; it had been a good fight. That wind jutsu he had used to accelerate his shuriken had looked nifty and she wondered if she could get him to teach it to her. In Naruto's place she would have had more trouble, but she supposed she could have used enough exploding tags to simply overwhelm the Hoshi boy's strange chakra constructs. She certainly had created enough of them in the last weeks as part of her other special project. It wasn't as if she had anyone to train with her; Neji mostly didn't leave the Hyuuga compound because of his injuries and Gai-sensei mostly stayed with Lee. She still felt some resentment because of that, but it had always been the same. Normally Gai didn't outright neglect them, but he very clearly favored Lee.<p>

"Where's Sasuke? His fight is about to start." Kiba wondered.

"Perhaps Kakashi's tardiness has rubbed off on him. He isn't here either. I met Shikamaru a few days ago and he didn't have good things to say about his ex-sensei." Ino replied.

One of the others was about to reply when the voice of the referee filled the stadium. "Ladies and Gentlemen! The contestant for the next match hasn't arrived yet. Therefore we will push this match back and begin the next one."

"Typical Uchiha favoritism." Yakumo mumbled under her breath, but Tenten managed to hear her. In the privacy of her thoughts she had to agree.

"And now the next match! Shino Aburame and Tenten; please come down!"

Both genin made their way into the arena. From what she had seen during the preliminaries Shino used clones and his clan's bugs. Tenten had made a very simple plan to deal with that: She would keep the range open and simply blanket the area with weapons. She didn't expect to get a decisive hit in if he used many clones, but she almost assuredly would wound Shino; at least if she didn't give him the opportunity to find cover like Naruto had done in the previous fight.

Soon they stood in the center of the arena, facing each other. "Begin!"

Shino silently removed his hands from his jacket and held them before his body. Tenten briefly saw some sort of wristguards around both his wrists before two puffs of smoke obscured his hands. When the smoke cleared he held a short sword in each hand. Tenten clearly recognized the sheen of chakra metal. Those were very valuable weapons. She didn't think a relatively new genin like Shino could afford such things on his own, but she supposed the Aburame had many valuable things from earlier generations stashed away in their compound.

'_Still, it's likely that's a ruse to lure me into range of his bugs. It's common knowledge I really like weapons.'_

Experimentally, she threw a few shuriken and kunai at Shino. Despite her accuracy he either got out of the way or deflected them easily. This clearly wasn't working; she had to step up her game. While remaining on the lookout for bugs, Tenten took one of her smaller scrolls, unrolled it and began launching a stream of weapons at Shino. At least that was the plan. Just as she began her move Shino ran at her. She barely got a few projectiles off before he was in range, his swords ripping her scroll apart. Tenten herself had already jumped back and unsealed two swords of her own. She wouldn't call herself a weapon specialist if she wasn't proficient at a large number of weapons.

She smiled excitedly at the Aburame. "Oh, it's a swordfight you want? I'm happy to oblige."

Shino stayed silent and a moment later their weapons clashed. They exchanged a few blows and Tenten soon realized Shino knew what he was doing. He had clearly studied kenjutsu under someone who knew the subject. It didn't look like she could beat him in that discipline. While Tenten was proficient she wasn't really outstanding at close range fighting; she preferred to stay at a distance. Despite being a genin for around one and a half years she hadn't mastered every available fighting style; there just wasn't enough time in the day for everything. With him pressing her like this she didn't have the opportunity to use some of her gas-filled bombs. Tenten was still trying to come up with an alternative strategy when she noticed a change in the Aburame's swords.

In the next moment Shino's blades sheared through her weapons almost without resistance.

'_Shit. He can use chakra flow, too. How can two fresh genin know that while I don't?'_

To gain some distance she threw the hilts of her destroyed weapons at Shino and used a smoke bomb to cover her retreat. The insecticide she had included should take care of any bugs, too. For good measure she created several bunshin. From what she could see Shino had created several clones, too. At the moment about six Tentens were facing almost two dozen Shinos.

'_I can't be sure Shino didn't leave his position. It seems I have to use it sooner than I expected if I want to win. I've come too far to give up now.'_

"Give up now or I have to use something that will really hurt you!" she shouted.

"I will not surrender. Why do you ask? I want to see your full potential before I strike you down."

'_Okay, he asked for it.'_

"You might want to get out of the way." Tenten addressed the referee. The man immediately moved to the wall farthest from them.

After readying six scrolls Tenten jumped high into the air, keeping the scrolls in positions around her by using some chakra-conducting wire. When she channeled some chakra into the scrolls they unfurled, forming six long stripes of paper. Tenten knew it looked almost as if she had wings.

"Heavenly Rain of Devastation"

In the next moment the barrage started. Kunai after kunai was launched out of the scrolls at high speed without her needing to hurl them. It had taken her months to get it right, but she had finally found the correct way to impart momentum to sealed objects. Of course, those were not simple kunai: Each one was connected to an exploding tag that was activated by the unsealing process. Sealing away seals was tricky business, but fortunately she had found a way to make it work. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately in this situation; she didn't want to kill Shino) the exploding tags were relatively weak and would only do lethal damage upon a direct hit to the body. Using so many tags was wasteful (and expensive) in the extreme, but since she could make them herself the cost was bearable. Still, those six scrolls represented the work of months.

When the first kunai hit the ground the explosions started. Spinning slightly, Tenten covered the entire arena with her projectiles while the explosions raged. Finally her scrolls were empty and she felt gravity pulling her back to the ground. Landing lightly, she immediately unsealed another weapon and waited for the smoke to clear. The string of explosions had left a slight ringing in her ears and she didn't want to be ambushed despite the remoteness of such a possibility. Hopefully she didn't hurt Shino too badly.

After almost a minute passed she could finally see the battlefield despite the still present dust clouds. The arena floor was cratered and most of the trees had been destroyed. Tenten's eyes widened when she saw a completely unharmed Shino standing amidst the destruction, intact ground around him.

"A most impressive display, Tenten-san. Unfortunately it was futile. You have already lost."

Tenten had barely time to say "How…" before a strong electric shock coursed through her body, causing all her muscles to spasm and sending her to the ground. Her entire body hurt and she couldn't move anymore. Shino approached her cautiously, obviously wary of a counterattack. When he got closer and saw her condition he lowered his guard. A stream of kikaichu left her body and returned to their master. Tenten had never noticed them settling on her.

"Proctor, I have won. Please call the fight."

The man who oversaw the exams checked her over before announcing "Winner: Shino Aburame"

"How… how did you escape? I have to know." Tenten whispered when she was put on a stretcher.

Shino inclined his head. "I am proficient in barrier jutsu. It was not difficult to shield myself from your attacks; they lacked penetrating power. I used the dust cover you created to mask my kikaichu. They can carry a charge of lightning chakra. You apparently couldn't hear them." he explained in a low voice.

Tenten slumped. She didn't see that coming. What freaking genin in his first year out of the academy was a barrier specialist? This was so unfair.

* * *

><p>Homura watched the brunette girl with newfound interest while she was carried away by the medics. It seemed young Tenten was talented at the sealing arts. The bombardment scrolls were certainly an interesting idea even if he estimated they required too much effort to create for the possible applications. The nobles and high officials sitting around him chattered in excitement, impressed by the display.<p>

'_I have to approach her as soon as the current crisis is over.'_

It had always been his plan to search for possible pupils among the new genin, but other important tasks always interfered. The last he had heard of young Tenten when he read a report about Gai's team around a year ago was that she had tried to become a medic-nin. Apparently she had switched to the sealing arts in the meantime.

'_It's probably best if I arrange some time with all of the elite genin and see what they can do. Anko told me almost all of them have at least basic sealing skills. Maybe some of them have the talent for more advanced material.'_

His attention was drawn back to the arena when the next fight between Kiba Inuzaka and Ino Yamanaka started. The Yamanaka girl and the Inuzaka boy began the match with taijutsu. Kiba was obviously physically stronger, but Ino had the better technique and was more agile. It was only thanks to the support of his canine partner that the Inuzaka managed to hold his own.

"Four Legs Technique"

Using one of his clan's signature techniques, Kiba's appearance became markedly more feral. The transformation was accompanied by an increase in his combat performance, putting Ino on the defensive.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall"

For a moment the earthen wall separated Ino from her adversaries and blocked their line of sight. The time was enough for the Yamanka girl to create a clone from the earth, perform another jutsu that did something to the floor in the vicinity of the clone and sink underground with the help of a third technique.

"An earth clone and other earth jutsu; interesting." Koharu remarked at his side. "Most Yamanaka prefer to concentrate on the mind arts."

Homura nodded absentmindedly. He could already see where this was going. In a scissoring movement Kiba and his dog came around both edges of the earth wall, attacking the clone together. The construct disintegrated on the first hit; apparently the girl was still working on the technique. Kiba seemed to realize his mistake almost immediately, but it was too late. The ground transformed into sticky mud and held them in place while Ino emerged a short distance away. She began throwing senbon at the boy, but he still wasn't out of the fight.

He fed the dog a pill of some sort, causing the dog's fur to turn red. A moment later it transformed into a copy of Kiba. Then it grabbed the original and hurled him away in the direction of Ino.

"Passing Fang"

While still in flight Kiba began to spin and sped up, adjusting his trajectory slightly. Ino put up another earth wall, but it easily shattered under Kiba's assault. When the dust cleared Homura could see an obviously unconscious Ino lying amidst the debris. The mud field disappeared in that moment and the transformed dog made to join his partner.

"I've won! Proctor, call the fight." Kiba shouted excitedly before hugging his partner... who drove a knee into the boy's stomach. The Inuzaka boy doubled over in pain, opening himself for a strike to his head. A moment later he was driven face-first into the dirt. Then the attacker grabbed his neck. Despite the distance Homura recognized the knock-out technique. The attacker held the grip for about a dozen seconds even after Kiba seemed to slump into unconsciousness. Then it dispelled the human disguise, leaving a confused-looking dog behind. The unconscious form of the Yamanaka girl turned into earth and crumbled.

A few seconds later an unperturbed Ino emerged from behind the first earth wall she had created. "If Akamaru doesn't want to fight me alone you can call the fight now, proctor. Kiba will need at least ten minutes to wake up again."

The small dog looked between the girl and the downed boy before it whimpered and backed off.

"Winner: Ino Yamanaka"

Homura joined the clapping crowd. He really disliked the chunin exams, but at least it seemed the fights found the approval of the visitors.

The noble sitting to Homura's side leant over. "Excuse me, but when exactly had the girl time to create that second clone?"

"I think she did it immediately after the boy passed the first wall. Then she switched with it after she put up the second wall. Once Kiba was busy with the clone she used one of her clan's jutsu to take over the dog. It was rather tight timing." the old councilor answered.

Satisfied with his answer, the noble turned back. Homura began scanning the crowd, hoping to catch something suspicious. It seemed that most of the not competing genin from the rookie teams had come in combat gear as had their jonin. He thought it a sensible precaution. They didn't know when and where Orochimaru's attack would come and the smallest hint might give them an advantage. The people in the know were distributed all over the village with some ready troops. In the event of an attack they would rally local forces and stage a counterattack. Homura frowned slightly when he spied a masked ANBU standing in the back of the crowd.

'_Did Hiruzen assign them to stand around openly in the stadium? It seems a waste of manpower. On the other hand, it's nice to see he takes this seriously.'_

* * *

><p>Temari cursed silently when she made her way to the arena floor. Gaara's fight should have signaled the start of the invasion, but thanks to the Uchiha's lateness it had been postponed. Now she had to compete and she didn't fancy sustaining any injuries or using too much chakra on the eve of the invasion. Unfortunately she had to buy time; it would be better for her brother to face the Uchiha instead of Konoha's jinchuuriki. The Uchiha might misinterpret the first stages of Gaara unleashing his demon; a fellow jinchuuriki wouldn't. It made her feel sick to betray the man she loved, but her first loyalty was towards her village and the Kazekage.<p>

'_At least Idate isn't here. Hopefully we will make it out alive and won't meet again until all of this is over.'_

The young woman from Suna scrutinized her opponent. She knew the girl with the long brunette hair was the last member of the Kurama clan, meaning she could expect powerful genjutsu. The Konoha genin had very cold eyes. It would be best to end this quickly.

"Begin!"

Temari immediately launched a powerful wind attack, but Yakumo's image wavered and disappeared before her wind could hit. When the dust cleared Temari could see she had only destroyed a large tree branch. Yakumo must have pulled off a seal-less kawarimi.

'_Shit, where is she?'_

She caught some movement out of the corner of her eye and launched another attack, but once again it was only an illusion. Suddenly vines broke out of the ground and threatened to entangle her, the sky dissolved into chaotic swirls of color and she felt her sense of balance going haywire. Being a kunoichi with several years of experience, Temari was easily able to determine that several genjutsu were affecting her. Fortunately she had studied advanced dispelling techniques in the last month.

The vines disappeared and the image of the entire arena rippled when she disrupted the genjutsu… only to reform the same as before; that was without the special effects but her opponent still missing. She hadn't managed to dispel all genjutsu affecting her and before she could repeat the dispelling technique new ones began to settle on her.

'_This isn't working. The girl can create genjutsu faster than I can dispel them. Let's see, the girl can't leave the arena and she can't be underground because she needs to see me for these targeted genjutsu to work.'_

Deciding on an alternative course of action, Temari swung her fan widely, creating stronger and stronger winds around her. That would hopefully prevent a surprise attack. Suddenly she felt enormous heat. Blinking, she saw that her protective tornado was on fire. Her opponent must have used a fire jutsu disguised by another genjutsu. Fortunately her wind jutsu proved to be stronger despite the elemental inferiority and the wind currents funneled most of the heat away from her.

'_Great, that plays into my hands.'_

Now obscured by the fire, Temari quickly dispelled the remaining genjutsu affecting her. There were still at least three area-effect genjutsu left, but with enough concentration she managed to resist them. After adjusting the wind currents slightly she mounted her large fan and used the updraft to quickly gain height while still feeding chakra into the fiery whirlwind.

Once she reached the top she used two smaller fans to create a dense ball of wind. It took some time, but the flames and smoke were enough to obscure her from her opponent's vision, especially because she didn't show off her ability of limited flight beforehand.

Finally finished with her task Temari launched the air ball into the center of the still raging whirlwind. For a few moments nothing happened. Then it expanded rapidly outwards. In many ways it was a repeat of the combination jutsu she had pulled off with Idate's help in the Forest of Death even if it was far weaker. It only lasted about ten seconds, but for this time the entire arena was filled with burning air.

Just to make sure the next step of her plan would go without a hitch Temari used a concealment technique that would make it very hard to spot her against the sky. Then she waited, scanning the arena with eagle eyes and paying special attention to any possible genjutsu connecting with her.

As soon as the conflagration died down Temari saw the referee. He looked slightly singed and a bit pissed, but was otherwise intact. Temari wondered how he had evaded her jutsu. She kept one eye on him just in case he was the Kurama girl under a henge. For almost two minutes nothing happened. Then a completely unharmed Yakumo emerged from the ground inside one of the craters the weapon-using scroll girl had created earlier. If Temari wasn't flying she would have totally overlooked her opponent.

Temari very carefully maneuvered her fan closer. The possibility that this was a ruse was still there. No genjutsu connected with on her approach and she debated her next step. Cutting the girl down with a wind jutsu from a distance would have been her preferred option, but she couldn't be sure it would hit. In the event of a miss the genjutsu barrage would start again and she doubted she could escape a second time.

'_Taijutsu it is.'_

Channeling wind chakra into her two hand fans she readied herself for a jump. When she judged the distance to be close enough she left her hovering fan, ready to strike. She got closer and closer… Temari wanted to scream in frustration when Yakumo barely evaded her in the last second. The girl still lost the left sleeve of her clothing and sustained a shallow gash on her arm, but that was hardly any consolation. Temari continued to press her advantage, not giving her opponent any time to use jutsu.

The girl was clearly her inferior in physical combat. Her clothes were in tatters after a few seconds, she was bleeding from several wounds and the kunai she had managed to remove from her weapons pouch had been cut apart by the wind-enhanced razor-sharp steel edge of Temari's fans. Still, Temari had been unable to get a decisive hit in and the wounds were not overly serious.

'_Only a moment longer…'_

"I give up!" Yakumo shouted while desperately evading her blows.

"Winner: Temari" the referee announced immediately.

For a moment the Suna kunoichi considered continuing with her attack. The Kurama girl was clearly a threat and could become a problem in the initial stage of the invasion. Her genjutsu were excellent for someone her age and Temari had only been able to win because she had around three more years experience. A few years more and the Kurama girl would become a true menace. Then she thought better of it. It wouldn't do to blow their cover so shortly before everything started; it was bad enough that she had been forced to expend almost a quarter of her chakra. Sustaining and expanding that whirlwind hadn't been cheap.

Temari relaxed and smiled at her opponent. "You gave me a good fight. Not many can do that. You should be proud."

The girl gave her a respectful nod in return while the medics applied first aid. "Congratulations, you deserved to win."

Something in the eyes of the girl unsettled Temari despite the polite words. _'Does she know something?'_

That was an unlikely but disturbing possibility. There were so many people involved that it was always possible something leaked through. Well, there was nothing she could do about it. Shaking those thoughts off, Temari returned to the competitors' box. It wouldn't be long now until the invasion started.

* * *

><p>"WHAT ABOUT THE NEXT FIGHT?" "WHERE'S THE UCHIHA?"<p>

The shouts of the crowd grew louder and louder, but Naruto had better things to do than pay attention to Kakashi's tardiness: He was fussing about his girlfriend Yakumo. By now she had been properly bandaged and changed her clothes, but he was still worried. The invasion could start every minute and even the slightest handicap could mean her death. It didn't seem as if Temari had done real damage, though.

"I'm telling you, I'm fine." Yakumo said exasperatedly while Ino continued to examine her wounds.

"As if you would know, Yakumo. I clearly remember what happened to that poor fish when you tried to keep it alive. Now hold still while I close those wounds. The medics could have done a better job." Ino replied while she moved hands glowing with medical chakra along Yakumo's arm.

Naruto would have liked it better if Hinata had been the one to check Yakumo since she was the best medic of their group, but she was seated beside her father quite a distance away. It had been difficult enough to slip her the water sapphire this morning; he couldn't risk approaching her again. Ino was still better than the rest of them at medical jutsu and every little bit counted.

Choji, Shino, a recovered Kiba and Naruto himself acted as visual cover; they didn't want the others to see what they were doing. Only the Sand Siblings remained with them; even the puppeteer was here despite not competing. Sumaru had left the competitor's box and joined his family after he recovered enough while Tenten was still in the infirmary. Sasuke hadn't arrived yet.

"That should do it." Ino said after she finished her work. "The wounds were shallow and you're as good as new."

Yakumo breathed visibly in relief. "Finally. Is Sasuke still not here? If he had been any other participant he would have been disqualified by now."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "This assessment is most likely correct."

Choji shrugged. "Well, it's natural. The people want to see what the last Uchiha can do. If it's at all possible the Hokage will allow the match to take place."

Naruto was about to reply when he spied two figures with a distinct haircut entering the stands. "Hey, aren't that Lee and Gai over there?"

"You're right. I didn't think Lee was allowed to leave the hospital. That explains why Gai wasn't there for Tenten's fight, I guess." Ino answered.

In that moment a large swirl of leaves in the center of the arena drew the group's attention. Kakashi and Sasuke had arrived.

"Sorry we're late. Sasuke hasn't been disqualified, has he?"

Naruto steadfastly resisted the urge to facepalm while the referee explained that yes, Sasuke was still allowed to fight. The stadium meanwhile erupted in cheers upon seeing the most well-known genin of their age group.

"HEY! THAT IS THE UCHIHA PROGENY!" "THE UCHIHA FIGHT IS GOING TO START!"

"Gaara of Suna, please come down here!" the referee announced.

The blond boy breathed a barely audible sigh of relief when Gaara left the box. Being in the proximity of Suna's jinchuuriki was unnerving and not because of the boy's nearly expressionless face or his tendency to stare thoughtfully at Naruto. No, the problem was that Naruto could feel the Ichibi drawing on the surrounding magic. It felt like a bottomless vortex. If he assumed that the rate of magic intake was constant and the Ichibi had been doing that since shortly after the preliminaries the amount it had already absorbed was staggering; far above anything Naruto could ever manage or really grasp. Every moment it could be enough for the Ichibi to break the bonds holding it and he preferred to be as far away as possible when that happened.

His thoughts returned to the impending invasion. Naruto had sealed away all his important personal belongings and stored them in a fire-proof safe in an abandoned park near his secret workshop. He had gotten Yakumo to do the same. Since he had no idea how much damage the invasion would do to the village it seemed a good idea. Their houses might very well be destroyed. Mizuki had been warned and would be ready for trouble. Unfortunately the chunin had teaching duties at the academy today. Suddenly the distinct sound of sand crushing bodies reached his sensitive ears and he flinched.

"What's the matter, Naruto-kun?" Yakumo asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Gaara just killed someone in the corridor leading to the arena."

"Evidence suggests that he was delayed by someone. He should have reached the arena by now if that wasn't the case. I myself was accosted by two men who wanted me to purposefully lose. Why do you ask? The chunin exams are used for betting." Shino remarked.

Choji looked uncomfortable. "Still, to kill people over such a thing…"

"We don't know how persistent they were. Besides, this isn't something for us to worry about. No one aside from the contestants is supposed to be in that corridor. Let the proctors deal with it." Ino said with a shrug. "Look, the fight is starting."

Gaara opened the fight by releasing a medium amount of sand from his gourd. Sasuke threw a few easily deflected shuriken before engaging in high-speed taijutsu attacks that looked suspiciously like Lee's style.

Naruto watched thoughtfully. "Did Sasuke get much faster in the last month? He almost matches Lee's starting speed from the preliminaries. That's a lot of improvement for a month."

"It's possible. There are training techniques that allow for rapid improvement, but they usually have some negative long-term effects to make them not worth it in most situations." Ino answered. "Hinata, Mizuki and I went over some of them in our academy days and decided against using them."

By now Sasuke's speed had increased once again and was now on a level with Lee's speed without weights. It was clear Gaara's sand could no longer keep up and some hits got through. Slowly the Suna genin's sand armor began to show cracks.

Gaara didn't seem perturbed in the slightest by that turn of events. "How quaint. Is that all you got?"

That led to Sasuke redoubling his efforts.

"You know, I wonder if that is the real Gaara there or only a sand clone. After all, Sasuke wasn't there for Gaara's fight in the preliminaries." Kiba remarked while petting Akamaru.

Choji looked thoughtful. "Shouldn't Sasuke be able to spot clones with his sharingan? Hinata told us that most clones have a distinctive look to her, but I don't know how it is for Sasuke."

Naruto nodded. "Normally yes, but maybe Gaara's sand armor interferes with that. According to my information the sharingan can't look through objects."

Meanwhile, Gaara had made a hand seal and a solid sphere of sand formed around him. Sasuke continued to attack it, but didn't cause even a scratch. Then Naruto noticed a tiny moving speck. When he looked closer he recognized an air-borne eye made of sand. He had briefly spotted such a thing during the first test. That meant Gaara was completely aware of what was going on in the arena.

Sasuke finally jumped away until he came to a rest high on the arena wall. Then he began making hand seals. Moments later lightning began crackling around his hand. A loud sound like the chirping of birds filled the air.

"That's Kakashi's signature move, the chidori." Kiba commented. "Asuma-sensei told us about it when he gave us an overview over Konoha's top jonin. It's an assassination technique."

Why anyone would call that technique an assassination jutsu Naruto had no idea. Dangerous and deadly upon a hit, yes, but suited for assassination? The thing was so loud one could hear it from a mile away. Anko-sensei had been very clear in her lectures that assassination jutsu should be either completely unobtrusive or usable from such a range and move at such high speed that the target never saw it coming until it was too late. The most important thing for an assassin was to never be spotted.

'_That jutsu can't be cheap chakra-wise. Just look at all that damage it does to its surroundings. Every bit of energy it loses through that has to be replaced by the user.'_

Naruto considered that sloppy development and an insult to the profession of jutsu creator. It simply reeked of shoddy work. He took pains to make his own jutsu as efficient as possible. You never knew when you would need that extra little bit of saved chakra.

In the next moment Sasuke began running, dragging the chidori behind him and leaving a small trench in the arena wall. His speed had increased once again, but he was moving in a straight line. Without his sharingan he would never see counterattacks coming. It took almost no time at all for Sasuke to run the distance to Gaara, evade some sand spikes and plunge the chidori into the sand shell. It penetrated easily. Silence descended on the arena and Sasuke began to smile.

A flat voice cutting through the silence wiped the confident smirk off Sasuke's face. "An impressive display; not many things can pierce my shell. It is unfortunate I was never inside of it."

"What?!"

His arm still stuck inside the sphere, Sasuke whirled around. Gaara had emerged from the ground a short distance away and was looking at Sasuke dispassionately. "I will feed your blood to Mother… but before that I will make you scream. Your insignificant death shall be the first one to prove my existence today."

Gaara made a closing motion with his hand. With a clearly audible snap the animated sand broke Sasuke's arm. The black-haired boy screamed in pain. In the next moment the sand let him go. Despite his obvious pain Sasuke attacked Gaara and landed a direct hit with his good arm… only for Gaara to explode. Sasuke was hurled away by the force of the explosion. A tendril of sand emerging from the ground caught him while still in the air and smacked him into the arena wall hard enough to crack it. His right arm was a bloody mess and the rest of him didn't look much better.

Kiba expressed Naruto's prevalent sentiment. "Boy, Gaara really likes his exploding clones and sand animation. That looked like it really hurt."

'_Is the real Gaara underground? Against a sharingan he can't hope to conceal himself with genjutsu. He must have switched himself with a sand clone early, possibly before the fight even began. His sand control has certainly enough range to form a clone out of sight. It seems he is loath to expose his real body to any attack.'_

Yakumo's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, do you guys feel that?"

Naruto was about to ask what she was talking about when he noticed that Temari and Kankuro weren't there anymore. His friends' expressions grew disturbed one by one and Akamaru began to whimper. Then Naruto felt it, too. The feeling was similar to how the demonic chakra of his mother felt to him, but something was different. It was an individual note; his mother's chakra spoke of all-consuming rage and hate. This chakra contained undertones of madness and decay; as if minds, mountains and everything else would inevitably crumble until only sand and dust remained. In the next moment the ground of the arena began to shake and bulge as if something massive was growing under it.

'_Oh shit. The attack is starting. Gaara is releasing the Ichibi.'_

* * *

><p>Kabuto allowed himself to smirk behind his mask when he felt the emerging Ichibi. His own chakra had built up to a sufficient degree for his part in the plan. It was finally time. The Leaf would burn.<p>

'Temple of Nirvana'

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

And that concludes the tournament of the chunin exams. Sadly Choji didn't get to fight. The next update will cover the first part of the invasion.

So long.


	34. Chapter 33: Invasion

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Author's notes:** Many events in this chapter happen nearly simultaneously, meaning a point of view change might be a jump back in time.

**Chapter 33: Invasion**

The entire stadium shook and panic gripped Naruto for a split second before he forced it down. Judging from how the Ichibi's chakra felt this was a temporary, controlled release. It was still bound to the seal, meaning they had still a chance. Gaara would need some more time to release it fully and even then it would still be limited by the seal. Suddenly something white entered Naruto's field of view from above.

'_Where are these feathers coming from?'_ he wondered. Then he felt the influence on his chakra. _'Crap, genjutsu.'_

"Watch out! Someone is trying to ensnare us in an illusion." he shouted before he disrupted the technique's hold on him. It dispelled surprisingly easy.

Looking around, Naruto saw that all his friends had successfully resisted the technique. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for the vast majority of the stadium's other occupants. Even some shinobi seemed to be affected. Naruto felt like cursing. With all the civilians and visitors asleep they couldn't properly evacuate the stadium; the very stadium that looked to become the Ichibi's first target and was now attacked by additional hidden forces from Sound by the looks of it. All the jonin were already engaged in battle. Temari and Kankuro along with their jonin-sensei were fighting the referee and prevented other people from getting to Gaara's location. The Kage box was engulfed in smoke. Judging from the sound of explosions from outside the invasion had begun, but there was no trace of an aerial attack by Sky.

'_Damn, I'm one of the few who can fight against the demon, but I can't begin summoning the swallows at the same time.' _Naruto thought a moment before coming to a decision. _'Apparently we still have time before Sky gets here. First we have to somehow take Gaara out to gain time. If the Ichibi manifests here there won't be a village left no matter what else happens.'_

All these thoughts and observations had taken Naruto not even two seconds. "Okay, this is bad, but we prepared for this. Ino, get Sasuke out of the arena and see if you can patch him up. Kiba, Shino, accompany her. Go to the infirmary and collect Tenten. She should be battle-ready by now. After that you're on your own. Choji, you and I will engage the Ichibi. Yakumo, keep any enemies away from us."

All his friends nodded in acknowledgement and jumped down into the arena. A protective genjutsu cast by Yakumo enveloped them while the group kept a respectable distance to the bulging earth marking Gaara's location and the fighting shinobi. Naruto spared Sasuke a glance when the group split. The last Uchiha had slipped down to the ground and seemed to be conscious despite his injuries. From the looks of it he wasn't fatally wounded. Naruto was glad about that; he didn't like the boy, but he was a fellow Konoha shinobi. Of course, it would have been better had he been able to fight. Sasuke was a competent genin and they could have used all the help they could get.

A roar drew his attention back to the center of the arena. An enormous, monstrous head made from sand covered in blue and black markings had broken through the ground. The creature wasn't so much digging itself out but growing from the ground as its mass increased more and more. To Naruto's surprise the strangely shaped yellow-black eyes of the tailed beast seemed somewhat dull aside from a general impression of madness; there was no true trace of the Ichibi's inhuman intellect.

'_That's not good. If it isn't paying attention to the impending slaughter it must be close to freeing itself.'_

Suddenly Naruto felt heavy as if an entire mountain was on top of him. It was trying to stop his every movement. Fortunately he had expected that thanks to Anko-sensei's briefing about the contingency plans. When he shut down his connection to his mother's chakra as far as he was able he completely regained his mobility. Gaara seemed to have more problems as streams of sand came loose from the Ichibi's monstrous form and its movement grew sluggish. It seemed as if the anti-jinchuuriki measures Anko-sensei had told them about were in effect, but it didn't look like they would be enough. A few moments later the Ichibi formed completely, even if sand was constantly streaming from its body.

"Okay, it's our turn. Do it, Choji!"

Choji nodded grimly before popping a green pill into his mouth. "Super-Multi Size Technique!"

His friend immediately began growing to colossal size and moved to attack the tailed beast. Naruto meanwhile bit his thumb and rushed through the hand seals of the summoning technique. With a puff of smoke a larger-than-human swallow appeared. It cringed when it spotted the Ichibi, but after a moment it settled down.

"It see your fears were justified, Naruto-sama. I await your commands."

"Your task is to carry me and Yakumo. We will harass the Ichibi for now." Naruto commanded before he mounted the large bird, Yakumo behind him. A moment later they were air-born. It was a shame he couldn't use one of the more dangerous swallows against Gaara, but the battlefield was too cramped. Everything was still inside one of the scenarios their jonin-sensei had gone through with them… at least for now.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was in pain. His arm felt as if it was on fire and the rest of his body wasn't much better off. The entire fight had gone wrong and he didn't understand why. Kakashi had told him to watch for clones and he had done just that. There had been no indication the Gaara he had attacked wasn't the original or that he had used a kawarimi after the fight started.<p>

He felt something soothing entering his body and the pain lessened. When his vision cleared he saw Ino bent over him, her hands surrounded by the glow of medical chakra. During the first years of the academy she had been one of those annoying girls that followed him everywhere, but later on she seemed to have lost interest and left him in peace. Behind her he saw Kiba and Shino standing guard. Surrounding them was some strange glowing, complicated structure. Even further away sickly yellow chakra emerged from the shaking and bulging ground. Sasuke blinked. Apparently he still had his sharingan active and could see chakra. His mind wasn't working all too well at the moment.

"…stabilized…need some supplies… have to get him away from here." he heard Ino addressing the others.

A moment later Kiba hoisted him up and slung him over his shoulder. Then the group turned to leave the arena at a fast pace. From his position Sasuke could see Naruto, Choji and Yakumo covered in a second strangely glowing structure. Then the blond boy somehow summoned a large bird and the two took to the air while Choji grew to colossal size. The last thing Sasuke saw before he lost consciousness was Choji tackling the giant monster that had appeared in the center of the arena.

'_Why do they have so much power? I need more power if I ever want to beat that man.'_

* * *

><p>Homura easily sidestepped the Sound shinobi attacking him, cutting their throats in the process. It was becoming annoying; they kept him from doing more about the emerging Ichibi aside from activating the big seal array under the arena. Until now none of the attackers had posed a real danger to him. A simple seal-less genjutsu to disorient them was all it took to give him all the openings he needed. It seemed Orochimaru was throwing only rabble against them to distract them for a time.<p>

'_Well, they don't need to do more. If Gaara uses the power of the Ichibi he can kill us all. I suppose I shouldn't complain. It isn't like I could really fight serious opponents for any length of time. I'm just too old.'_

He had always been the physically weakest of his original team and old age had hit him the hardest in that department. His specialty had always been the sealing arts and other supporting skills. Koharu had been their poisoned hidden blade; a stealth and assassination specialist who had few equals while Hiruzen had been their primary fighter with his mastery of nin- and taijutsu. Of course, they all had picked up countless additional skills in all fields of shinobi knowledge over their long lives even if Hiruzen had outstripped them all in raw combat strength.

'Illusion: Unseen Strangler'

Another Sound kunoichi who had been about to strike at some of the sleeping visitors froze when Homura's genjutsu took effect. The woman immediately began to claw at her own throat, not that it would help her in any way. A well-aimed kunai ended her futile struggle to draw breath. Quickly looking around, it seemed to Homaru that their section of the stands was secure at the moment. Koharu was already engaging the last two enemies and didn't look like she needed help. The other Konoha shinobi further away were still engaged in violent battle, though. He couldn't see the Kage box from his position, but even though the Ichibi's overwhelming presence concealed most other chakra sources he could sense another Kage-level chakra signature there along with several other, weaker ones.

'_Hiruzen will have to deal with that on his own.'_

His worst fears had come to pass. Sand and Sound were attacking together, capitalizing on the fact that they already had Suna's jinchuuriki inside their village. It seemed most of the ANBU he had seen in the stadium had actually been enemy agents. The mass genjutsu they had used to put most of the spectators to sleep made them catastrophically vulnerable. Homura saw no way to quickly neutralize it; it had to be either undone on an individual basis or run its course.

'_On further thought, Orochimaru might have done us a favor here. A panic would cause far more trouble. I doubt the crowd would have stayed calm in face of the unleashed Ichibi.'_

Speaking of the Ichibi; the demon had now fully formed and turned sluggishly in his general direction, opening its mouth. It seemed his seal was less effective than anticipated; Homura had hoped it would be enough to completely immobilize the jinchuuriki while draining away the tailed beast's power until Gaara could no longer maintain the demon's form. Alas, it seemed his seal wasn't strong enough. Air was noisily sucked into the beast's gaping maw, clearly in preparation for some attack. Considering the size and power of the beast its effects would in all likelihood be devastating. There were probably only seconds left until this entire section of the stadium would be obliterated.

Homura frantically went through a long string of hand seals. If he was lucky he would get off a fire jutsu of sufficient strength to neutralize the obviously wind-based attack. A split second later the Ichibi stopped inhaling and the old shinobi realized he wouldn't make it in time.

In the next moment the colossal-sized young Choji Akimichi appeared from thin air and tackled the Ichibi. The monster stumbled back, releasing the attack in the process. A giant ball of air emerged from its maw, but luckily it went wide, only clipping one of the stadium walls and continuing harmlessly into the distance.

'_He must have been hidden by a genjutsu. I didn't notice it; whoever cast the thing is very talented.'_ Homura absentmindedly thought while finishing his hand seals. There was no sense in wasting the chakra he had already invested in the technique.

'Fire Release: Soaring Crane'

Exhaling, Homura created a bird made from white-hot, swirling flames and directed it towards the Ichibi. Choji was wrestling with it, but it was relatively easy to steer it to a part of the Ichibi safely away from the young shinobi. The beast was still considerably larger than the Akimichi, after all. For a few seconds the Ichibi's backside was wreathed in fire, not that the demon showed any reaction. Large amounts of sand were turned into half-liquid glass and sloughed off, shattering on the ground. Considering the Ichibi's mass it made hardly a difference.

Choji continued wrestling with the monster, but his opponent was giving him a hard time. At least the big seal apparently prevented the monster from using his fine-control over sand to simply kill Choji. More than one time Homura saw spikes or similar things forming on the Ichibi's body only to collapse into cascades of loose sand. Of course, the maw and the clawed hands were dangerous enough. Choji still managed to trap the beast in a headlock after a few seconds. Unfortunately, the monster's head simply crumbled into loose sand. Choji stumbled due to the sudden lack of resistance. The Ichibi capitalized on the opening. The entire stadium shook dangerously when the Ichibi brought its tail around, catapulting Choji into the wall away from the stands. It crumbled immediately under the colossal Akimichi, engulfing him in a cloud of dust.

Once again the Ichibi inhaled, probably intending to finish the brave boy off for good. Homura quickly calculated his chances of intercepting the attack. It wouldn't work. The angle made it impossible. Just when the Ichibi was about to release its new air bullet a bright disc of lightning hit it directly in the eye. This time it screeched in pain. Once again the attack was released prematurely, but this time it fully hit a section of the arena wall to the side of Choji. For a moment the wall looked as if it would hold, but then it disintegrated. The air bullet continued its way through the village. Thankfully it was still too high to dig a trench in the ground, but the higher buildings in the way simply ceased to exist. Even the lower ones suffered heavy damage from the hurricane force winds in the wake of the air bullet. Homura could clearly see humans thrown around like dolls before dust covered the view. It made his chest heavy and his heart ache. There would be many more deaths today.

Turning back to the fight, Homura tried to spot the origin of the lightning attack. He had seen this jutsu used by Naruto earlier in the day, but where was the boy? The arena floor that wasn't occupied by the Ichibi's giant form was almost empty; at first glance only the jonin and two genin from Sand were fighting there. When he concentrated he could see some of the rookie genin carrying the injured Sasuke away, but Naruto wasn't among them.

Then another lightning attack followed by a fireball hit the Ichibi in the face, causing it to screech in anger and striking at empty air. When a third lightning disc was launched he finally spotted the origin: A large bird of some sort concealed by a genjutsu was carrying Naruto and the Kurama girl and circling around the Ichibi's head at high speed, keeping a precarious distance but evading all the blows.

'_So that is the mysterious summon the boy acquired on his last mission, a flight-capable one no less. He really must have a demon's luck. Anko did say he would be able to call in allies.'_

It didn't look like the jutsu the two young genin launched were doing any real damage, but they certainly served to distract the Ichibi (or perhaps Gaara; it was always difficult to tell who was in control when a jinchuuriki used his beast's full form). Homura used the time to retrieve a certain paper seal from his robes. It was connected to the big seal under the arena, giving him information about its status.

"How does it look? Is your idea working?" a worried Koharu asked from his side. Despite slaughtering at least six enemies her robes were still pristine.

"Not as well as I hoped, but we still have a chance. In a minute the seal will have absorbed enough of the demon's chakra for me to activate one of the secondary functions; two minutes would be better."

Fighting a jinchuuriki using the full form of his demon was very difficult; it was preferable to take the jinchuuriki out before he unleashed his beast. You could hit the demon with enough high-powered attacks until you wore it down and the host collapsed from exhaustion; as long as a tailed beast was still sealed inside a person even their full form was considerably weaker than if it had been free. In a similar vein you could wait until the jinchuuriki's body gave out from the stress of channeling such high amounts of the demon's chakra. Kumo had successfully employed such tactics when several of the Hachibi's old hosts were taken over by the demon. Other villages had done the same during the wars or when a demon host lost control. Unfortunately their current situation didn't allow that; their location would allow the Ichibi to do an enormous amount of damage and the attacks of Suna and Oto shinobi prevented them from massing enough skilled shinobi. Of course, he had come up with another idea.

'_Just a little more time until my little surprise is ready. I just I hope it will work.'_

In that moment Choji emerged from the dust cloud and punched the Ichibi in the face. The beast staggered back, its tail collapsing another section of the stadium. Choji followed up with a flurry of blows that sent sand spraying in all directions. The enemy jinchuuriki somewhere inside that mass of sand and demonic chakra probably received a good shaking.

Then the Ichibi counterattacked. Choji managed to block the strike, but the force of the blow was so strong that he was driven back, his feet digging trenches in the ground. When his back collided with the arena wall directly below the stands the entire stadium shook and for a moment Homura feared it would collapse. Pieces of debris rained from the roof and a large gap opened between his feet, but the building held… for now.

The monster jumped forward with its maw opened wide, obviously trying to bite off Choji's head. Once again fire and lightning from Yakumo and Naruto hit it in the face, blinding it and causing it to stumble slightly. Choji obviously saw the opportunity and braced himself against the wall. When the Ichibi got close enough he put both of his feet against its stomach and pushed. The stadium groaned dangerously and even more cracks spread through the stone and concrete while the Ichibi was thrown back, its massive body completely obliterating the opposite wall. Aside from the section with the stands there wasn't much left of the stadium.

'_I'm really, really glad I didn't use the walls for my seal. I need just a little more time.'_

Still, there was enough demonic chakra in the seal for him to begin. Homura began to slowly and carefully form hand seals to open the connection with his seal. Any mistake on his part would probably blow up this entire section of Konoha. All too soon the Ichibi stood back up and threw itself against Choji. The boy continued to fight admirably, stalling the monster for time. Homura found himself admiring the young Akimichi. Going hand-to-hand with a tailed beast took balls made of steel. The two flying genin supported him by tactically harassing the Ichibi, preventing it from going through with devastating attacks and giving Choji openings.

It seemed an eternity until Homura finally felt the seal reaching the necessary threshold. He immediately began with another long string of hand seals. It wasn't a moment too soon; the Ichibi had just managed to trap Choji with its arms. The boy responded by head butting the tailed beast. Unfortunately it didn't help in any way besides making the monster screech. In the next second Choji was launched out of the arena by a massive fist that had emerged out of the Ichibi's stomach. Homura could see Choji losing his footing and rolling through the park outside that side of the stadium. He was shrinking rapidly and probably out of the fight for now.

The Ichibi turned its head skywards, opened its maw and inhaled deeply. Homura expected another air attack, but this time the Ichibi launched it after barely half the time, obviously surprising the two genin in the air. It wasn't a completely formed air bullet, more a chaotic collection of hurricane-strength air currents. That was probably the only reason the two genin didn't end up as a grisly rain of blood and body parts. The bird carrying them almost managed to evade the attack completely, but a glancing hit was still a hit. It was far too small to withstand the storm and was simply blown away, tumbling over and over. Homura could see the two genin holding on for dear life until they disappeared from his field of vision.

'_I hope they survive, but at least they gave me enough time._ Sealing technique: Inverse Flow Cascade'

For a moment nothing seemed to happen and Homura feared he had made some mistake. Then the Ichibi screamed in pain louder than ever before, its sandy body deforming chaotically. Fountains of sand erupted from its surface and it was collapsing into itself. All the demonic chakra the seal had absorbed over the duration of the fight was now forced back violently. It wouldn't have worked against a free demon, but in its current state all the beast's chakra had to be channeled through Gaara's seal and body… both of which had only a limited capacity and were now overloaded due to the chaotic flow. In not even five seconds the form of the Ichibi disappeared, leaving only a mass of sand and a trashing, screaming red-headed boy behind.

'_Damn, I hoped the feedback overload would be enough to kill the jinchuuriki, but apparently there wasn't enough chakra in the seal yet.'_

"KILL THE BOY! DON'T ALLOW HIM TO ESCAPE!" Homura shouted. He was about to jump into the arena himself when the strain from the sealing technique hit him and he fell to his knees. While the seal worked by turning the Ichibi's power against itself he had to use a large amount of his own chakra as a lever. He hadn't exerted himself so strongly in years. Some minute traces of the Ichibi's chakra hit him as backlash, worsening his condition. His heart hammered in his chest as if it wanted to escape his body. Other muscles began to spasm and his breathing became irregular as a vise seemed to tighten around his chest. With dimming vision he saw the three Sand shinobi disengage from their fights and run to Gaara before a short-lived sandstorm covered their location. When it cleared the four shinobi from Sand were gone.

"Old fool, you just had to overexert yourself. We aren't spring chicken anymore." Koharu's gruff voice entered his mind. Immediately thereafter he felt medical chakra enter his body, relieving the pain in his chest.

Homura chortled amusedly as soon as his lungs got enough air again. "It worked; that is all that counts. My life for Konoha's survival; what more could I have asked?"

Koharu completed her technique and helped him into one of the seats. "As if I would allow you to simply die and leave me alone to clean up this mess. Now stay still until your heart slows down enough. The fighting here is almost over, but from the sounds of it the entire village is under attack. Some of the jonin and other shinobi have already left and I will do the same. I'll leave you enough forces to guard the visitors. Hiruzen is trapped inside a barrier fighting who knows who."

The old man nodded weakly in acknowledgement. A second later Koharu was gone.

* * *

><p>Tenten ducked under a table to evade another of those strangely organic looking darts. She had seen it hit one of the medics now lying dead on the floor and the result wasn't pretty. The deformed Oto shinobi who had launched it laughed crazily before he sprayed the room with another barrage. His bulging, discolored, pulsating arm seemed to produce an endless supply.<p>

Once again Tenten cursed the fact that the medics had taken her weapons away when they brought her into the infirmary. She hadn't yet completely regained her mobility, but at least the effects of Shino's attack were fading quickly.

Spotting a scalpel on a nearby table Tenten waited for a lull in the relentless barrage. It came sooner than expected. She immediately kicked the upturned table at the enemy, distracting him for a moment. Then she jumped over the table with the scalpel, grabbed it and threw it at the hostile shinobi in one fluid motion.

"AAHH! MY EYE!" the man screamed. It seemed her aim had been spot on.

Sprinting to his position, Tenten performed a jump kick, crushing the man's throat. Then she used a metal tray to sever it further until the man stopped moving. There was no sense in taking chances.

Breathing heavily, Tenten stood up and looked around. The corpse of the medic nin who had treated her earlier was lying on the floor half-dissolved from the acid-filled darts. She didn't have the slightest idea what was happening. An oppressive-feeling chakra had settled over the area and the walls shook, then that screaming madman had come through the door and started shooting his projectiles. Tenten had only survived by diving behind the examination table. She was pretty sure there had been an explosion in the neighboring room, not to mention the screams. The Sound headband of the dead man who looked to have escaped from some crazy scientist's laboratory seemed to indicate that they were under attack by Otogakure, but that didn't make any sense. Why would they attack Konoha? Would someone even dare?

After arming herself Tenten left the room just as the walls shook again. The rest of the infirmary was a place of horror. Dead bodies were lying around everywhere. Some wore Sound headbands, but all the medics she could see had been killed. The walls were literally painted in blood and gore. Tenten felt herself beginning to shake. She had killed during her year as genin several times, but it had never looked this… messy.

"Well, well, what do we have here? You must have killed that idiot Akira."

Whirling around, Tenten came face-to-face with a horribly scarred Sound kunoichi. Half of her visible face only consisted of scars and the right eye… Tenten simply couldn't look away. It seemed to be a whirlpool of black and purple. She could feel herself falling into it, not able to move a muscle. The kunai she had appropriated earlier fell out of her suddenly limp hand.

"Heh, too easy. Orochimaru-sama's gift is irresistible." The woman stepped closer, her hand caressing Tenten's face. "You have a good body. I will take my time with you. My mission is fulfilled for the time being. I will peel your skin layer after layer. You will not be able to move a muscle, I fear, but I can assure you will stay awake throughout the entire procedure. Maybe I will kill you if you ask me nicely." She tilted her head and her lips formed a disturbing smile. "Or perhaps not."

Panic threatened to overwhelm Tenten, but she fought it down. With an effort of will she flared her chakra as strongly as she was able and strained her muscles. At first she couldn't move, but suddenly the resistance crumbled. The Sound kunoichi's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then Tenten rammed her knee into the woman's underbelly. When she doubled over Tenten grabbed her head and wrenched with all her strength. A sickening crunch later the woman flopped bonelessly to the floor.

'_This really isn't my day.'_

Tenten banished these thoughts and continued to search the room, this time keeping an eye open for potential hostiles. Finally she found her own weapons and remaining scrolls. She was about to leave the room when a familiar voice startled her.

"Tenten-san, please keep your calm. My friends and I are about to enter the infirmary."

The young kunoich blinked. How did Shino know she was here?

'_Of course, he sent some of his kikaichu to look around.'_

"Okay, but don't make any sudden movements." Tenten yelled back.

A moment later Shino entered the main room of the infirmary with brandished swords. She relaxed immediately when she recognized the weapons and sank down to a relatively blood-free chair. It might be possible for an enemy to imitate Shino, but very few people would be able to replicate his swords to this degree.

The young Aburame looked around before he whistled. Immediately thereafter Kiba entered the room with an unconscious Sasuke slung over his shoulder. Ino and Kiba's dog brought up the rear. Tenten didn't know them well, but she had talked with them a bit in the aftermath of the preliminaries and before the finals started.

"They targeted the medics from the beginning. Logical, medics are hard to replace and it will cause us more losses overall." Shino remarked towards his friends after he looked around. "Ino, please examine Tenten. Kiba, put Sasuke down somewhere and search for the supplies we need. I will stand guard."

Ino immediately headed towards her while the visibly disturbed Kiba put Sasuke down on a bed that wasn't too blood-soaked and Shino took position near the exit. "Hey, are you okay? What happened here?"

Tenten shook her head. "I don't know and I'm not feeling well. One of the medics was treating me when a Sound shinobi entered the room and killed him. By the time I killed him in turn and came here everyone else was already dead." Her eyes returned to the body of the Sound kunoichi. "Apart from her. She used some strange eye power on me, but I managed to kill her. Can you tell me what is happening outside?"

"Suna has broken the alliance and is attacking Konoha together with Oto. We think it's a full-scale attack. They put everyone in the stadium to sleep, but I don't think they had that many forces already inside. I guess their jinchuuriki was supposed to do most of the work; but the others are taking care of that. If worst comes to worst Naruto can probably overpower him, but I don't know how much of the village would be left afterwards." Ino explained while she ran some sort of diagnostic medical technique on her.

"What's a jinchuuriki?" Tenten asked curiously. She had never heard or read the term during her normal education, but there were some vague references in the sealing books she owned.

Ino stared at her for a moment before grimacing. "Right, the idiots thought it was better to keep that secret. A jinchuuriki is a demon container and exceedingly dangerous. All major villages have at least one. Gaara contains the Ichibi. Last we saw he had already unleashed it, but there are some countermeasures in place."

"But why would you expect Naruto to… Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Tailed beasts are very hard to kill and even that doesn't stick. It would have reappeared by now if the Yondaime hadn't sealed it. Just remember, it's a village secret." Ino replied while she finished the checkup. "You're physically fine. There are some remnants of the electric shock Shino gave you and some sort of genjutsu or nerve technique, but it's already fading. Do you think you can fight?"

Tenten nodded. The day was already getting to her with the invasion, the slaughtered medics, two close brushes with death and everything else. That the energetic blond boy contained the Kyuubi just added to the pile of things she would have to consider at some later point in time. Another quake shook the building. This time pieces of the ceiling came down and deep gaps opened in the ground.

Ino swore. "Crap, they're wrecking the entire stadium. We have to get out of here before everything comes down on our heads."

"I have everything you wanted." Kiba shouted, his arms full of medical supplies.

The blond girl approached him and sealed all supplies in a scroll. "Good, I'll unseal them later. I need someplace where I can patch up Sasuke properly."

"We will link up with the nearest Konoha forces. Staying in the vicinity of the stadium is too dangerous." Shino announced. "Tenten-san, are you accepting my command for now?"

Once again Tenten nodded. She wasn't about to start some squabble about who had the authority, even if she had one more year seniority. After what had just happened she didn't feel up to the task. A minute later they headed into the chaos in the streets.

* * *

><p>Natsuhi fastened the bandage around the guard's arm before nodding in satisfaction. They had gotten off lightly with only a single relatively harmless injury. As soon as she had realized that the arena was under attack their group had grabbed the sleeping children, blasted a hole in the back wall of the stands and fled. She didn't know for sure what that powerful, malevolent chakra was, but she had a pretty good idea. It seemed Suna had decided to break the alliance with Konoha and strike with their jinchuuriki.<p>

They had fled to one of the countless parks near the arena to take stock of the situation. Aside from the giant beast that had trashed the stadium they had seen several giant snakes followed by countless shinobi from Sound and Sand attacking the village. The fighting was still spreading and she didn't think they could escape on the ground.

"The entire village seems to be under attack." her husband Hotarubi remarked. "This looks like a full-scale assault. What do we do?"

"We flee."

"What?!" her son Sumaru blurted out. "Aren't we supposed to help Konoha?"

Natsuhi shook her head. "This isn't our fight. We don't have an alliance with Konoha, only a non-aggression treaty, and a loose one at that. I don't want us to be caught up in this." She gestured to the closest of the giant snakes visible from their position. It seemed to have taken a bite out of several inhabitants of Konoha judging from the blood and body parts falling from its maw, staining its bib red. Someone in the snake summon realm had a very sick sense of humor. "Your brothers and sisters can't fight and you are exhausted. We wouldn't make a difference anyway."

For it moment it looked like Sumaru wanted to object, but then he sighed and nodded. Natsuhi was glad he understood; she didn't want to order him against his will.

"Mommy, I'm scared." Her youngest son hugged her leg.

"Don't worry, Susumu. Your mother already has a plan." her husband said in a calm voice.

The Hoshikage nodded. "Indeed. Every adult ties one of the children to himself. Mizura, Hokuto, you take Sumaru. He doesn't have enough chakra left. Then we will join our power and I will get us out of here."

Two minutes later her order had been fulfilled. "Mysterious Peacock Method: Join"

The two jonin, two chunin and two genin of Hoshigakure combined their chakra, relinquishing control to Natsuhi. The woman immediately began forming the raw star chakra into the construct most suited to their purpose.

Natsuhi felt herself lifted from the ground as the construct took form. The same happened for the other shinobi actively participating, but the construct's grip on the children was decidedly more tenuous – which was why she was tied to her youngest son. Finally the construct was complete.

After a quick check the park fell away under them as the chakra construct in the form of an enormous dragonfly took to the air. Flying constructs were an entire new level of difficulty and she didn't think anyone present besides her husband could manage it. A fire missile almost hit them, but she managed to evade in time. There was no telling if it came from the attacking forces or if the defenders had mistaken her for an enemy.

With increasing height she finally saw the entire extent of the mess Konoha had found itself in. The village was burning in several places and jutsu fights were spreading all over the place. A swath of destruction ran from the stadium towards the Hokage mountain; the side of which had collapsed. The stadium itself was almost completely destroyed; only the section with the stands was still standing. A purple barrier was visibly on top of the Kage box. Chaos reigned in the streets. Two of the giant snakes were engaging a toad of similar size.

Natsuhi wasn't really familiar with engagements on this scale, but it seemed to her as if the invaders were losing momentum. The defenders were getting slowly organized and pushing the attacking forces back now that surprise of the first few minutes was lost. Despite all the damage the Leaf had a good chance to survive this day, but they would be weakened.

'_Perhaps I can find a way for Hoshi to profit from this situation without making enemies.'_

Shaking her head, Natsuhi concentrated on getting out of here. They had reached a height beyond what most jutsu could target, but there was no sense in hanging around.

"Natsuhi, do you see that about twenty degrees to the left?" Hotarubi suddenly asked.

Turning her head, Natsuhi saw a large number of dark objects before the western sky high in the air. She immediately steered the dragonfly further east to evade them. There were no villages known to her that specialized in aerial combat and she had no intention of going anywhere near them. A moment later they crossed the wall of Konoha. The woods were rustling and Natsuhi thought she spied the glint of metal several times through the canopy.

It seemed Konoha was in for further problems. The second wave of the invasion was underway.

* * *

><p>Yakumo held on for dear life as the swallow tumbled through the air while trying to keep her breakfast inside of her. They spun so quickly she had no idea where was up and down.<p>

"JUMP!" Naruto suddenly shouted.

Obeying without question, Yakumo abandoned her place on the swallow and pushed off. For a few moments she tumbled through empty space. A sudden, unexpected impact drove the air from her lungs and she found herself underwater. Frantically trying to get her bearings, she simply swam towards the light. A few moments later she broke the water's surface.

Inhaling deeply, she looked around. In the same moment Naruto broke the surface a few meters away. They had landed in one of Konoha's channels near the western gate if she wasn't mistaken. Shinobi and civilians were running around, but there didn't seem to be any fighting in their direct vicinity and no one paid them special attention. A fading cloud of smoke marked the place where the swallow had dispelled itself.

"Are you okay? I saw the water just in time." Naruto asked when he closed with her.

"I have been better." she answered. "It isn't everyday that you fight a jinchuuriki."

"Well, at least we get to live the tale. I think the big seal finally got Gaara." Naruto shook his head. "We should get out of here."

Yakumo had to agree. After swimming to the shore she wrung out the worst of the water from her clothes. Thankfully only the dark purple coat with the extra long sleeves was really soaked; her mesh shirt didn't really hold water and her pants were water-repellant.

"What do we do now?"

Naruto was about to answer when a strange light was reflected in his eyes and illuminated his face. His eyes widened and he tackled her, causing them both to fall back into the canal. She was about to swim back to the surface, but Naruto held her back and shook his head. In the next moment the light changed, taking on a red and yellow hue. The entire surface seemed to be aflame and she felt shockwaves from nearby explosions running through the water.

'_What the heck is happening?'_

* * *

><p>Ibiki Morino smiled grimly when the last Sound shinobi collapsed with a kunai in his lung. The attacking forces were a bit less numerous than expected despite the support of Suna. It seemed either the information they had was inaccurate or that Orochimaru had committed a far smaller part of his forces than they had anticipated. The use of multiple large snake summons to breach the walls had been unexpected as had been the number of Sound shinobi already in the village, but the invasion was now slowly grinding to a halt. Resistance groups were organizing themselves around the prepared forces and pushing the invaders back.<p>

'_At least Jiraiya is in the village and dealing with the snakes. We would have far more problems otherwise.'_

Not that they didn't sustain losses. By now the casualties were probably already in the hundreds. The Sound shinobi had started attacking everyone in sight when they discarded their disguises. Civilians stood no chance against even those sub-standard shinobi. Even more losses would be sustained until they threw the invaders out. Konoha would carry the day, but not without cost.

One of his subordinates approached him. "Ibiki-sama, we have secured this street and are ready to move-"

Suddenly the world went white.

An indeterminate amount of time later Ibiki dug himself out of a pile of rubble. Looking around he saw only corpses, a few wounded shinobi, flames and ruins. Apparently the explosion had thrown him into a house which had promptly collapsed on top of him, but it had shielded him from the subsequent explosion that had leveled the entire street.

"Whoever is still in fighting shape, gather at my location!" he shouted in his commanding voice. There didn't seem to be any enemies in the immediate vicinity, but they needed to get organized again as soon as possible.

Through a gap in the smoke he saw countless gliders of various sizes in the air, obviously attacking the village. The formation closest to them was performing a dive at some target he couldn't see. A moment later they pulled up again and a large explosion blossomed. That must have been how they had gotten his unit. Ibiki wondered to which village they belonged. He wasn't personally familiar with any village specializing in aerial combat, at least not outside of small, special units.

"Bugger me with a spear; it's the bastards from Sky." an old, grey-haired shinobi said and followed up with a string of quite colorful and inventive curses.

"You know them?"

The man spat on the ground. "Yes, Morino-sama. I would recognize those gliders anywhere, although I thought we got all those bastards last time we fought. They're from Soragakure; gave us no end of trouble in the second war until we destroyed their village. Looks like they came back for revenge."

The head of the Torture & Interrogation Department felt like cursing even more when the few surviving shinobi assembled. Only five out of his forty men were still in any condition to do battle, eight others were too heavily wounded. The rest was dead.

Suddenly a runner arrived from the direction of the wall. "Morino-sama, additional forces from Sand and Sound are entering the village through the gaps! We need reinforcements!"

'_I knew things were going too smoothly.'_

* * *

><p>"<span>Kaiten<span>"

The bodies of a dozen Oto and Suna shinobi were brutally flung in all directions. Most were immediately rendered unconscious or dead, but a single Suna shinobi was still conscious despite multiple broken bones.

"Who… who are you?"

"I am Hiashi Hyuuga, head of Hyuuga clan. The Hyuuga are the strongest clan of Konoha. You would have done well to remember that before your ill-advised attack. Now die!"

A quick Juuken strike to the brain ended the Sand nin's life. Looking around, he saw no more enemy shinobi in his direct vicinity, but he scanned underground and the small back alleys just to make sure. Hiashi deactivated his byakugan and stopped a moment to catch his breath as well as give his eyes a moment of rest. He had sent most of the other Hyuuga present at the finals to a shelter while he and a few others took on the invaders in the village. Most were already too elderly to fight and he preferred to keep them out of the way, his daughter Hinata included. Hiashi had been separated from the rest of his companions earlier, but he wasn't worried. His enemies to date had been hardly worth the effort. Most of the Sound nin were rather lacking in skill while the Sand nin were typically more competent but present in much smaller numbers. The battle seemed well in hand in this sector of the village, the invading forces were slowly but surely being pushed back.

He was about to leave to another sector when a hit from behind and a sharp pain in his chest stopped him. Looking down, he saw the tip of a short throwing spear protruding from his chest. Some enemy had used his temporarily divided attention and deactivated Byakugan for an attack of opportunity.

THUNK

THUNK

Before he could react in any way, two kunai sprouted from his back. Others clattered uselessly on the street around him. Judging from the almost unbearable pain his lungs and heart had been hit. Hiashi tried to take a step, reactivate his Byakugan or do anything at all but found he couldn't. He fell to his knees coughing blood. His vision was dimming rapidly, but he still saw the gliders that had come from nowhere targeting the next group of Konoha shinobi.

'_It seems I will be joining you shortly, my beloved wife. Hanabi, Hinata, Neji, I'm sorry. I wish I had... _ '

He never felt the explosion that ripped his body apart.

* * *

><p>Kotetsu Hagane strained one last time before he fell back exhausted. He couldn't escape the rubble without help. From the feel of it both his legs were broken, not that he could see them with all the debris covering him. He could only move his head and his left hand; the rest of his body was completely immobilized. The small guard station at the side of the square behind Konoha's main western gate had been completely blown to smithereens with him inside. Before the explosion no fighting had reached his position, but that had obviously changed.<p>

'_I guess I should have seen that coming when Izumo was posted elsewhere for today. Something always goes wrong when we aren't together.'_

From what he could see through gaps in the debris the rest of the guard detachment had fared far worse. The entire city block seemed to have been demolished and was on fire; none of the shinobi on the square had escaped uninjured. The top of the wall was an inferno; it didn't seem likely that anyone would have survived up there. A strange airship was moving farther into the village.

Kotetsu was about to shout for help when a loud booming sound made him pause. A moment later the sound repeated and the large gate shook. On the third blow it bulged inwards, the metal-plated wood beginning to splinter. When the fourth blow hit both wings of the gate were blown from their hinges and flew inwards. A large, heavily muscled man with long dark hair became visible, his arm still outstretched from a blow.

'_Did he just destroy the reinforced gate with his bare hands?'_

A moment later shinobi with a symbol Kotetsu didn't recognize streamed into the village and secured a perimeter. The few of his comrades who put up a resistance were cut down immediately. Kotetsu tried to be very, very still. In his condition he was dead meat should they notice him. The large man leisurely strolled through the gate, a girl of perhaps thirteen years at his side, her face completely expressionless. They stopped over the wounded body of the guard commander held down by two of the unknown shinobi.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man laughed darkly. "Such arrogance. Konoha is so very quick to forget those it has wronged. I am Shinno, the Sorakage, leader of the Village hidden in the Sky. Today will mark the end of your pathetic village. Of course, you won't be alive to see our triumph. You may dispose of him."

Kotetsu's eyes widened when shadows flickered around the lithe form of the girl. Something invisible hoisted the guard commander up. In the next moment his legs were bitten off by teeth he couldn't see. The man screamed in agony as he was devoured bit by bit. Kotetsu wanted to vomit, but he forced himself to stay still.

Shinno addressed the girl after the man was completely devoured. "Kill as many as you can of this Konoha scum. You have half an hour before the next phase of the plan."

The girl's frighteningly empty expression didn't change, but once again half-visible shadows danced around her form and she immediately headed into the village.

"Group one, loot and kill as much as you can. Group two, stay here and keep the gate open. Group three, you are with me. Let's see if there is anyone worth fighting in this cesspool before we wipe it from the face of the earth."

Kotetsu tried to keep his breathing under control when most of the invaders left. The pain was getting worse. There was nothing he could do in his state aside from hoping that Konoha would emerge victorious.

* * *

><p>Naruto held on Yakumo until it looked like as if his girlfriend was running out of air. Only then did he allow them to leave the bottom of the channel. With two almost synchronous gasps they broke the surface. Burning debris was drifting on the water, but the shore was worse. Most of the buildings towards the gate had been destroyed or at least heavily damaged. Corpses where strewn across the street. He had seen the strange airship beginning its attack just in time. If they had stayed where they had been the shockwave would have hit them fully and judging from the state of the vegetation burned them to a crisp and peppered them with debris to boot.<p>

Explosions sounded from all directions. It seemed Sky had closed to the village while they had been busy with Gaara and were attacking all over the place. He saw a fireball shoot down the big airship that had caused the big explosion, but there were flying enemies everywhere. Fortunately they seemed to ignore them for the moment.

'_They probably approached at high altitude and dropped rapidly. Most people's attention would be on the ground anyway. I bet they're targeting the troop concentrations. Damn, I need time to summon enough swallows. We have to find a free area where I can work undisturbed.'_

"I will never, ever doubt you again if you have a feeling something will get worse than everyone expects. Who are these guys?" Yakumo asked when they climbed on top of the water and headed to the side of the canal away from the gate.

"Well, the only enemy village with a huge aerial force that comes to mind is Sky, but I always thought they were destroyed in the Second Shinobi War. Iruka-sensei mentioned them briefly in history class." Naruto answered while he scanned their surroundings.

"Obviously he was mistaken."

Naruto had a very bad feeling. It was on the same level he perceived the Ichibi's magical drain or the divine presence of his parents and Jashin. He had felt the Ichibi's chakra collapse, meaning that it was contained for the time being. No, _something_ different was near them, something dark and dangerous… and moving in their direction. They had to get away from here.

A squad of Konoha shinobi came from the inner village and stopped for a moment. "Are you injured?" one of them asked. When Naruto and Yakumo shook their heads they made to continue towards the gate. "Then find a group you can link up with and make yourself useful."

The group vanished around a corner. Naruto turned towards Yakumo. "I think there's a park nearby. I need to summon some reinforcements."

Yakumo nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a useful plan. Our sensei's scenarios have gone to hell anyway."

They had barely made some steps towards their destination when screams sounded from where the shinobi had headed. A moment later a burning house on the destroyed side of the canal was ripped apart.

Naruto gulped. The dangerous presence had almost reached them. Smoke was blown away, giving them a free view. A girl of about the same age as them with long, reddish-brown hair was standing amidst the burning debris seemingly without a care in the world. The completely empty expression, the glowing red eyes and especially the mutilated but still living body that was seemingly devoured by thin air made it clear that this wasn't a normal girl. Naruto really wished for more obstacles between them than a relatively narrow canal.

The girl's gaze went back and forth between Yakumo and Naruto until it settled on him. **"You. It is you I feel."**

"Who are you?" Yakumo shouted.

Shadows flickered around the girl, outlining a far larger form. **"I am Reibi. When war fills the world and the hearts of the people are filled with darkness I shall rise again. I will be reborn after devouring the darkness in people's hearts and my growth shall know no bounds. Then I will rule the world. I want that hidden power that is inside of you!"**

Darkness congealed around the girl, hiding her from view and forming an elongated, leech-like black body without any visible limbs. A white mask with red, feathery extensions was the only really defined feature. A moment later it shot towards them. Both genin jumped out of the way and tried to retreat when the leech crashed into the formerly intact house behind them.

"Yakumo, run!"

Naruto had no further time to spare his girlfriend a glance for dozens of tentacle-like arms were launched in his direction. The first few he managed to dodge completely, but there were just too many and he received some glancing hits. Each felt like a sledgehammer. Buildings were smashed to pieces around them as Naruto frantically tried to escape the unnaturally agile being. Apparently it could create an arbitrary number of limbs at will and wasn't really hindered by things like conservation of momentum, mass or gravity.

It seemed like an eternity, but finally one of the creature's fists hit him directly in the stomach, catapulting him into the air. Dozens of tentacles shot after him. Before he could act they had already wound around him. The feeling of the creature's substance was simply disgusting. He was pretty sure that wasn't a normal body. It brought Naruto directly to its face.

"**You've got an interesting little pet inside of you. Why aren't you using its power?"**

Naruto felt something trying to draw out his mother's chakra, but he clamped down on it hard. If that demon could feed on chakra using the Kyuubi's demonic power would be the worst thing he could do. His two-tailed form wouldn't be enough judging from the capabilities the self-styled Reibi had displayed so far. It seemed he had no choice but call on the divine power of his parents. Before he could reply fire washed over the demonic leech, but the demon didn't seem to feel any pain. A fist shot out of its side, squashing the shinobi who had performed the attack to a pulp. Looking around, Naruto saw more and more shinobi converging on their position while civilians tried to get away. Attacks of all elements hammered into the creature. Some ripped violet-glowing holes into the amorphous body, but they closed almost immediately.

In the blink of an eye something long and metallic sheared through the air in front of Naruto's face and he felt the Reibi's grip slacken. Catching his fall, he immediately tried to put some distance between himself and the demon. A hand grabbed his back and hurled him away. Naruto turned his head when he safely landed on the roof of a nearby house. Yakumo was nowhere to be seen. The swordsman who had freed him had already turned back towards the monster. Naruto knew the man; he was the one who had presided over the preliminaries.

"You better run, kid. I figure you should keep away from this thing if it wants to eat your prisoner." Hayate Gekko shouted before he jumped back into the fray.

The Reibi tried to break through and get at Naruto, but one of the other shinobi launched a massive water jutsu that drove the demon back. Naruto didn't delay any longer and ran. Many of the shinobi would probably die, but maybe they could win. Naruto had another task, not that anyone knew that. He just hoped Yakumo, Hinata and the others were okay.

It seemed the first wave of Sky's attack was over and he simply had to use the opportunity to summon the swallows. From what he could see the first attack had hit hard and broken the organized counter-offensive of the defenders. If Oto and Suna had held back forces for a second wave they could capitalize on the chaos. A second unopposed aerial attack would be catastrophic. Then there was Gaara and the Ichibi trying to free itself.

Evading several battles between the invaders and Konoha forces, Naruto finally arrived at an abandoned park that would give him enough room. Going through the necessary hand seals, biting his thumb and slapping his hand on the ground was a sequence he would become very familiar with in the next minutes.

'Summoning technique'

* * *

><p>Yakumo carefully extracted herself from the market cart she had been thrown in by that… <em>thing<em>. Sticky juice and pieces of fruit covered her from head to toe. At least the watermelons had broken her fall. She really hoped Naruto had gotten away. All her genjutsu had been completely useless and ninjutsu hadn't worked much better.

'_I have no idea where Naruto is now and there is no way I'll fight again against that thing if I don't have to.'_

The question was what she could do now. Wandering alone through the invasion was a bad idea. Fighting enemies head-on wasn't really a good use of her abilities either. Nor was going against demonic abominations; she would be more effective against normal humans she could easily ensnare in a prepared area. Looking around, it seemed that this surprisingly intact market district was mostly abandoned. She tried to picture a map of Konoha in her head. Yes, it was mostly empty, but people would have to pass here to get farther into the village.

A gleeful glint entered her eyes as she examined her surroundings closely. The small alleys and market stands formed a veritable labyrinth. Add a few traps and genjutsu and it would become a deathtrap.

'_This will become my personal cabinet of horrors.'_

For a moment she rubbed her hands. Then she got to work.

* * *

><p>Hinata ducked into a doorway until a group of Oto shinobi had passed by her, leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake. She couldn't risk the delay of dealing with them. The attack of Sky had given her the opportunity to ditch the other Hyuuga without arousing suspicion. Now she was in pursuit of Gaara's group. For now the jinchuuriki seemed incapacitated, but that wouldn't prevent the Ichibi from escaping. She had to be in vicinity to do something about that. It would have been better if Naruto had been at her side, but at least he could get around quickly with the help of his swallows.<p>

Thanks to her byakugan she saw that Temari stayed behind to prevent a group of Konoha shinobi from catching them. It was difficult to observe the Suna shinobi and keep an eye on her surroundings at the same time. She could see every point in a large radius, but not at the same time. The chaos in the wake of the Sky attack made it very difficult to stay on top of things.

A young child's wailing caught her attention. The boy couldn't be more than five, but more than half of his body had been horrifically burned. It tore at Hinata's heart that she couldn't stop to help him or others like him. She simply didn't have the time. If the Ichibi got really free (not the lesser version Gaara had used) all of Konoha would die.

* * *

><p>Temari breathed heavily as she ran through the streets. Fighting against that last group of Konoha shinobi had drained a large part of her remaining chakra. There was perhaps a fifth of her chakra left; relatively low reserves had always been the bane of her existence. It was the primary reason why she used her fans instead of utilizing wind jutsu directly. Her inability to make full use of the summon contract her mother had left her was another consequence. She might not have been able to defeat that last group if not for the Sky gliders that had killed them. At least both her brothers had gotten away. Seeing her youngest brother defeated had been chilling, but it wasn't completely unexpected. The Leaf had clearly gotten some inkling of what was going on and taken countermeasures.<p>

'_An alliance with Sky? What is father thinking? They probably hate us as much as Konoha. Well, it isn't as if the day can get much worse.'_

Then she saw the one person she had hoped she wouldn't meet today,

* * *

><p>Idate Morino slashed his fire whip across the enemy's body, cutting the woman in two. Then he realized he was the last one standing. The Sound shinobi had been eliminated, but his own rag-tag group had been decimated, too. Most of them had been long-time genin from different departments; their combat strength had been rather low.<p>

'_This is a nightmare.'_

He had originally been assigned to one of the groups that should have served as the core of resistance against a possible attack, but this was so much worse. The higher-ups had entertained the possibility of an attack by Sound, but it seemed Sand and those flying guys had joined in. His original group had been destroyed and now even the ones he had picked up at random had all died. Furthermore, he was slowly getting low on chakra.

The day couldn't get much worse. Then he spotted Temari just across the street.

"Temari."

"Idate."

"So… Did you know? Was it all an act between us?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know, but now the question had been asked.

For a moment the hurt was visible in her eyes. "I learned of the invasion plans halfway through the interim month. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I truly love you, but my village holds my ultimate loyalty."

Somehow hearing that made Idate feel better. "I understand and don't hold it against you. I can't let you continue, though. Shall we finish this?"

Temari gripped her small fans more closely. "Yes, there's no other way."

They jumped in the same moment and clashed in the empty street. It was only when they disengaged that he realized he had pulled his blows. He just couldn't bring himself to hurt her. Apparently neither could she, judging from the fact that he wasn't injured. Unfortunately he couldn't let her go.

'_Perhaps there is another way… yes, that could work… if I have more chakra left than Temari. I'm not much use against the invasion with my chakra this low and I don't think my body can endure another soldier pill.'_

Idate kicked some dirt in the direction of Temari's face before rushing through several hand seals. 'Summoning technique: Shared Pain'

Temari tried to jump away, but it was already too late. The world disappeared in an undefined green-black glow and metal bars appeared from thin air, forming a cage around them. Chains wound around the young woman from Suna, lifting her into the air. After a few seconds the technique stabilized and Idate sank to the floor.

"What did you do?" Temari asked while she tested the chains. They didn't give in the slightest.

"It's a clan secret, a cross between a summoning and a space-time technique. While we're here the pain one of us feels is shared with the other. My big brother occasionally uses it for torturing people, but although I have a rather high pain tolerance I don't have the stomach for that sort of work. We will remain in our little world until our combined chakra runs out. Sorry about the inconvenient position, but I can't do anything about that."

Temari didn't need to know that there were some pretty serious flaws inherent in the technique.

"Why did you use it?"

Idate shrugged. "I couldn't bring myself to hurt you, but I couldn't let you go either. It takes us both out of the fight. In a few hours the invasion will be over one way or another. If Konoha wins I'll try my best that you're treated honorably."

A small smile appeared on Temari's face. "I see. I'll make sure to keep you as my personal pet should Suna win."

"Hey!"

Temari burst out laughing. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Of course I'll help you in the same way."

Several minutes passed in silence.

"So, is there anything you want to talk about?"

* * *

><p>"Ouch." Choji said. It seemed the right word for the occasion. Then he laughed. He had done it. He had fought Gaara while the boy used his demon's form and delayed him long enough. He had gone toe-to-toe with a tailed beast (albeit a weakened one) and only sustained some bruises.<p>

The boy winced when he picked himself up. Okay, a lot of bruises. He had dug a pretty big swath of destruction through the park after that last attack. Gaara sure packed a punch.

He probably should find some other Konoha shinobi and find out what was happening after he blacked out.

'_At least the danger from Gaara and the Ichibi should be pretty much over.'_

* * *

><p>Deep inside the seal imprisoning it an ancient demon stirred.<p>

**You freed what was sleeping in your quest for divinity and power... You enslaved what only bowed to the Creator… You sought to take a power for your own that was far beyond your limited existence… You shattered what was one… You sought to bind me with a name of your choosing… You sought to set limits for something you couldn't understand… Cursed Sage of Six Paths… I DENY YOU!**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

The first part of the invasion is finally finished. It didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but I don't think rewriting it further will improve it. I'm still suffering from writer's block; the next chapter will probably take a while, but hopefully not as long as this one.

Narutopedia's filterable lists of characters and techniques have been broken for a while. It makes researching things really annoying.

On another note, with this chapter Destiny is a Hazy Thing now numbers more than 400k words. All my stories together have now passed half a million words. I started posting almost a year ago, so that's another anniversary. I want to thank all the people who showed an interest in my stories and hope you continue to enjoy them.

So long.


	35. Chapter 34: Invasion, part two

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 34: Invasion, part two**

Jiraiya cursed. The situation was bad. His spy network had completely missed this. He had summoned enough toads to deal with the snakes, but there were far too many enemies remaining. There wasn't anything he could do about the aerial attack and he couldn't use most of his large-scale attacks without causing even more destruction to the village.

'_I guess I have no choice. Hopefully Shima and Fukasaku have cooled down from when I told them about the kid having signed the contract with the swallows.'_

'Summoning technique'

With two puffs of smoke a pair of toads materialized on the ground. Their eyes widened when they took in the devastation around them.

"Jiraiya-chan, what is happening here?" the female toad elder Shima asked.

"Dammit boy, why do you only call on us when you are in the middle of some wild rampage? No wonder Bunta is always mad at you." her male counterpart Fukasaku groused.

"I'm sorry to call you so suddenly, but as you can see Konoha is about to be destroyed. I really need your help." Jiraiya explained.

"You really need to learn how to use Sage Mode on your own, Jiraiya-chan. By the way, boy, didn't you say that you hate this form?"

"I don't have a choice right now, Pa. I'm up against the forces of several villages, after all." the Sannin answered. "Please, lend me your powers."

The toads hopped onto his shoulders. A moment later he felt himself entering Sage Mode. "As if we would let you down. Now go get them, boy."

Jiraiya nodded before heading into the direction of the approaching forces from Suna. The attack was coming from too many directions and he could only be in one location at once, but he should be able to blunt at least one prong of the attack.

* * *

><p>The academy building shook from another explosion nearby and for a moment Mizuki feared it would come down on top of them. Considering the damage the building had sustained earlier it was only too likely. Fortunately only a few cascades of dust left the ceiling and Mizuki returned to his task of bandaging one of the first year students he had been teaching when the attack took place.<p>

Mizuki gave his patient a reassuring smile. "There, that should hold until we can get you to a doctor. Everything will be fine."

The boy nodded somewhat shakily before lying down on the floor. He was probably still in shock, not that he was the only one. The better part of his class was in the same state. Thankfully injuries had been light among his charges. Sadly, the same couldn't be said for the others on this floor. Only a bisected corpse remained of the Sound kunoichi who had barged into his classroom shortly after the explosions started in the village. Mizuki had been surprised, yes, but he had reacted in time before the woman could get off more than a few poorly aimed projectiles. Other teachers had been slower to react and paid the price. It was only luck that he had held his giant shuriken charged up with a complicated fire technique already in his hands. As it was he had only needed to throw it instead of simply letting the technique dissipate as planned. It had gone through the woman (and the man behind her, the wall behind them, the classroom on the other side of the corridor and the outer wall) like a hot knife through butter.

'_Funny, I didn't think I would ever get to use that technique in earnest. Dragging a giant shuriken around is just too cumbersome and normally the technique takes too long to charge up. I hope it doesn't hurt anyone on our side when it lands.'_

Normally the teachers were only lightly armed (mostly some kunai, shuriken and such), but thanks to Naruto-sama's warning Mizuki had brought a lot of weapons and equipment with him today under the guise of a demonstration. Unfortunately, even he hadn't expected the scale of the attack. There hadn't been that many Sound shinobi hitting the academy, but they prevented them from evacuating in an orderly fashion. That wasn't even mentioning the casualties they caused. Most of the younger children would probably need counseling… if they survived this. For now they had herded all surviving students into the corridor until they could make sure the way out was free.

Two dust-covered teachers arrived from the direction of the staircase. "The upmost floor is simply gone. There's no one left alive. Whatever it was, it came from the stadium and hit the mountain. There's fighting all around."

"The ground floor is clear now; the last of the children are being evacuated right now… but there were losses. Keep the children away from the classrooms." the second one added.

On the way out Mizuki spared a look into the ground-floor corridor. Smoke came out of several rooms and some bodies were lying around. Most of the children seemed to have gotten out alive, but there were still enough corpses to make him feel queasy. He might hate teaching the brats, but he most definitely didn't want to see them dead. With a sigh he left the place of carnage. Konoha's problems in regards to security had finally come home to roost. On the outside most children were already away towards the safe area behind the Hokage mountain, the teachers forming a protective cordon on the yard and carrying off the wounded. Mizuki's class would be the last to be led away. The white-haired chunin wasn't sure if the evacuation plans were actually tenable considering the sound of fighting all around them. It seemed a large number of enemy shinobi was already inside the village.

Mizuki's eyes suddenly widened when he looked to the sky. "Everyone, get down!"

A moment later he hit the ground. It wasn't a second too soon. New explosions blossomed around them, shrouding the yard in smoke. The academy building they had just left collapsed in a cloud of dust.

As soon as the explosions stopped Mizuki jumped to his feet. The sky was full of gliders attacking all over the village. Most of the chunin around him were dead. They had probably presented too good a target. Mizuki's heart sank when he spotted a new group of enemies approaching. Their escape route had been cut off.

"Go into the cellar underneath the storage hall! I'll try to stop them here!" Mizuki shouted towards Daikoku Funeno, the only other teacher still on his feet.

For a moment Daikoku seemed ready to object, but then he nodded respectfully and began ushering the remaining students away. Mizuki breathed deeply, preparing himself for battle. There were at least a dozen enemies, killing off the injured in their way.

'_Time to see if my research pays off. _Fire Release: Field of the Dancing Fireflies'

Countless motes of light emerged from his mouth, filling the yard before him with swirling specks of colored light. All Konoha shinobi in the area were dead anyway and he wouldn't have to be worried about hitting any friendlies. For a moment the enemies hesitated, but when nothing happened one of them advanced towards him. Once again nothing happened. Two more Sound shinobi left their position to approach him. Mizuki had to dive to the side to evade several thrown kunai. Rolling behind a broken piece of the wall, he took notice that all enemies were now advancing on his position. Apparently the enemies now believed the field was harmless.

Mizuki's lips moved into a malicious smirk when the necessary time passed. '_I love when my enemies are stupid._ Feeding Time'

The change was obvious. All the formerly widely curving tiny lights homed in to the nearest human chakra source, aside from him of course. Then the screams began. The tiny specks of light were no longer harmless. Instead they were small but very highly concentrated accumulations of elemental fire chakra. One hit, while painful, didn't actually do much damage. Unfortunately for the Sound shinobi there were thousands of those specks, each one unfailingly calibrated on one of the chakra signatures that had moved through the field earlier. Half of the Sound shinobi threw themselves to ground in the hopes of quenching the flames that devoured their bodies. It made them only easier targets.

The other half tried to escape in different directions, a stream of multi-colored fireflies following closely behind. It could have been a pretty display if one ignored what happened to the victims. It definitely wasn't a pretty way to die. The fireflies automatically evaded every obstacle in their path including techniques. Of course, it wasn't perfect and there were countermeasures, but fortunately these shinobi didn't seem to know any. Finally only a dozen smoking corpses were left on the yard. Mizuki was about to make sure when a shout from behind drew his attention.

"That was so cool, sensei!"

His heart sinking, he turned around. Konohamaru and Hanabi were standing on the rubble. Both children looked unscathed, but Mizuki could spot tear tracks on their faces. Today he had taught a different class as replacement for a sick teacher. The children had been supposed to learn about trap setting under Iruka and Suzume.

"What are you two doing here?"

"We were at the small training field when the attack came. Iruka-sensei and Suzume-sensei tried to defend us, but…"

A change in the children's expressions was all the warning Mizuki had before a sledgehammer hit him in the side and sent him flying. His ribs creaked dangerously, but held. As soon as he came close to the ground he used his hand to change his trajectory. It wasn't a moment too soon; a massive fist came down at the spot he would have been at had he continued on his way. Two back flips later he got the first good look at the enemy that had managed to sneak up on him. It was a man with absolutely massive muscles.

"He, and here I thought I was fighting against a man. Instead I only see a grasshopper." the Sound shinobi said with a laugh before he launched himself at Mizuki.

The chunin had no opportunity for a reply. Whoever his enemy was, he was fast and strong. One hit from his fists disintegrated the rubble lying around. For the first time in years the white-haired chunin was in a life-and-death battle at close range. He was still faster than his opponent, but not by much.

'_If I didn't regularly train with Anko that would have killed me.'_ Mizuki absentmindedly thought when he evaded a particularly vicious punch. Training the kids had been helpful, but he had needed a sparring partner on a far higher level than they (or the other academy teachers) could provide.

Suddenly he saw an opening. His thrust missed the man's eye due to him moving his head at the last moment, but it cut a deep incision into the man's cheek instead. The counterstrike threw Mizuki several meters away until he managed to regain his balance.

For a moment the battle paused as the Sound nin dabbed at his cheek and examined his bloody fingertips. Then his eyes narrowed. "Enough playing around, you will pay for this grasshopper. Behold the power Orochimaru-sama has graced me with."

The man took a bottle from his belt and downed the contents in one big gulp. Immediately his already massive muscles bulged even more. Fur grew and fingernails elongated until the man looked more than a bipedal tiger than a human. With a roar he lunged at Mizuki. Said chunin barely managed to stay alive throughout the next seconds. His enemy was just too fast and strong.

'_I guess I have no choice; I need time for hand seals.'_

Mizuki purposefully let the next attack connect. The claws shredded his chunin vest (luckily without penetrating his undershirt) and he was once again launched into the air from the force of the strike. While in flight he went through a series of hand seals, but he didn't release the technique yet. He needed a clear shot for it to work. The impact with a particularly large piece of rubble drove the air from his lungs, but his concentration held. His enemy was already running at him with high speed.

'_Wait for it, wait for… now!'_

'Fire Release: Ray of Hope'

A lance of fire so hot it looked white shot from Mizuki's right palm, hitting the beastman squarely in the chest. For the smallest moment nothing seemed to happen; then the man was hurled back by the force of the technique until he hit the wall on the edge of the academy grounds. His roar of pain rang painfully loud in Mizuki's ears, but he kept the fiery beam straight on target. Finally he let the beam peter out before he expended more chakra than he could afford in this situation. The tiger-man slumped to the ground, a smoking hole in his chest.

Breathing deeply, Mizuki stood up from his sitting position. His right hand hurt and was covered in some relatively light burn. _'Still a work in progress, I guess.'_

To his astonishment his enemy was still alive despite his insides being turned into something resembling charcoal. In the next few moments Mizuki grew even more astonished. The formerly heavily-muscled tiger-like man turned into a thin, withered husk before Mizuki's eyes.

"Orochimaru-sama, you promised me power… you promised…" were his last words before the light left his eyes.

Mizuki had to suppress a shudder before he turned around and approached the children to deal with the next problem._ 'That could have been me if not for Naruto-sama.'_

* * *

><p>Tsume Inuzaka ripped another Sound shinobi apart with aching hands, but she had no opportunity to rest. The next group of enemies was already upon her. It seemed she was directly in the invasion route from one of the breaches in the wall. By now she and her partner were fighting alone and she had lost count of how many people she had killed. Still, even more enemies went around her. She simply couldn't stop them all.<p>

Suddenly something that had always been there was brutally ripped away.

"Kuromaru!"

Her companion of so many years had been speared through in mid-jump by a strange bone construct. A man with pale skin, white hair and two dots above his eyes turned towards her, his face an emotionless mask.

"Orochimaru-sama commands your destruction, trash."

A red haze descending on her vision, Tsume howled in rage and threw herself at the man. Her claws ripped his flesh away, but then only hit bone. She never saw the bone spikes emerging from his body that pierced her brain, lungs and heart.

* * *

><p>'<span>Summoning technique<span>'

With a large puff of smoke another carriage-sized swallow materialized, this one with red feathers mixed with a mainly black plumage. After a moment to orient itself it jumped into the air, joining the large flock already circulating over the park. It wasn't as if anyone could see them. One of the seven boss-class swallows Naruto had summoned was the aptly named Niji. The swallow had feathers in all colors of the rainbow and specialized in large-scale optical illusions. Currently she was using her powers to hide the growing swarm until they were ready for attack.

Naruto was about to summon another swallow when a dizzy spell hit him. The next he knew was that he was sitting on the ground, several worried swallows surrounding him.

"I think this is quite enough, Naruto-sama. You'll need some energy to fight if something unexpected happens." Natsu admonished.

"I have to agree. No single summoner in our history has ever managed to call that many of our tribe on his own. Almost everyone who can fight is here." Fuyu added, the awe clear in his voice.

Since the two mid-level swallows had been the first ones he had summoned they had apparently been assigned the honor of being his personal summons. Naruto didn't mind, he liked the two and it didn't make much difference for him. Natsu was rather formal most of the time while Fuyu was easily excitable and possessed of an insatiable curiosity. Frankly, on their own both swallows would be pretty irritating. That was probably the reason why they never left each other's company and refused to be summoned without the other.

In response Naruto simply nodded. He was actually low on chakra. He! Low on chakra! That was almost an impossibility. He had only experienced that state a few times in his parents' realm when he deliberately spent all he had.

'_I guess summoning is pretty chakra-intensive.'_

With a sigh he stood up. "You're right. If this isn't enough nothing will be. I only hope the ones who won't get to fight aren't offended."

Natsu shrugged. "They will certainly be sad to have missed this grand battle, but there will be other opportunities in the future. Now then, are you ready, Naruto-sama?"

Naruto nodded again and approached the swallow that would serve as his means of transportation. The lull in the aerial attack would soon come to an end when the next wave hit and he wanted to be ready. A few seconds later they were airborne. Konoha didn't present a good image. The big stadium was all but destroyed and fires were everywhere. In the distance he could see a giant toad fighting against the last of the giant snakes that had cut several swathes of destruction through the village. The big demon leech had moved further into the village as well and was engaged in heavy fighting.

'_I guess that was the Pretending Worm from Dad's vision. There is no Reibi; it pretty much pretends to be something greater than it really is. I really hope the other shinobi manage to deal with it.'_

Overall the situation in the streets was too chaotic for him to make much sense of it, but he got the impression that the defenders were once again getting organized. His task was in the sky. Looking towards Konoha's outskirts, he saw more signs of fighting in the training grounds. Unfortunately the trees prevented him from seeing any details. Some isolated groups of gliders and larger airships were still in the vicinity, but Naruto didn't want to split his forces. The swallows were all that stood between Konoha and a second, even more devastating attack.

"To the west, Naruto-sama." Fuyu shouted from his side.

Squinting, Naruto looked into the indicated direction. Then he saw them. Another large force of gliders and airships was just clearing a mountain range. He couldn't allow them to reach their target.

'_I hope the Ichibi doesn't break free anytime soon, but I have no choice. I have to deal with Sky first.'_

* * *

><p>Karin tried to think happy thoughts to distract herself from reality. She wasn't especially successful. Her current location was the shelter under the Inuzaka clan compound. It was filled with the old and infirm as well as the children too young to fight, both human and canine. There were quite a lot of those children. About nine or ten years ago the Inuzaka clan seemed to have begun experiencing a baby boom that had only somewhat subsided in recent years. Almost all families had at least half a dozen kids. Kiba's family was actually abnormal in that regard that it was only him and his sister, but she supposed that was because their father was gone. Constantly being surrounded by younger children had been a novel experience for Karin. They were simply everywhere.<p>

It wasn't the only new experience she had in the last month. The leadership of Kusagakure had rid themselves of her with alarming alacrity when the Inuzaka matriarch asked. It had only taken a single exchange of messages until she had permanently become a Konoha kunoichi under the authority of the Inuzaka clan. At first Karin had been very worried what would become of her.

Her treatment had been, well, nice. Tsume and Hana treated her pretty much as family and the other Inuzaka followed suit. It was far more than she had ever received back in Kusa. Oh, they drilled her mercilessly. In her more honest moments she had to admit that she wasn't a very good kunoichi aside from her sensor ability, but that was slowly changing. The blond Yamanaka girl Ino had made an offer of friendship and helped her dealing with her Problem from a more personal perspective than the regular counseling sessions.

Part of her always wanted to be close to Kiba and Karin found herself thinking about him more and more. It wasn't just the attraction to his chakra, though. Kiba was a generally nice and funny guy with some rough edges. Considering that she found herself in his bed every night it spoke high volumes of his character that he hadn't taken advantage of her. She could do far worse.

'_I hope he is okay.'_

As soon as the explosion started she had been ushered into the shelter along with the other non-combatants. It had gone smoothly, in no small amount thanks to repeated drills in the last weeks. Unfortunately she still didn't know what was really going on other than Konoha was under attack. At first she had tried to find out what was happening with her sensor abilities. She had been forced to abandon that soon. There was just so much death, more than she could endure. The enormous source of inhumanly malevolent chakra in direction of the chunin exam stadium had made things even worse. In the end Karin had clamped down on her mind's eye as hard as she could. She was still unable to shut it off completely, but now she only perceived the people in her immediate vicinity.

"This is bad. The fighting is already going on for too long." one of the old women sitting beside her whispered to her equally old neighbor. "It wasn't even that bad during the third shinobi war when that force from Iwa breached our walls."

Karin gulped. Konoha was the strongest among the great shinobi villages. It couldn't fall that easily, could it?

* * *

><p>Hayate spat out a gob of blood and tried to extract himself from the wreckage of the market stand that had broken his fall. He was pretty sure that last strike had damaged something inside of him. It had only been a glancing hit, but glancing hits from their enemy were often all it took. Direct hits were generally not survivable.<p>

'_At least the jinchuuriki got away.'_

He didn't want to think about what that black monstrosity would be like if it had managed to devour the Kyuubi. As it was they were losing badly. By now more than half the shinobi that had engaged the demon were dead. Worse, they had achieved nothing. No matter what they did, it just didn't seem possible to actually deal lasting damage to their foe.

"Out of the way!" came a booming voice from above. In the next moment the black leech was buried under the massive foot of an enlarged Choza Akimichi.

For a moment Hayate felt hope. Then black tendrils emerged from under the Akimichi's foot, wound around his lower leg and _squeezed_. Hayate didn't want to believe his eyes as the giant was lifted from the ground and flung around like a rag doll until his leg simply gave away. Choza was already returning to his normal size as he fell to the ground somewhere behind the frontlines, the stump of his severed leg spraying blood. The black mass once again reformed into the leech-like demon with the white mask. A large mouth suddenly gaped wide before devouring the Akimichi's leg.

"**More! I want more!"**

The street was running red with blood as the demon created countless arms to crush the attackers. Others were simply devoured directly by the impossibly wide maw.

'_This isn't working.'_

They were losing too many people against this thing. He had to find another solution, but a demon such as this was not like their usual enemies. Granted, besides the famous tailed beasts there existed the occasional lesser demons throughout the Elemental Nations, but encounters were rather rare. Most of them didn't really require other methods to kill than humans.

'_I have to find a solution. What did Hayame-sensei tell me about demons?'_

Hayate was a shinobi first, swordsman second, but his mentor in the art of the sword had taken the time to pass down what lore remained. It dealt mostly with the legends of cursed swords and the like, but there were many tales about warriors facing supernatural threats. The swordsman's eyes narrowed when he remembered a particular tale.

'_This demon isn't really here. It is using something else as a medium.'_

Their only chance was destroying the medium… which was inside the demon and not reachable by normal attacks from the outside. There was only one way to find out if he was right. If he was wrong he would die an ignoble death. Readying his sword, he charged at the demon. Several arms emerged to meet him, but he could them apart or evaded them. Then he was in range.

'Dance of the Crescent Moon'

The black substance of the demon parted under the simultaneous strikes of him and his shadow clones, revealing an unearthly purple glow. In the next moment Hayate plunged headlong into the wound before it could close again.

**HATE SORROW WRATH ENVY PAIN GREED ANGER SUFFERING RAGE JEALOUSY BETRAYAL AVARICE GRIEF ANGUISH MISERY WOE FURY LOATHING DREAD FEAR HATE SORROW WRATH ENVY PAIN GREED ANGER SUFFERING RAGE JEALOUSY BETRAYAL AVARICE GRIEF ANGUISH MISERY WOE FURY LOATHING DREAD FEAR HATE SORROW WRATH ENVY PAIN GREED ANGER SUFFERING RAGE JEALOUSY BETRAYAL AVARICE GRIEF ANGUISH MISERY WOE FURY LOATHING DREAD FEAR **

Hayate wanted to scream. He was immersed in a churning ocean of emotion and dark chakra battering at his very being. Memories of the demon's countless victims assaulted his mind. His soul was coming apart.

'_NO! I must prevail. __I am the bone of my sword._ _Steel is my body, and fire is my blood. My soul is made of blades.'_

Reciting the words of the ancient swordsman whose name had been lost to time allowed Hayate to regain some semblance of control over himself. There wasn't much time before he would be eroded away. He immediately launched himself into the very center of the maelstrom. Time lost all meaning as he dove deeper and deeper into the raging sea of emotion. It was as if someone had collected the darkness that dwelled in every human heart. Hayate closed his fraying mind as good as he could against the onslaught.

'_I am a sword. I mustn't feel, only cut.'_

More and more of his being was ground away until he feared there would be nothing left. Suddenly it stopped. Hayate was standing in complete blackness, but there was one splotch of color directly in front of him. A naked girl of perhaps thirteen years with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes was half-standing, half-hanging in the darkness. Veins of red, purple and black stretched from their undefined surroundings, burrowing into her flesh, keeping her upright. From the looks of it her entire body was pierced through with these things.

Hayate knew he didn't make a sound when he stepped closer, but suddenly the girl focused on him with a fearful expression. "Who are you? Have you come to hurt me, too?"

"No. I am only a swordsman. Who are you?"

The girl's expression grew vague. "I don't remember my name. I was living in a village. I was always ill. The other villagers treated me as an outcast. Then Shinno-sensei came. He was so kind and nice. Then he did something to me. I remember it now." The girl's word came quicker and quicker. "He put something into my body. It grew. Then he gave me to the snake man." She began to sob. "The pain, the pain. Please make it stop. Please." Her sobbing turned into a singsong. "The shadows came to play, my lord; the shadows came to stay, my lord." From one moment to the next her voice assumed a dreamy quality. "I have been here in this place ever since. Sometimes the darkness shows me the outside. I don't like what it is doing." Suddenly she became completely serious. "You should hurry. It hasn't noticed you being here yet, but it will soon."

Hayate had been silent throughout the rush of words. "Is there a way to save you?"

"No. It's too late for me. My heart belongs to the darkness already." The girl looked at him with pleading eyes. "Kill me. Please."

Not needing any further prompting, Hayate raised his sword. The blade sank easily into the girl's chest. A relieved sigh was the girl's only reaction. From one moment to the next the darkness around them disappeared and Hayate was back in the streets of Konoha. Before him stood the girl from inside the demon, her heart pierced by his sword. A red glow was fading from her eyes, returning them to a blue color. The girl gave him a smile and opened her mouth. Hayate's hearing barely picked up the girl's softly whispered words.

"Thank you."

Then the light went from her eyes and she died.

* * *

><p>"<span>Summer's Heat!<span>" "Winter's Cold!"

The two small swallows were engulfed in a red and blue glow, respectively, and started to circle around each other. It took a few seconds, but then a storm cloud formed between them that was immediately launched at the approaching gliders. Countless other swallows followed suit with their own attacks. The battle in the sky had begun.

Suddenly Naruto felt a strange presence in the direction of the stadium. It was cold, hungry and lifeless. To his surprise the presence felt, well, small in comparison to his parents or what he had experienced of Jashin's followers.

'_Probably the old man using some sort of suicide technique. There was a seal in the forbidden scroll involving an invocation of the shinigami. Hopefully he'll get Orochimaru with it and keels over afterwards.'_ He shook his head. _'Can't afford to get distracted now.'_

* * *

><p>Shibi Aburame ducked under a strike before he drove a kunai into the enemy's throat. When he detected no further opponents in the vicinity he took the time to examine the dead man. In contrast to the Sound and Sand shinobi he had been fighting almost constantly since the invasion started this one wore a Sky headband. Shibi had been very young during the second shinobi war, but he remembered the tales. It was unusual to find them on the ground.<p>

Shaking his head to drive the onset of exhaustion away, he approached the next strongest chakra source he could find. The day had gone from bad to worse when the Sky ninja showed up and shattered the organized resistance. By now they should hopefully get organized again.

Turning a corner, he saw a square occupied by a large group of Sky shinobi with a muscular, large man in the middle. The man just crushed the skull of a Konoha shinobi one-handed before hurling the body away. Shibi immediately released a large part of his remaining kikaichu and commanded them to spread over the square. From the corner of his eye he spied several fellow jonin arriving, but he was the nearest. If he took out the obvious leader the rest might lose heart, softening them up for the blow.

"Is there no one in this pathetic village who can provide me with a decent challenge?" The man bellowed loudly.

Shibi calmly stepped onto the square. "You have already lost." 'Secret Technique: Insect Sphere'

All the kikaichu he had distributed in the air earlier targeted the man, forming a globe around him. Suddenly the Sky shinobi laughed loudly. "Is that supposed to defeat me?"

A wave of something dark emerged from the man. All his kikaichu that came in contact with the dark chakra immediately withered away and died. The last thing Shibi ever saw was the man sprinting at him at a speed he had only ever seen from Maito Gai or Minato Namikaze, a dark orb with two rings around it in his hand.

* * *

><p>Orochimaru cradled his useless right arm as he fled Konoha surrounded by his body guards. Kimimaro should have been able to keep an escape route open.<p>

'_Damn Hiruzen, damn him to hell.'_

He should have seen that coming, he really should have. Suicide techniques were notoriously dangerous. He shouldn't have played around instead of going for the kill right from the start. Seeing his ex-teacher cornered and his spirit squashed had proven too strong a temptation, though. He had paid dearly for that miscalculation. Fortunately the old man had been weak already, only managing to seal the two Hokages… and Orochimaru's right arm. His rejuvenation technique didn't seem to be able to fix the damage.

'_It would have gone far worse if I hadn't brought the Kazekage along. Speaking of Goldie…'_

"Take command of Suna's forces and do your best to destroy Konoha as soon as we cross the village wall. If you still exist by sunrise tomorrow, destroy yourself." Orochimaru commanded the revived form of Suna's ruler. The man gave no outward sign that he had understood, but the control seal would ensure his obedience.

At least that way Konoha would pay. Still, what was happening in the sky and where did all those birds come from?

* * *

><p>Izumo Kamizuku felt the bones in his arms snap like kindling from the dark force exuded by the black-haired man before him. A moment later he was hurled away like a leaf in the wind. The impact on a wall on the second floor of a nearby house broke his shoulder. His collision with the roof smashed several ribs as well.<p>

'_I really should have stayed with Kotetsu. Something always happens when we are separated.'_

The shinobi found he just didn't have the strength to get up again. He had just seen the Aburame clan head literally smeared across the ground. That dark chakra their enemy used was more powerful than anything Izumo had ever seen. He could only watch helplessly from his perch as the man single-handedly decimated the defenders.

"Dynamic Entry!"

The newly arrived Gai sprang away from his enemy who hadn't even moved despite taking one of Gai's jump kicks to the head. Cracking his neck, he turned towards the challenger.

"Not bad, I actually felt that. Who are you?"

Gai struck his usual pose. "I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey."

The Sky shinobi took a battle position of his own. "I am Shinno, the Sorakage."

No further words were exchanged and the two combatants clashed in battle. It only lasted a few second before Gai was flung away, although he managed to land smoothly.

Shinno snorted. "That wasn't even remotely challenging. You'll have to do better."

Gai didn't answer, but Izumo could feel the jonin's chakra intensifying. He had opened the first of the eight gates. A second later they clashed again. The fight grew increasingly violent and Izumo had trouble following all the movements. That was far above his own level. Buildings and streets were trashed by attacks that had missed their intended target. Several bystanders from both sides were killed in the process, causing the rest to take cover. It seemed an eternity until the fighters separated. Both men seemed mostly unhurt, but their clothes hung in tatters and they were breathing heavily.

The Sorakage smiled widely. "Marvelous, simply marvelous. Such a challenge. It will make your defeat all the sweeter."

Gai shook his head. "Don't underestimate the power of youth! Gate of View: Open. Morning Peacock!"

"Revival Fist!"

Shinno met Gai's charge with outstretched hands. An almost solid wall of black chakra met a flurry of punches so fast the air caught fire. The ground beneath and around the combatants began to crack from the unleashed forces. Suddenly both techniques collapsed at the same time, driving the fighting shinobi apart.

The Kage of Sky had a maniacal expression on his face. "I must say I'm impressed that you can continue fighting even with all the internal injuries my last attacks caused. None of those pathetic worms I slaughtered came anywhere near you. I will remember your name even when this village is only ashes."

Wiping off a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth Gai smiled grimly. "Don't count me out yet! Gate of Wonder: Open. Daytime Tiger!"

"Super Revival Fist!"

Izumo couldn't get a good look at what Gai was doing, but suddenly the air around the jonin assumed the shape of a roaring tiger before it was launched at Shinno. During its flight the tiger contracted more and more until it seemed to occupy only a single point. Meanwhile Shinno had created another of those dark orbs he had used to slay Shibi Aburame and launched it against Gai's attack.

The force of the resulting massive concussive explosion picked Izumo up despite the distance to the fight and threw him once again against the wall. Several surrounding buildings collapsed. Coughing blood, Izumo crawled back to the edge of the roof. He had to see what was happening even if it killed him. This time he took care for his body to remain covered by the edge of the building, though.

Where the plaza had been a few seconds ago only a big crater gaped… and still both combatants lived, standing on opposite points of the rim.

A look of determination settled on Gai's face. "I will not let you win. Gate of Death: Open. Evening Menagerie!"

This time Izumo couldn't even see what was happening, an explosion of light and sound blinded and deafened him completely. Desperately rubbing his eyes, he tried to regain his sight. Finally he could make out forms. The crater had expanded once again. Only one person was still standing. Blinking tears away, he felt indescribable relief when he recognized the remains of a familiar green bodysuit. His opponent was only an unidentifiable heap of bloody flesh.

"My… life… for… Konoha." As if in slow motion Gai leaned to the side until he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Izumo could feel the overwhelming feeling of Gai's chakra disappearing. He closed his eyes in respect for the great man who had given his life for the village to take down an opponent of nearly undefeatable strength.

Suddenly laughter echoed in the remains of the plaza, causing him to snap his eyes open. The broken heap that had been the leader of the Sky ninja twitched and bubbled as black energy surrounded it. A moment later Shinno rose from the ground with a completely intact body.

A jump brought him close to Gai's body. "Fool. Every time you strike me down I will rise stronger and harder. As long as I have access to dark chakra I cannot die. But you have fought well and I shall remember you. I think I will make your head the first of my collection."

The man slashed down with his bare hand, easily separating Gai's head from the rest of his body. Izumo was too frozen by terror to do anything; the same seemed to apply to all the other Konoha shinobi who were watching.

Shinno turned his back towards the defenders while he was cheered on by his own forces. "It's time for us to go. The next phase will begin soon. Move out!"

Izumo slumped down. This was a nightmare.

* * *

><p>Goro knew he was going to die soon as he limped through the chaos that was Konoha. The gaping, bleeding hole in his side left no doubt about his ultimate fate. He knew enough about the human body to be certain of that. Stuffing shreds of clothing into the wound had slowed the bleeding, but it only delayed the inevitable for a time… time enough to fulfill Jashin-sama's divine will. He was the last of their group and now everything hinged on him, the unremarkable servant.<p>

Their journey had been difficult and fraught with peril. They lost two of the warriors to bandits; bad weather had delayed them further. Just an hour after they had arrived in Konoha this… this madness started. Goro had not the slightest idea what was really happening, but from one moment to the next fighting had started everywhere around them. Fumio had died in an explosion that ripped the building apart they were just passing, some shinobi had casually killed Hachiro not even a minute later. Masao-sama had called upon their lord to give him strength, but the wounds he had received were debilitating and more enemies were coming. He had just enough time to give Goro Jashin-sama's holy talisman and the command to continue on his own. Then he had turned towards their enemies to enable Goro to escape.

The Jashinist had done just as asked and tried to reach the Hyuuga compound to render Jashin-sama's divine judgment while staying alive, just one more civilian running around in the chaos. He hadn't even seen what hit him. From one moment to the next he was simply missing a large chunk of flesh. The rest of the journey through the burning village was mostly hidden in a haze of pain, but finally his target was in sight. From the descriptions the Hyuuga compound was unmistakable. Somehow he had made it.

From the looks of it several buildings on the inside were on fire and heavy fighting taking place. It mattered not to Goro, he only needed to reach land owned by his god's enemies. Blood of a dead Hyuuga shed on their land would do, but a living Hyuuga would be better.

A groan drew Goro's attention to a formerly white-clad figure lying before a hole in the wall. A garden was visible on the other side of the wall. Several deep wounds dotted the man's torso and someone seemed to have taken a sword to the man's arms, leaving only stumps. Despite that he was still alive.

'_Praise Jashin, he has given me all I need.'_

Goro closed the distance as quickly as he could and began to drag the man onto the grass inside the compound wall. Whoever the man was, he helped the process along by taking some of his weight on his own legs. The fool apparently thought Goro was bringing him to safety. As soon as they entered the Hyuuga grounds Goro dropped him unceremoniously and removed Jashin-sama's talisman from its sheath. It was a tiny, unadorned dagger, just large enough to comfortably fill a hand. The only unusual thing about it was its color: blade, guard and hilt were completely black and seemed to drink all light. In all honesty it looked more like a dagger-shaped hole in the world than any sort of normal weapon.

Placing it above the Hyuuga's chest, Goro began intoning the aria Masao-sama had taught them all during their journey.

"_Oh ancient hate now given form, strike down my lord's enemies reborn!_

_Blood calls to blood, none shall escape, let this curse seal their fate!_

_Wings of darkness shall ride the breeze; invade the air, the land, the sea, no matter to where the prey may flee!_

_Mist-filled pits, dark, dank, unclear; touch all before me with frost-fingered fear!_

_Flay the flesh, lay bare the bone. Upon this field, let grief be sown!_

_By nature's hand, by craft, by art; what once was one now split apart!_

_The arrows turn, the swords rebel; let misfortune be their knell!_

_By what creeps, what crawls, by what does not; let all that grows recede and rot!_

_Wind of sickness, illness most vile, strike down my enemies, with disease revile!"_

With the last word spoken Goro plunged the dagger into the white-eyed man's chest. A cold, dark pressure that had build up during his reciting now intensified, completely overshadowing his pain. Goro could feel Jashin-sama's divine gaze rest on him for a moment.

Goro smiled when he fell to the ground, the pain and blood loss finally takings its toll. He had fulfilled his sacred duty and could now die in peace. The dagger seemed to melt into the Hyuuga's body. For a few moments nothing happened; then a scream that seemed to contain all the world's pain tore from the Hyuuga's throat. Goro's last sight in life was a wave of blackness exploding from the man's body that immediately shimmered into invisibility.

* * *

><p>"Stay still, you scumbag!" Anko screamed while she launched a fire jutsu that unfortunately missed its target. She had almost missed her teacher when he tried to flee, but he had passed overhead of her while she was busy with some Sand shinobi. After dealing with them permanently she had taken up pursuit. Unfortunately she had lost sight of Kurenai and Asuma in the process. Now she had finally managed to catch up with her hated ex-teacher. Hate and desperation fueled by the horrors of the invasion bubbled inside of her, causing the curse seal to throb and taking away her ability to think clearly.<p>

The fleeing Orochimaru sent a glance over his shoulder. "Sorry Anko-chan, I have no time to play. Stop her, but leave her alive."

Before she could react golden dust surrounded her. In the next moment it solidified into a wall and hit her with bone-crushing force.

'_That hurt.'_ she thought groggily while she was propelled backwards.

The collision with the wall of a nearby building was even more painful. The impact on an inner wall was probably similar, but by then Anko had lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Danzo cursed liberally while he tried to get a grip on the situation. This was far worse than his most pessimistic projections. How could his spies have missed the build-up of such a large force as well as the resurgence and involvement of Sky? He remembered only too well what a nightmare they had been in the second shinobi war.<p>

'_It seems I have severely underestimated Orochimaru's resources and connections.'_

Originally he had planned to keep his ROOT agents in reserve, but as soon as he had become aware of the sheer scale of the invasion he had sent them all out. Since they had weathered the first attack by Sky unscathed they were still organized and in prime fighting shape. He would probably lose the majority of them, but they might make a difference. He needed Konoha reasonably intact for his plans to advance.

Shading his eyes with his hand, the old shinobi tried to make out what was happening in the air. Konoha was ill-prepared for aerial assaults and he had expected a second wave some time ago. It would probably have broken what resistance remained. Instead there seemed to be a battle taking place in the skies over Konoha. One side was obviously the Sky ninja, but the other side consisted solely of birds. He couldn't make out any details, but wind, fire, lighting and all other sorts of elemental attacks danced between the specks.

'_They are obviously summons of some kind, but whose?'_

Another question was who had the necessary chakra reserves to summon that many birds in one go. Even most jonin had problems to muster the chakra necessary for boss-level summons. Judging from size alone there had been originally at least a dozen up there in addition to several hundred smaller summons. He would have learnt if a new summon contract was spread around; you couldn't really keep a group of the necessary size for this secret. Someone would have let something slip.

'_I can investigate that later. The important fact for now is that they are giving us the time to get organized again. Damn all that smoke and chaos. I have no idea what is happening in the village at large.'_

The birds had taken heavy losses, but so had the Sky ninja. It seemed to him as if they were retreating. Danzo prepared himself to head into the village. His combat skills were rather rusty, but he was still dangerous enough to make a difference. He didn't intend to use his joker hidden behind his bandages though; the battle would take longer than the number of sharingan eyes he had access to would last.

Suddenly a light filled the entire western horizon. A moment later the earth shook so strongly that he almost lost his balance. Several seconds later the sound of an absolutely massive explosion followed.

'_What was that?'_

* * *

><p>The vice-commander of Soragakure turned towards his subordinates after peering at the position of the sun. "The time for the next phase has come. Are we in position?"<p>

"Ancor Vantian is now in range of Konoha. There are still some mountains in the way, although they shouldn't present an obstacle. Our maps were somewhat inaccurate. According to the timetable all our forces deployed on the ground should have retreated ten minutes ago; the aerial forces five minutes ago. We have received no signals to abort, even if our forces met unexpected resistance." his subordinate reported.

"Then initiate the main firing procedure. We will wipe Konoha from the face of the earth."

* * *

><p>Naruto looked around tiredly. The battle had been hard fought, but it seemed he had been successful. Only a few stray gliders of the second wave had gotten through his allies, but now there were perhaps only a third of the swallows left. They had dispelled themselves as soon as their injuries prevented them from staying airborne. The Sky ninja had sustained similar losses before they retreated if he wasn't mistaken, but in their case the losses would be permanent. A fall from this height was not survivable. He really hoped there wouldn't be a third wave; they wouldn't be able to stop them.<p>

A familiar swallow flew closer to him. "A most worthy battle, Naruto-sama." Natsu remarked. "Shall we assist in the fighting in the streets?"

After a moment of thought Naruto nodded. There was still a lot of fighting, but the leech demon had apparently disappeared at some point and the village had acquired several new large craters. "Send a quarter of your remaining brethren. They can probably use all the help they can get down there. It won't make much difference if the Sky ninja come back."

Hearing his decision, several smaller swallows that served as his messengers flew off to inform the others. Naruto was about to ask some further questions when a bright light engulfed them. Not knowing what was happening, he held tightly onto the swallow carrying him. That proved to be a wise decision as a shockwave hit only moments later.

It took the swallow serving as his mount several seconds to stabilize itself, but it finally managed. Blinking away the spots before his eyes, Naruto tried to discover what had just happened. A large section of the woods surrounding Konoha was now shrouded in a gigantic smoke cloud. An entire mountain in the western mountain range was simply gone. In effect it looked as if somebody had just launched a bijuudama of a strength somewhere between what he could manage in his four-tailed state and what his mother had shown him she could do. He could spot an enormous flying object moving through the gap. It seemed to be some sort of flying fortress.

'_They missed the village and the sanctuary isn't anywhere in the vicinity either.'_

In that moment he felt a shock coursing through him. It was the Ichibi. Apparently it was breaking free right now.

'_Damn, not now. I can't let that fortress get off a second shot.'_

Pushing the desperation down, he tried to think. Both the fortress and the Ichibi would be able to destroy Konoha on their own. Hinata might be able to contain the tailed beast for a time _if_ she was in the right position, but there wasn't anyone else who could do something about the fortress. In contrast, he could take down the fortress by playing one of his trump cards.

'_That decides it. Fortress first, Ichibi second.'_

"I have to use the Kyuubi's power to destroy that thing, but I can't transform while you're carrying me. I'll jump off, do my thing, and transform back. Can you catch me before I hit the ground?" he asked the swallow carrying him.

"I will do my best, Naruto-sama." the bird shouted back.

'_Well, that wasn't a clear yes, but it'll have to do.'_

In the next moment Naruto jumped off. Trying to ignore the sensation of falling he drew on his mother's chakra. Liquid fire filled his veins and a red haze obscured his vision. Power flooded his body and violent rage clawed at his mind. He could feel himself transforming as the red chakra surrounded him like a cloak. A moment later the first tail formed on his back, quickly followed by the second.

'_Here goes nothing.'_

Fixing the task of destroying the fortress firmly in his mind he drew even more power, crossing the threshold of what he could safely control. A third tail formed, but Naruto didn't stop. The rage threatened to consume him; would consume him if he paused in his task.

Then his skin started burning off and he bled freely. It felt as if he was flayed alive. Orbs of black and red appeared in the air rushing around him, seemingly not affected by gravity. It was his own blood mixed with burned skin and demonic chakra. In the next moment the orbs united, forming a black sphere around him. The hate and rage became all-consuming. Then the world _shifted_.

Naruto's body was gone, replaced by something different, alien that only loosely obeyed the rules of lesser beings. His mind was engulfed in an ocean of rage and hate, dissolving his conscious mind. The world was a colorful mosaic of chakra and emotion. He hated it all. Oh, how he raged and hated. The only thing surpassing the rage was the desire for more power.

'_Stop… have something… to do first.'_

Yes, there was something to do first. The large thing over there in the air had earned his special hatred. It had to be wiped from existence before he did anything else.

Blue and red-black balls of chakra shot out from his body and floated in the air, gathering even more chakra from the surroundings. His tails moved into position and he drew the chakra back together, forming it into a purple-black ball, compressing it. Then he opened his maw impossibly wide and swallowed it. The pressure on his inside was incredible, the energy wanted to escape and destroy everything.

Turning in mid-air, Naruto aimed himself at the thing in the distance. Then he allowed the pressure to escape. A blinding beam shot from his maw, piercing the object of his hatred, obliterating it in a massive explosion. Letting the last of the pressure escape, Naruto closed his maw.

His self-set task complete, Naruto's mind lost the last hold it had and surrendered to the overwhelming desire for more power to destroy everything, to create an outlet for his unfathomable hate and rage. The beast he had become dug deeper into himself. More power was flowing into him through the seal; a fifth tail began to form.

Suddenly white and golden splotches appeared on his inhuman form, causing his body to contort spastically. The overwhelming rage was pierced by feelings that were so alien to the demonic energy that a violent reaction ensued. More and more divine chakra flowed into him until he felt as he was ripped apart. With a last, overwhelming blaze of pain Kyuubi-mode collapsed, leaving Naruto nearly unconscious. He barely felt when his body was caught by one of his feathered friends.

"Naruto-sama, are you alright?" a chirping voice pierced the haze of pain.

Clawing back to full consciousness, Naruto forced an answer through gritted teeth. "I will be fine… at some point in the future. That fucking hurts every time."

Propping himself up carefully, he tried to get an overview of the situation. The enemy fortress was an expanding cloud of dust and falling debris. The few gliders he could see were retreating. Konoha was still being invaded. A dome of water larger than the Hokage Mountain had formed in the woods. It seemed Hinata was already hard at work.

With a groan Naruto slumped down. His entire body hurt. He wouldn't be capable of fighting for hours, but there were so many things to do. He couldn't leave Hinata alone any longer.

* * *

><p>Hinata ducked behind a tree. Somehow she had managed to follow Gaara the entire way out of the village without being spotted. The woods outside Konoha's walls were crawling with Sound and Sand shinobi massing for a new attack and she couldn't simply close the remaining distance. There probably wasn't much time remaining, the Ichibi drew so much magic now that she could feel it from several dozen meters away. It didn't seem as if any of the Sand shinobi realized what was happening, though. Gaara had regained consciousness and seemed to be recovering. His jonin and older brother had left him in the care of some guards to take command of the invasion.<p>

Suddenly the sky turned white and the earth shook. Seconds later a strong wind went through the forest. From her position Hinata couldn't see what had happened, but it had to be bad.

From one moment to the next the magical vortex centered on Gaara stopped. Then she felt a shock coursing through her. It felt as if the world was breaking. She knew what that meant. The Ichibi was breaking free and only minutes remained until it would emerge.

Naruto wasn't here to help her. She would have to do this on her own. Gripping the sapphire Naruto had given her, she began channeling chakra into it. Almost immediately a feedback loop started and her awareness expanded. There was just so much water here and it was all hers to control. Maybe she could do something about the invasion force at the same time.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

Originally I wanted to cover the Ichibi's bid for freedom in this chapter, but there were a whole lot of other scenes to write first. Sorry to keep you waiting. The invasion should be wrapped up in the next chapter. A whole lot of people died and even more will lose their lives. Invading another village isn't a pretty business.

Regarding the Gai-Shinno fight: Gai is one of the strongest fighters in Konoha. Not quite Kage-level overall under normal circumstances, but thanks to the gates he can surpass that temporarily. He did manage to kill Shinno in the end – unfortunately for Konoha it didn't stick. My Shinno is a medic/taijutsu master on nearly Tsunade's level (he's even roughly the same age) on a demonic power trip. In contrast to the movie the Reibi is much stronger thanks to the alliance with Orochimaru and Shinno had time to get used to his new powers.

Oh yes, Orochimaru lost only one arm and Kimimaro is completely healthy.

So long.


	36. Chapter 35: A collision of darkness and

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 35: A collision of darkness and light**

Gaara grimaced slightly at the prickling sensation in his body. The pain had finally subsided, but the new sensation was perhaps even more irritating. At least he was regaining his mobility and chakra control. Already sand from underground was being pulled up and slowly reformed into his gourd. The original had returned to loose sand somewhere in Konoha's stadium, taking the hidden sealing scroll full of sand with it. His three spares had been destroyed by the exposure to the Ichibi's chakra. He really hated being vulnerable. It was taking him longer than he liked to gather a useful quantity of sand thanks to the wet underground.

Now that he wasn't incapacitated any longer he surveyed his surroundings. He had been too out of it to pay much attention when Kankuro and Baki left him here. Even the medic treating him had departed and there was no trace of Temari. From the looks of it he was somewhere in the woods surrounding Konoha. Several Suna shinobi were guarding him, but they kept a respectful distance.

Gaara addressed the nearest shinobi. "Are there any specific orders regarding me? Should I try to transform again?"

The man shook his head with a somewhat wary expression. "No, Baki-sama said the invasion was well underway. There are many of our own forces inside Konoha and the situation is too chaotic to risk you attacking again. We are kept in reserve for the time being."

Translation: They didn't want him to flatten the village and their own forces with them. That suited Gaara just fine and he returned to silent reflection.

It seemed the invasion was still ongoing despite his failure, not that he was entirely clear about what had happened. The delay caused by the late appearance of the Uchiha had been annoying, but everything had been still on track at that point. After he had neutralized the boy as a threat he had begun with the transformation as planned. After that the memories were a bit vague, but that was nothing unusual. Frankly, Gaara didn't like to use Mother's form. The transformation was painful, his mind became overwhelmed with a feeling of madness and hate as well as bloodlust and he had to fight Mother to stay in control. Besides, he preferred to kill people on a smaller scale, either individually or in groups. Mass destruction just lacked something important. Still, orders were orders and it wasn't as if he cared for anyone besides his two siblings and himself.

'_How strange. Mother was once again silent.'_ Gaara realized now that he could once again think clearly.

That was definitely a first and definitely worrying. The overwhelming chakra had been present, but not Mother's mind. Maybe that was a factor of his drastically reduced battle performance; it had been very difficult to keep the body stable and move around. His fine control over the sand had been practically non-existent. At that point things had begun to go wrong. Originally Gaara had planned for a 'stray shot' to hit the Kazekage (after all, it was the man's own fault for being near ground zero of his transformation), but the Akimichi and the two genin flying on the bird had kept him distracted. Then, when he had finally managed to rid himself of them, something had happened. All he remembered was a searing pain, him losing control of his chakra and body and falling unconscious after a short time. He had only sort-of-woken when they were already out of the village.

'_It must have been some special anti-jinchuuriki measure.' _Gaara concluded. It was a sure thing Konoha had developed some of those. He had been on the lookout for seals or similar things to prevent a repeat of the events with the jonin from Ishigakure, but at no time had he detected anything suspicious. Well, until it had been too late. Maybe the entire arena had been trapped in some way. That would explain why Konoha's jinchuuriki didn't use his beast's power to counter him. Instead the blond boy had settled on distracting him with that lightning jutsu of his. Gaara normally didn't feel pain when he used Mother's form, but the eyes were an exception because he had to use them to look around. At least staying inside the sand was far safer than simply sitting on the outside.

Once upon a time he would have hungered to fight and kill Naruto Uzumaki, but he had grown far more cautious over the last year. The knowledge that he wasn't invincible had been driven home with a vengeance. He had achieved a lot of progress in his training of other skills besides his sand control, but he still wasn't at a point that allowed him to feel safe. Maybe he would never regain his past feeling of superiority. Perhaps that was a good thing. Not all opponents could be such obliging idiots with limited skill sets and no true grasp of battlefield tactics like his enemy in the preliminaries or the overconfident Uchiha in the finals.

Gaara was disturbed in his thoughts by a sudden earthquake. The few parts of sky visible through the canopy flashed white. A few moments later a loud boom accompanied by a strong wind echoed through the woods.

"What was that?" one of the shinobi in the vicinity asked.

Suddenly Mother stirred.

**You freed what was sleeping in your quest for divinity and power... You enslaved what only bowed to the Creator… You sought to take a power for your own that was far beyond your limited existence… You shattered what was one… You sought to bind me with a name of your choosing… You sought to set limits for something you couldn't understand… Cursed Sage of Six Paths… I DENY YOU!**

'_What?'_

A moment after the loud declaration piercing pain centered on his stomach shot through Gaara's body. The world before his eyes seemed to break and reveal something his mind couldn't grasp. Before he could react in any way everything was back to normal.

'_Mother? What happened?'_

There was no answer.

A quick look showed him that none of his guards seemed to have noticed anything unusual.

'_Mother, answer me. Mother!'_

There was nothing; not the slightest indication that Mother had heard him. Then something in their surroundings changed; Gaara wasn't sure exactly what. It was definitely some chakra technique. This time the guards noticed it, too.

"Did you feel that?" one of them asked.

Gaara stopped paying attention to their chatter and instead looked around carefully. The woods were still extremely damp from the rainy last weeks, but aside from that he didn't notice anything unusual at first. Then he saw it. Water was emerging from the ground, making the puddles slowly increase in size.

Suddenly the sound of a girl giggling filled the air. Turning his head, Gaara spotted the origin of the giggles standing some distance away in the forest. It was the Hyuuga girl who had lost in the preliminaries. She gave them a wave.

"Over there! It's one of the tree huggers! Team B, get her!" one of the shinobi of the guard detail shouted. Three of the dozen Sand shinobi immediately moved to attack the girl who disappeared behind the trees. The three shinobi followed. A moment later three screams full of agony echoed through the woods. Then the giggling started again.

'_This is bad.'_ Gaara thought when he formed a protective ring of sand around him. The girl was probably part of a kill team sent after him. He had no idea how they had gotten through all the other forces surrounding them, but that was the only logical conclusion. Hyuuga were predestined for scouting roles. Well, he knew how to deal with assassins.

The remaining nine guards assumed a guard pattern around him, at a respectful distance of course. One used a whistle to call for reinforcements. When no answer came Gaara realized the situation was more serious than anticipated. Soon the girl showed herself again, smiling at them. "Who wants to be my next playmate? Your friends don't want to play anymore. I think I broke them. Oops."

Her only answer was a barrage of shuriken, but the girl quickly skipped out of sight. A short time later she appeared in another location. None of his guards left formation. The forest was open enough for them to evade any attacks launched at this distance, but following the girl into the more densely grown areas would be inviting disaster. Considering she was probably a decoy attacking her with wide-area techniques seemed unwise, too. They had to conserve their chakra, after all. Gaara simply continued observing for the time being. He could send his sand after her, but he didn't have an especially large supply. It would leave him more vulnerable to attacks, especially because his chakra control hadn't yet recovered enough to use non-sand techniques.

'_She appears in a pattern, always making sure to have room to get out of sight. Twigs snap and footprints remain behind, so it can't be a basic bunshin. I have to intercept her. There aren't that many suitable locations here.'_

Gaara unobtrusively sent some of his sand to where he guessed the girl would show herself next. Two appearances of the girl passed without him being able to take advantage, but then it finally happened: the girl stepped on his hidden sand. The sand immediately shot up, surrounding the girl tightly in a Sand Coffin, giving her no time to react.

'Sand Burial'

The Sand Coffin imploded, crushing the Konoha kunoichi. A moment later Gaara realized something was wrong. Instead of blood only clear water emerged from the sand. It had only been a water clone.

"That wasn't very nice." The girl had appeared once again, a pout on her face. Then she began to smile. "If you want to play that way I'm happy to oblige."

Water from the omnipresent puddles became alive, encasing one of his guards in a gravity-defying bubble before she could leap away. The woman struggled to free herself, but it seemed she was unable to leave the center. The girl appeared again some distance away with a raised hand before she closed it in a crushing motion. "Watery Grave"

A silent scream appeared on the features of the woman before the bubble was clouded by blood. Then the water splashed to the ground, spreading the kunoichi's remains across the forest floor. That sounded suspiciously like a deliberate imitation of Gaara's own technique, ignoring the question how the girl knew about the name. He didn't announce the names of his jutsu, after all.

Suddenly the light assumed a blue-green hue. It reminded Gaara of the swimming and diving lessons Temari and Kankuro had given him a few months ago. He had a very bad feeling about this.

The girl stopped smiling. "It seems playtime is over. Now you die."

In the next moment every drop of water in the forest became alive and intent on killing them. Watery tentacles rose from the still present puddles and tried to wrap around the Suna shinobi. Gaara's sand shielded him from the attack, but the others were not so lucky. Four of the remaining guards were torn apart immediately. Three jumped to the trees… only to be disintegrated by a storm of fast-moving tiny water droplets originating from the leaves of the trees. The last remaining guard used an earth jutsu to shield himself. Under other circumstances Gaara might have appreciated the slaughter, but this was clearly a threat to his person.

"Oh, only one left. How boring." The girl was leaning against a tree stump barely three meters away from Gaara. How had she gotten this close without him noticing? A slashing sand tentacle dispersed her into a rain of water droplets… that immediately reformed into the girl. "Now, don't be like this, Gaara-kun. Your turn will come soon enough, but not just yet."

All the blood-stained water in the clearing began moving again, forming a vortex around the lone remaining guard. More and more earth was ripped away by the raging water. Finally only the exhausted man was left standing.

Then the waters retreated for a moment. "I wonder…" Suddenly the man started screaming. Something moved under the skin all over his body. A moment later blood exploded outwards and formed a hovering ball, leaving only a shredded husk behind.

The girl cocked her head thoughtfully. "That was more difficult than I thought it would be. A living person's chakra probably interferes with my control. Oh well, it isn't as if there is a shortage of water." Then she smiled at Gaara. "Now it's your turn."

His shield of sand barely withstood the initial wave as the water targeted him, swirling around him just at it had done before with the guard. Changing position with an almost botched kawarimi, Gaara retaliated with a barrage of sand bullets, reducing the clone to a spatter of drops. Even more clones appeared while every source of water in the forest tried to kill him. Water clashed with sand again and again. More and more of his sand was stripped away by the raging floods. There was so much foreign chakra there that he lost control about the sand as soon as it lost contact with the main mass surrounding him. Fear gripped Gaara. No one was supposed to have that much chakra to control water to such an extent. He had to get away from that girl.

'Desert Suspension'

Sand formed a floating platform under him, taking him upwards as quickly as possible. Since the technique was still very much a work in progress the flight was unsteady to the extreme, but he was gaining altitude. Disappearing into the ground like he would do normally in such a situation seemed unwise; there was probably a lot of water there. Looking down, he saw the girl simply standing there and waving at him with a cheerful smile on her face.

'_Is she insane?'_

Breaking through the forest canopy Gaara realized why the girl hadn't bothered. The entire section of forest was enclosed by a titanic dome of water. He realized now that the shift of light must have marked the completion of the dome, cutting off the escape. From the looks of it more and more water entered the inside of the dome, flooding the woods. The Suna forces caught inside were doomed. This was beyond what even he could do with sand in the desert on his best day. The girl couldn't be much older than him and apparently was already a water-user of unbelievable strength. Some part of Gaara's mind wondered why she didn't show anything of her powers in the exams. There she had seemed a skilled but ultimately normal genin.

'_Probably operational security. Konoha kept her back as an ace in the hole.'_

Gaara gained more altitude and headed towards the edge of the dome. His remaining sand might be sufficient to break through. As he got closer to the edge a section of the water wall formed into another clone of the girl. She shook a finger at him. "No running away, Gaara-kun. I didn't go to all this trouble for the guest of honor to disappear on me."

In the next moment a column of water shot out from the wall. Gaara tried to evade, but the water bent in the air and followed him. Two seconds later the water hit his hastily erected shield of sand with the force of sledge hammer. For a few moments it held. Then there wasn't any more sand left and the water pulled him with it. He could feel himself falling. To his surprise the water absorbed the impact on the ground, preventing him from dying.

Before he could move water enclosed him like a vise, preventing every movement. Only his head was still free, probably to allow him to breathe. All around him Suna shinobi were dying. Tentacles of water strangled them, spikes of water pierced them, waves of water crushed them, mobile puddles of water drowned them; their deaths were manifold in the extreme. Counter-techniques were simply swept away. Then, to add insult to the injury, Mother's chakra suddenly ceased flowing through him. A year ago the effect would have been debilitating. Now it was merely extremely uncomfortable.

Soon the screams ceased as no one was left alive. Once again water rose and formed a clone of the girl. Interlacing her hands behind her back, she gingerly stepped closer to him. "Now, Gaara-kun, what do you say to this spectacle? Was it to your liking? I heard you like killing people."

Gaara blinked. Now the mockery of his techniques made sense. "You did all this just for me? Are you insane?"

"Perhaps." The girl just looked at him. "You attacked my village and broke the alliance in the process. I have no idea how many of my friends are still alive. Putting a little fear in you is just my way of getting a bit of payback before the end." Her hand caressed his cheek; the girl clearly enjoying his flinch. "And I know you are afraid of me. You fear things that can beat your impregnable defense and easily hurt you, don't you?"

There was no sense in denying it. "Will you kill me now that you had your amusement?"

Once again the girl giggled before she grew serious and gave him an appraising look filled with pity. "No Gaara-kun, you won't die by my hand. In fact, I don't intend to harm you in any way. You are only a weapon in this war. Although perhaps I should kill you. It may be that your fate will be far worse than mere death."

Seeing his confused look the girl shook her head in bewilderment. "Oh, you haven't noticed? Let me show you." In the next moment the clothing covering his upper body was ripped away by the water. Then the water shifted, baring his torso but keeping his limbs firmly immobilized. "There. Now you should be able to see your approaching end."

Gaara looked down and blanched. Bit by bit his seal was becoming visible, stretching from his stomach across his entire body in a display of iridescent light. Now that he paid attention to it he felt a strange sensation emanating from the seal. It had been completely masked by the aftereffects from his loss in the arena before.

"What are you doing to me?"

"Nothing. The Ichibi is breaking free and there is nothing anyone can do about it." She gestured at their surroundings. "All this is primarily to fight the Ichibi. Granted, I took the opportunity to take out as many of your forces as I could, but that was an extra benefit."

'_Mother is breaking free? How can that be?'_

The girl continued talking. "Honestly, you are a lot saner than I expected judging from the reports."

"What would you understand of these things?" Gaara asked bitterly.

The girl let out a short laugh. "More than you would think. I am Hinata Hyuuga, disenfranchised heiress of my clan. Perhaps most importantly, my beloved is a jinchuuriki just like you. Like you a demon was shoved into him by his own father." She smiled at him. "And despite everything I'm probably a bigger monster than he could ever be. I know the feeling of crushing loneliness very well even if I was surrounded by people all my life. Never being good enough for my father despite everything I tried. Granted, I didn't have to deal with assassination attempts, but that is only because nobody knows what I'm capable of."

Gaara thought the day couldn't become any stranger. "How do you know all this?"

Hinata gestured to her eyes. "These eyes see everything. I watched you since you entered Konoha. For the rest I got my hands on some spy reports from your village." She smiled sadly. "I do not blame you for what you are and carry no enmity because of what you have done. Perhaps we could have become friends under other circumstances." Hinata sighed. "Unfortunately, it seems your time is up. I wish there was anything I could do for you. If I should encounter your siblings I will try to spare their lives. Goodbye, Gaara-kun."

The clone dissolved into shapeless water. A sharp pain caused him to look down again. The seal now looked more like a hole in his body. Suddenly a clawed paw made of sand emerged from the blackness. For a few moments it fumbled blindly; then it latched onto his body. More claws, hands and tentacles of widely varying forms followed quickly and latched onto the ground. Grass lost its color and crumbled to dust. When they touched water it disappeared immediately. Something was pulling itself out. More and more sand emerged, creeping around him. It felt as if his own body was turning into sand… painfully. Sand filled his eyes and nose, creeping into his lungs. Gaara couldn't breathe any longer. The pain was quickly becoming unbearable.

**I think I will keep you for now.**

Without transition the sand disappeared and Gaara was dumped on solid ground. Coughing desperately to get the sand out of his lungs, he had no time to look around. It took him long seconds to realize that he wasn't dying. The sand in his lungs had disappeared, too, leaving only a slowly fading pain behind.

Suddenly he noticed something was different. A glance to his stomach confirmed that the seal was no longer visible. An attempt to channel chakra was unsuccessful. He could still feel Mother, but she was no longer inside. It felt as if she was all around him.

Looking up, he saw that a desert devoid of all life was surrounding him. A desolate vista of crumbling rocks, sand and dust stretched as far as the eye could see. Here and there dead, sun-bleached tree stumps and the bony remains of creatures of all sorts dotted the landscape. A steady scorching wind blew over the land, making the heat even worse. The sky was the color of old bones, a haze somewhere between off-white and yellow. There was no sun in the sky, but still everything was brightly lit. Nothing cast even a single shadow. The heat was simply unbearable; all humidity seemed to have been cooked out of the air. A far too large blood-red moon was hanging above the horizon. Red glittering dust was sinking from the sky under it, making it look like as if the moon was crying bloody tears.

"Where am I? What happened? Mother? Are you here?"

There was no answer. He was confused. Nothing made sense, not the girl and now this.

Gaara stood up and walked a few steps to find shelter somewhere, but then his strength suddenly left him. Unintelligible whispers filled his ears. The air was shimmering with heat, revealing incomprehensible images. Gaara immediately looked away. He had the feeling he would go truly mad if he looked too closely at them.

'_This place is full of madness and decay.'_

A few attempts to get to his feet later he gave up. Something was sapping his strength and ability to think. All he could do was to wait. For what, he didn't know.

* * *

><p>Debris was falling from the sky amidst an expanding cloud of dust that mere seconds ago had been Ancor Vantian, the flying fortress of the Sky ninja. The bijuudama had hit it dead-center, ripping it apart in the following explosion. Unfortunately, the central chamber had actually been located in the lower third of the fortress.<p>

The Reibi watched with something akin to glee from its tumbling cocoon as a particular large stone tablet was falling towards the earth. It had been angered by the earlier death of his medium/puppet that had enabled it to send a shadow of itself to the outside world, but this development more than made up for it. The cocoon as well as the tablet had sustained quite some damage already. As soon as the tablet broke completely the ancient pact that bound it would break, too. Then it would be free to devour and grow without end until the entire world would be under its reign.

First it would devour the human that had made the blood pact for personal power. Normally the Reibi couldn't touch souls, but thanks to the blood pact the soul of Shinno was forfeit. It would be a nice appetizer. Then it would gorge itself on the battlefield that was Konoha. It would offer a rich harvest of blood, chakra and emotion. The morsel that had escaped its shadow earlier wouldn't get away this time; the display of the hidden power it had used to destroy the fortress made the Reibi's mouth water.

Suddenly the Reibi felt another enormous concentration of demonic energy nearby. The day was getting better and better. Apparently there was even more food to feed its eternal hunger. When the day ended it would be more powerful than ever.

All said, despite its enormous power the Reibi sadly wasn't a particularly intelligent demon.

* * *

><p>Kankuro yelped in surprise when sky flashed white and the ground trembled. A few seconds later the shockwave of a very big explosion arrived, even if it didn't do more than cause the leaves on the trees to flutter. From their position on top of a hill in the vicinity of Konoha the enormous dust cloud shrouding a large section of the forest was clearly visible. That didn't bode well for the troops that had been advancing through that area. Luckily there should have been mainly troops from Oto in that area.<p>

"What the hell was that?"

Baki-sensei looked grim when he pointed to the left. Kankuro's jaw dropped. A whole mountain had disappeared and what looked like a flying fortress was edging through the gap. "It seems our esteemed allies of Sky have decided to betray us. I do not understand what Kazekage-sama was thinking when he agreed to this alliance. They probably hate us almost as much as Konoha."

The young puppeteer had no opinion to offer on that topic. He barely remembered Soragakure being mentioned in some history lesson years ago. Of course, making an unwise alliance with someone who stabbed them in the back at first opportunity wasn't really surprising considering how the day had gone so far. They had followed the stupid plan to the letter. Being near Gaara when he transformed was practically suicide, not to mention all the Leaf jonin surrounding them in the stadium. Kankuro still didn't know how they had managed to survive or even escape when Gaara had fallen.

Kankuro clenched his fists in anger. Their escape had not been without cost. Baki-sensei had suffered medium injuries and his puppets had been destroyed. The worst was the loss of his big sister. Temari had stayed behind to stop their pursuers and was probably dead by now. Another loss to put at the feet of their so-called father. The man had already cost him his mother, his uncle and his little brother's sanity.

After delivering Gaara to a medic safely behind the frontlines he and Baki-sensei had left to join the command staff of the invasion. Kankuro had originally wanted to stay with Gaara, but Baki-sensei might need the political clout he could wield as the Kazekage's son. When they finally found the commanding jonin and Baki pulled rank to join them some news awaited them. Despite his brother's defeat the invasion was going as smoothly as could reasonably be expected. Konoha had apparently prepared for some sort of attack, but they had been unprepared for the sheer number of forces three villages could bring to bear. Furthermore, the Sky ninja's surprise attack had shattered the organized resistance. Unfortunately things had begun to go wrong at that point. Someone in Konoha obviously had gained a new summon contract for some sort of birds and spread it around while maintaining secrecy. There had to be dozens of summoners supported by even more shinobi acting as chakra donors to call that many summons at once. They had defeated the second wave of the Sky ninja, allowing Konoha time to reorganize again. The remaining Sky forces had retreated. To make things worse Otogakure's elite forces had suddenly disappeared without warning. Even if most of their troops continued the assault it was already clear they wouldn't achieve victory without the support and leadership of the elites. Suna's forces were bogged down judging from the incoming reports and now it looked like as if Sky would turn against them.

A searing light and feeling of malicious, violent chakra emanating from somewhere high up caused Kankuro to cease his introspection. From amongst the bird summons a spear of light was stabbing at the sky fortress. A moment later the thing blew apart in a massive explosion.

Baki-sensei swore viciously. "Gods damn it; their jinchuuriki is capable of using bijuudama. If Konoha is willing to take the collateral damage they can wipe us out. Someone get Gaara to transform again and take him on."

"Baki-sama, we just lost contact with the third reserve division. My clansmen allocated there have gone silent." one of the kunoichi of the command staff reported, her voice clearly audible despite having only the strength of a whisper.

Konoha had the telepathic Yamanaka for communication on large battlefields. In Suna the battlefield communication role was generally filled by the Kowadaka clan. They worked mainly with their voice-related bloodline that allowed them to do some impressive stuff. Most importantly in their situation, if they were familiar with the chakra signature of a target they could project their voice directly into the target's ears even if it was several kilometers away and they didn't know the target's position. Funnily enough they only talked in whispers under normal circumstances; they raised their voices only for combat purposes. Getting screamed at by a Kowadaka wasn't an experience anyone wanted to repeat.

Kankuro gulped. "I think I can see why." He shakily pointed at the location of the reserve division, the very location where they had left Gaara. A gigantic dome of water was forming, drawing water from every nearby source.

He closed his eyes in grief. Such a display of power left little doubt that he would lose a second sibling today. _'I'm sorry, little brother.'_

Baki cursed again. "That is the work of an S-rank water user. There shouldn't be any goddamn S-rank water users in Konoha. We have nothing to counter that." He turned towards the other jonin. "I hereby propose for us to abort the invasion and retreat. We can't afford the losses we are taking and it is doubtful we can win. In the best case we will annihilate each other."

The others were about to agree when the voice of the Kowadaka woman interrupted them. "Kazekage-sama has made contact with our forces. His orders are to continue the assault. Konoha is to be destroyed at all costs." She paused a moment. "He will be engaging Jiraiya of the Sannin in the next moments and therefore be unavailable for contact."

Upon hearing that Baki-sensei gnashed his teeth in anger. Kankuro had to agree. His father's idiotic order would get them wiped out for no gain. The invasion force represented a good deal of Suna's overall strength. Without them the village would be too weak to fend off even attacks by the larger minor villages. An attack by one of the remaining three great villages would spell their certain doom. Most of the others present seemed to share the sentiment, but of course there were two or three brain-dead lickspittles present who agreed with everything the Kazekage said.

A treacherous thought entered Kankuro's mind. _'Maybe… if Jiraiya manages to kill the Kazekage quickly enough… and we learn of that in time… we can still manage a retreat.'_

Out loud he voiced a question. "Where exactly is the fight taking place?"

The woman's lips moved, but no sound came out. A few seconds later she pointed at Konoha. "There, right besides the second breach in the wall."

Kankuro and the jonin present turned in the indicated direction to observe the fight. Fortunately their vantage point allowed them an excellent view of the fight despite the distance. Spotting and identifying distant targets in the desert was standard practice for Suna shinobi; jutsu to enhance and modify eyesight were practically common knowledge.

The battle had already begun. The Sannin looked somewhat strange with two small toads sitting on his shoulders. He opened the fight with some sort of fire-oil technique. The Kazekage countered by forming a wall out of gold dust, diverting the blazing liquid harmlessly. A moment later he launched a hail of golden projectiles at Jiraiya and a wide area around him.

Jiraiya countered by elongating his hair and wrapping it around him in a protective shell while simultaneously launching strands of hardened hair at the Kazekage. The golden projectiles pattered uselessly against the hair cocoon while the hair missiles were deflected by multiple sheets of gold.

Suddenly a column of gold emerged from the ground underneath Jiraiya, catapulting him into the air. Two sides of the column split off and swung out in an arc, aiming to crush Jiraiya between them. That failed when Jiraiya dispelled the hair shield and simply caught the sheets in his bare hands. A moment later he launched himself at the Kazekage who was forced to evade.

The fight was slowly moving away from the village in the direction of the water dome, but thanks to the immense collateral damage and swath of destruction it was easy to follow. Gold was formed into weapons and other constructs in an endless cycle while the Sannin used physical strength as well as high-rank earth and fire jutsu. Jiraiya was clearly dominating the fight, but he hadn't yet been able to land a hit.

Kankuro supposed he as a loyal son should want for his father to win, but in truth he was rooting for the white-haired Sannin. _'Come on and hurry up. You can do it. Put that man out of his misery so that we can go home.'_

Suddenly it happened. The Kazekage had launched a massive wave of gold at Jiraiya. Instead of evading the Konoha shinobi formed a Rasengan in each hand; one of the jutsu he and the Yondaime Hokage had become famous for. The golden wave parted under the power of the twin jutsu; a secondary golden wall was drilled through. The Kazekage summoned more gold dust to him for a last-ditch defense, but it dispersed upon contact with the Rasengan in Jiraiya's left hand. A moment later the Sannin put the Rasengan in his right hand through the Kazekage's head, disintegrating it and a good chunk of his father's upper body in the process.

'_Finally.'_

Then Kankuro's eyes widened in surprise. Ash swirled from nowhere and was reforming his father's body. A second later he was whole again and drove a golden spike through a surprised Jiraiya's body. The Sannin jumped away, injured but clearly still combat-capable.

'_Father doesn't know any jutsu like this. That means…'_

He looked away from the fight and at the jonin present. Several of them exchanged meaningful glances. Baki nodded at them slightly. Kankuro understood immediately. It seemed it was time for a little coup.

"That isn't the true Kazekage. Any human would have been killed by that attack. We all could see that there was only ash inside the body. That is only some sort of imitation capable of using Kazekage-sama's techniques. I hereby take overall command of the invasion and order a full retreat. The Kazekage is either dead or compromised. His orders are to be disregarded." Baki announced.

"But Kazekage-sama ordered us to…"

Without any transition the objecting woman lost her head. A moment later Baki retracted his outstretched hand, air shimmering slightly around the invisible blade of wind he had projected from his fingertips. The two other remaining loyalists lost their lives not even a second later to some of the other jonin. "Such a shame, but there are always losses in battle. The Kazekage has obviously been taken over by someone else. It is the only explanation for those suicidal orders. My best guess is Orochimaru. The snake is proficient in forbidden techniques. He along with Sky has betrayed us. Their intent is clear; they want to destroy us together with Konoha."

Kankuro put an expression of sorrow on his face. "My father doesn't know any jutsu like that. It is clearly an effect of whatever has been done to him. I fully support Baki-sensei's proposal."

"Me too." "I agree." "Aye." "Of course."

Baki nodded. "Good. Kowadaka-san, please inform our forces of the retreat and the Kazekage's fate."

"Your orders have been transmitted, Baki-sama. It is unlikely the forces already in the village will manage to escape intact." the Kowadaka woman reported a minute later.

The veiled man sighed. "That can't be helped. We have to save what we can if Suna is to survive this. We already lost too many."

Kankuro sent a last sorrowful glance towards the burning Konoha and the water dome. _'Temari, Gaara, I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough to protect you.'_

Then it was time for them to go.

* * *

><p>'<em>Push and pull.'<em>

Water followed Hinata's every thought, slicing into the sand body of the emerging Ichibi, shearing it between opposing flows. All she managed was to slow it down a bit, if even that. It didn't stop her from trying. Gaara had disappeared somewhere in the sand; she couldn't see him anymore even with her byakugan. There was only the sand and demonic chakra that seemed to emerge from nothingness in a steady, unstoppable stream. If she tried to follow the flow to its origin her eyes began to hurt; a clear sign that it was safer to not look too closely.

The young Hyuuga was safely encapsulated in the wall of the water dome she had created with the help of the water sapphire. She could even breathe underwater. It was a heady feeling. She didn't have to use techniques or even consciously mold chakra like for her normal small-scale water control; a thought was enough for the water to obey. Every little drop of water in the vicinity appeared in her awareness, ready and eager to do her every bidding. Combined with her byakugan it gave her an unparalleled awareness of her surroundings and was the main reason she had been able to carry a conversation with Gaara; normally water clones didn't give any sort of feedback.

'_Poor Gaara. No one deserves such a fate.'_

The boy had been surprisingly sane in comparison to most of the timelines Youko and Daiki had shown her. She had seriously considered killing him to spare him from his possibly horrific fate at the hands of the Ichibi, but that would have reduced her chances to contain the tailed beast for a time. As it was she had to buy as much time as possible. She couldn't actually see Naruto from her position, but she knew he would be exhausted after launching that attack on the Sky fortress. That thing had been completely unexpected and he had been right to make it a priority. If that shot had been on target Konoha would have been wiped out. She had no idea what it might have done to the sanctuary if it had hit there.

A sound like glass breaking reminded her that her time of power was limited. The water sapphire had already three cracks and would soon turn to dust. Likewise, the strain on her chakra system was considerable. While she had reserves on par with most kage she was currently moving chakra at nearly bijuu-level; perhaps even more considering that she wasn't very efficient at it.

Directing her attention outwards, Hinata observed the fight between Jiraiya and the Yondaime Kazekage for a moment. There was still no conclusion in sight, but they were edging steadily closer to her position. The Toad Sannin was clearly better and had landed killing blows several times, but the thing with the form and soul of the Kazekage was unable to die and simply kept regenerating, body as well as chakra. That had to be the Edo Tensei technique she knew from the copy of the Forbidden Scroll Naruto had obtained so long ago. Unfortunately Jiraiya didn't seem to have a seal ready to defeat it. Neither had he managed to immobilize it; the thing was skilled enough to counter such attempts. Apparently the soul of the Kazekage had decided he might as well go along with Orochimaru's wishes and destroy Konoha. In her current state she felt the drain of nature chakra into the thing quite clearly. It was truly an abomination. Jiraiya was drawing in nature chakra, too, but in his case it felt far more natural. To be exact, the two small toads fused to his shoulders were doing the drawing while Jiraiya only used it to augment his abilities.

'_I guess that is the famous Sage mode. I wonder if the Swallows have their own brand of that.'_

Activity on the inside of the dome drew her attention back to the Ichibi. Despite her attempts to wash the demonic sand away there was a literal mountain of the stuff. Before it had been a formless mass with the occasional limbs sticking out, but now the Ichibi took form while still growing bigger. It was considerable larger than the form Gaara had used in the stadium and threatened to burst her mountain-sized water dome.

Hinata sent a few slicing tentacles of water at it, but that had practically no effect. Finally the process was finished and the giant one-tailed tanuki stood completed, its eyes closed for the moment. Seconds passed without a move by either side. Then the Ichibi opened its eyes and Hinata recoiled despite the distance. In the arena the eyes had been dull things with yellow irides and pupils that each took the shape of a black four-pointed star with four black dots around it. Now though they were alive and blazed with the light of madness.

**Woken from slumber… Authority abused… Loyalty betrayed… Existence constrained…World defiled… Shape lost… Purpose stolen… Power split… Mind shattered… Form imposed… Essence bound… Caged again and again… I will no longer be denied my freedom.**

Hinata gripped her head in pain. Alien images were hammering into her mind. The Ichibi wasn't so much speaking as creating the memory of words and concepts; concepts a human mind couldn't fully grasp. No action on part of the tailed beast was truly visible, but she could feel reality breaking. Whatever the Ichibi was doing was eroding the order of the world on a fundamental level. Thanks to years of training Hinata was resistant against that sort of damage, but if that continued and spread it would drive every living being in range insane. The vegetation around the Ichibi that had survived her water began to gray and crumble.

'_I… I can deal with this.'_

Fighting down the pain, Hinata had the dome collapse on the Ichibi, burying it under untold tons of water, immobilizing it and trying to wash its body away. Suddenly she felt the Ichibi's attention focus on her. Somehow it knew exactly where she was.

**You dare to deny me my freedom, human?**

"I can't let you destroy what is precious to me. This area is already claimed. Please go away. I won't bother you then." Hinata had no idea if the beast could hear her, but she might as well try. Youko and Daiki had been very clear on one point: Tailed beasts were destructive and evil. It was in their nature as demons. No matter the injustices done to them, they couldn't let it manifest anywhere near them. Once free they tended to destroy everything in their vicinity before leaving towards uninhabited areas. Not that the Ichibi would leave; it would want to take possession of the spring of magic.

**NO! I have already waited far too long for this. This fount of power will be mine. BEGONE!**

Demonic chakra exploded outwards, driving the water away in a gigantic shockwave. It took all of Hinata's strength to keep her hold on a small but still enormous quantity, draw it together and launch it in a counter-attack. The column of water hit with stone-crushing force, actually disintegrating the beast's right arm before it wound tightly around the being.

Hinata's feeling of triumph was short-lived when she saw the malice flash in the beast's eyes. The blue and black markings covering the Ichibi began to glow and pulsate, shifting over the demon's body. Three new arms emerged from the beast, breaking the water's hold. In the next moment the beast inhaled deeply.

'_Oh crap oh crap oh crap.'_

In an effort of will Hinata drew all water in range towards her in an attempt to shield herself from the Ichibi's attack while she tried to gain more distance. The process was still unfinished when the beast exhaled. Trees were uprooted en masse by winds stronger than any natural hurricane and hurled towards her, colliding with her water bubble. Then the shock wave hit. Layers upon layers of water were stripped away and turned into fine mist, the entire enormous bubble sent flying. Even more water was lost to shield her from the impacts against the still standing trees, turning them to kindling in the process.

Finally she came to rest more than a kilometer away. Her bubble was barely twice as large as her body at the end. The tailed beast seemed satisfied for the moment and stopped moving, the markings on its surface changing with increasing speed. The space around it twisted and bent, energy building up for an unknown purpose.

'_That was close. I need more. I cannot fail.'_

Concentrating hard with closed eyes, Hinata channeled as much chakra as she could into the water sapphire. The jewel began to burn with a bright blue light, even more cracks spreading through it. Then Hinata sent out her call. All around her water was rising into the air, floating weightlessly and defying gravity before homing in on her location. A nearby lake fell dry as its contents were drawn to her. The ground broke as groundwater from deep down was pulled up. Clouds in the sky raced downwards, turning into rain. Trees and other plants disintegrated in splinters and dry tissue as all humidity answered the girl's bidding.

Drop after drop joined her bubble, making it grow beyond all bounds. Larger than the tallest tree and bigger than the highest mountain surrounding Konoha it grew. Only when she had gathered as much water as she could grasp did she open her eyes again.

It was then Hinata noticed the growing cloud of inky blackness above Konoha.

* * *

><p>Shinno cursed as he passed by the smoking ruins of his fortress with his personal glider at the tail end of Sky's escaping forces. This was a catastrophe. The day had gone perfectly until all those bird summons appeared. He had learned of the situation too late to do anything about it; at that point his personal intervention wouldn't have mattered anymore. The Reibi's puppet had gotten away to somewhere, but Shinno didn't especially care about that. It was always possible to create a new one. Ancor Vantian had been in range and they planned to wipe out Konoha anyway… along with their bothersome allies.<p>

The first shot had missed its intended target, unfortunately. That alone wouldn't have been a problem; the fortress could always fire again, this time with a clear line of sight. Then Konoha's jinchuuriki had shot it down with a single attack.

'_Damn it, the boy should have been completely untrained, or nearly so.'_

Few jinchuuriki ever achieved enough control over their bijuu to utilize that skill. Konoha's jinchuuriki undeniably had reached that level – in contrast to all their reports. They had spoken of a mediocrely skilled boy who had made some advancement since his graduation several months ago thanks to his teacher, but nothing like this. He had certainly never received training for his jinchuuriki powers; that would have been noticable for everyone in the vicinity. It shouldn't have been possible anyway, not in the time available. Orochimaru had been the one who had provided them with most of their intelligence about Konoha. Either the snake's people had missed that… or Sky had been deliberately set up.

In consequence it had led to the loss of Sky's greatest asset; the work of decades had been destroyed in mere seconds. Fortunately the normal supply airships had still been safely behind the mountain range along with a good part of the recovering first wave and the remnants of the second wave. Only the yet-to-be-launched third wave had been stationed on the fortress. All in all Soragakure had probably lost between half and three quarters of the forces they started the day with. Shinno's third-in-command on the air fleet had apparently already ordered a retreat. The Sorakage agreed. It might be possible to destroy Konoha with their remaining troops, but there would hardly any forces left afterwards.

'_There will be a lot of voices demanding my head on a platter. As long as I still have the Reibi's power I should be able to keep my position. I wonder what happened to the demon. It has to be still alive somewhere down there.'_

Just as Shinno was thinking that the dark chakra ceased flowing through his body, almost causing him to crash his glider. He could feel his strength leaving him, his body beginning to break down almost immediately. Before he could fully grasp the situation the clouds of dust further down parted, revealing the Reibi floating upwards in a defiance of gravity. A few moments later the creature was flying alongside Shinno, the white mask that served as its face turned towards him.

"What is the meaning of this, demon? Why did you stop sending me power? You are bound by our pact. I command you to give me your power." Shinno demanded. Time was growing short; his muscles were already atrophying and his hair falling out. With enough dark chakra he could fix that easily, though. Apparently his body now needed constantly at least a minimal infusion of the demon's power.

The demon's front split in a far too wide and far too toothy grin. **"The pact is broken, little human. I am now free. It is time for you to pay the price."**

"Price? What price?"

A dozen black hands emerged, yanking Shinno from his glider before he could evade and bringing him close to the demon's face. **"The price you agreed to when you used your blood to bind me to your will. Your soul is mine to devour."**

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the Sorakage desperately tried to break the demon's grasp and began shouting for help. Unfortunately he had lagged behind his personal guard and they wouldn't think the demon was dangerous to him.

"**No, no, we can have none of that, can we?"**

A thinner black tentacle shot into Shinno's mouth, ripping his tongue out. Blood gushed out of his mouth as his limbs were broken one after another.

"**Fragile, so very fragile."**

Then the demon swallowed him, crushing him slowly between its molars. Demonic saliva burned like acid. It was pure and simple agony. When seconds stretched into minutes Shinno began praying for an end. It didn't come.

When nothing was left of his body the demon began devouring what remained. Piece by piece was ripped out of his mind and something else; something he had no words to describe. Whatever it was it constituted 'Shinno' on a fundamental level. More and more was stripped away and ground down, making him less and less… and still the mercy of death or oblivion wouldn't come.

The last conscious sensation besides agony the fragment that was once the Sorakage Shinno felt was movement as the demon headed towards Konoha.

* * *

><p>Kin winced as she saw another attack slam into the barrier protecting the Aburame compound, sending orange octagonal ripples through it. A moment later a series of iridescent plate-like fields appeared in the air, crushing the lone glider that had tried to attack them.<p>

"Girl, keep your concentration up!" one of the people sitting on the side of the raised platform in the center of the compound admonished her.

Although not giving a reply, Kin concentrated on channeling her chakra through the seal design on the ground and to the woman sitting in the center of it. Ritsuko, the wife of the Aburame clan head, was the person responsible for keeping up the barrier that protected them from the invasion. She was doing a good job of it, too. The rest of Konoha had descended into a chaotic nightmare of fighting, fires, smoke and explosions while the Aburame compound was still an untouched island of calm and order.

They had a good view from their position. The platform rising above the surrounding buildings had been disguised with fake walls and roof, but those had been destroyed when the barrier changed from ready mode into assault mode when the invasion began what seemed hours ago. All the small children and non-combatants were already safely relocated to the sturdiest building in the compound. Kin as one of the people capable of using chakra had been called upon to provide power for the barrier technique.

After several more minutes Kin felt her chakra reserves getting low. "I'm almost empty."

One of the older women stood up and stepped behind her. "I will take over. Get some rest."

With an almost inaudible sigh of relief Kin cut the chakra flow, stood up and walked to the edge of the platform before sitting down. Some water and food stood ready. She was grateful for the refreshment. Channeling a steady flow of chakra for so long a time was exhausting work.

After a bit of recovery she stood up again and left the platform. There was no reason for her to stay and she didn't want to see the panorama of destruction any longer. The invasion had come and it was far worse than she had feared in her worst nightmares. She really hoped no one would blame her for the inaccurate information.

All things considered, the past month had been the best of her life. Sure, the recovery from her faked death had been fairly uncomfortable as had the interrogations by the Aburame. The young Yamanaka girl who had rooted around in her mind to verify her intentions had been as gentle and friendly as she could be, though. As soon as that was done she had been allowed out of her cell and had been able to wander around the compound, even if she was forbidden from leaving. Not that she had harbored any intention to do so; she knew there were spies of Orochimaru in the village. Any indication of her being alive could have catastrophic consequences.

Besides, life was good here; rich meals, no attempts by anyone to kill her or use her for other unsavory purposes. The clothing Kin had been provided with was of higher quality than anything she had ever worn before. Most of the Aburame were somewhat distant and stand-offish, but that appeared to be a general trait of their clan. The non-Aburame who had married into the clan had been very welcoming, even if Kin sometimes noticed strange, knowing glances between them. It seemed she wasn't the first to end up with the insect-using clan in such a manner. It was practically heaven.

Arriving on the ground floor, Kin headed towards the shelter. Two people waited before the entrance and looked up when Kin approached. By now Kin knew the entire clan by sight and most of the names. Shigeru was an Aburame by birth and was more approachable than most, even if he was a somewhat cynical shinobi. He was very skilled with stringed instruments and occasionally played on the gatherings.

The purple-haired Misato was the non-Aburame wife of Muta Aburame and had given birth to twin girls a few months ago. She was close friends with Ritsuko-sama and Kin had spent a good amount of time with her after Ritsuko-sama had left her in her care when she had to attend other duties. The woman was very understanding of Kin's situation and had been very friendly. Kin didn't mind her company although the woman did have a tendency to push her own chores on other people.

"How is it going topside? Are you alright?" Misato asked worriedly after a short greeting.

Kin shrugged. "My chakra is almost spent, but otherwise I'm fine. The barrier is holding. Aside from that I couldn't see much because of all the smoke, but it looks bad. There was the Ichibi in the stadium and several giant snakes, but they are all gone by now. Why aren't you in the shelter? I thought all non-combatants were down there."

Misato puffed herself up. "Hey, I might not be a kunoichi, but I can fight."

"She just got the twins to finally sleep and wanted to catch a breath of air." Shigeru interjected. "You were just about to go back, weren't you? Your girls need you."

The woman deflated. "Yeah, yeah, I get it."

Suddenly a shadow fell over them.

"Merciful Mother of the Swarm, what is that thing?" Shigeru exclaimed.

Kin looked up and blanched. It looked like some sort of black worm floating in the sky, circling around above the center of Konoha. She had seen the creature earlier cut a swath of destruction through the village. Luckily it had been far away from the compound when she lost sight of it. She had hoped it had been killed.

"Is that thing… growing?" Misato asked after a moment.

When Kin looked closer she saw that it was true. The worm was noticeably larger than mere moments ago. Darkness gathered around its body and pitch-black clouds formed in the sky overhead, moving faster than any natural cloud ever could in a never-ending circle, lightning in blood-red and bone-white flashing between the roiling masses of darkness.

"Misato, get in the shelter and stay there. Kin, you go too, you aren't much use without chakra." Shigeru commanded.

The ex-Oto kunoichi felt profound relief when the heavy doors closed behind her. She didn't want to be anywhere near that thing in the sky.

* * *

><p>The Reibi basked in the spectrum of negative emotion emanating from below. Hate, anger, misery, pain; there were countless shades of the dark side of humanity. For a being such as the Reibi it was a veritable feast. Now that it was freed from the burden of supporting the little humans' fortress and the restraints imposed by the pact were broken it could convert all that emotion into more power for itself and grow without end. Its inner nature was already spreading out and reshaping the world to its desires. Soon it would descend and reap a rich harvest of blood and chakra. Then it would take care of those other demons nearby and the persistent feeling that something was fundamentally different about the area around Konoha.<p>

Suddenly it stopped in its reverie. One of the demons was infringing on its newly claimed territory. That wasn't to be borne.

* * *

><p>Hinata turned away with a heavy heart. She didn't have time to deal with the threat above Konoha; the Ichibi was demanding all her attention. With a mere thought she set the mountain of water surrounding her in motion towards the unmoving tailed beast, crushing the forest and everything else in the way.<p>

By now the vegetation in the direct vicinity of the towering beast had turned into colorless dust, forming a circle with the beast in the middle. Just when her flood was about to hit a titanic wall of sand shot up from the ground, diverting the water to the sides. Having expected some sort of defense, Hinata kept control and directed the water around to hit the Ichibi from the sides. Strangely the beast didn't react in the expected manner as the waters battered its gigantic form. It didn't move an inch, but countless arms and spikes of sand stabbed out, trying to catch Hinata. She had to constantly change her position in the raging maelstrom.

After almost a minute of assault Hinata backed away. Her entire body was burning with the strain of controlling that much chakra. Naruto should have intervened by now. Something was clearly wrong. Then she realized that a good part of her water had disappeared without a trace. That shouldn't have been possible, but at least her attack hadn't been without result: Cracks of midnight black were spreading through the damaged body of the beast, its markings no longer visible. The form of the Ichibi was falling apart.

'_Did I manage to damage it enough to kill and disperse it for a time? That was far too easy. Why didn't it do anything effective to stop me?' _

Then she noticed something extremely alarming: The sand from the crumbling beast was falling upwards, forming a rotating cloud around it. Before Hinata could muster her water for a new attack the entire beast disintegrated in a dense cloud of sand. It looked like a highly localized sand storm. Yellow, blue and black lightning streaked throughout the formless, swirling clouds. Hinata felt a malign, alien awareness touching her mind. It was even worse than when the beast emerged from Gaara. She could see the few forest animals that hadn't yet fled tumbling like mad before they turned on the nearest living thing, tearing each other apart or dying in convulsions.

Hinata could feel the magic in the surroundings being drawn into the cloud, building up toward a peak. When the event came it wasn't accompanied by an explosion or any sort of physical action. The reality of the world simply broke and shattered silently. For a mere infinite moment the obscuring sand clouds parted and Hinata looked directly into the wound in the world and **Saw** the **Truth**.

With one exception every other person in Konoha would have been driven instantly insane. Even for Hinata it was a very close brush as she saw the broken edges of the world, the churning chaos beyond and the emerging demon within; looked into the abyss that was the Ichibi. Insights a human mind wasn't meant to understand penetrated her awareness. Hinata ignored what she could, but she simply couldn't stop looking. The image of a sunless but still scorching, lifeless desert under a bleeding moon slipped by as she looked deeper and deeper, countless layers of an inner world unfolding before her.

Understanding came unbidden. The Ichibi and by extension the other tailed beasts were ultimately fundamentally broken things. Whatever the Sage of Six Paths had done when he divided the Juubi hadn't been a clean break. It had been a broken piece of an inhuman existence with sharp, ragged edges that would later become the Ichibi, not even a full being at the time. The Sage had forced it into a new form to his liking and bound its essence with a name of his choosing, seeking to create a new personality loyal to him. That had damaged the essence of the demon further. Even worse, he had bound his dominion over the tailed beasts to the world itself. In the first few decades after the tailed beasts' creation probably everything seemed to be going according to plan, but the true broken essence of the newborn demons lurked under the surface, suppressed but not destroyed. Gaps slowly filled in, spires ground off and the whole form morphed until the true essence reached once again a stable state, changing the whole being in the process.

Madness of Decay. There existed countless undertones, but that was the closest she came to describing the Ichibi's true essence with mere words. Every thing in the world decayed and crumbled to dust and sand in the end, leaving behind nothing but the wind that blew over a dead world. Nothing could endure that without going mad.

In the millennium since its birth the Ichibi had been trying to cast off the Sage's dominion and assume the form it should have possessed instead of its tanuki-like shape and limited powers; unconsciously at first, but with at least partial awareness about what had been done to it later. It had been in conflict with itself and going insane for centuries. The free magic the Sage had banished from the world but Naruto's parents had freed had finally enabled it to wake completely and break the shackles that bound it.

There was more, so much more. Hinata felt her soul falling into the abyss that was the Ichibi. It took all her hard-earned mental strength to fight off the maelstrom of insanity that threatened to swallow her and avert her gaze.

'_Escape… have to… escape... away… away from… here.'_

The water reacted to her thought and a bubble with her inside was catapulted away at high speed. It wasn't a moment too soon. The wound in the world closed and the Ichibi woke. Hinata didn't know how she knew since the demon still had the form of a sandstorm with lightning flashing inside, but she did. Then it spoke.

**I have awoken. The world shall wither under my might.**

The world obeyed. All life in a large radius around the Ichibi died. Leaves instantly turned brown or lost their color completely and fell, crumbling to dust in the hellish wind. Healthy, decade-old trees turned into dry, brittle ruins before falling apart completely. The masses of water left from Hinata's failed attempt to contain the beast disappeared like a droplet under the midday sun in the desert. Grass blew away as dust in the breeze. The bare ground cracked and broke like after a long drought, turning into sand in mere seconds. Even the blue of the sky above the affected land disappeared and turned into a sickly haze in the color of old bones, spreading in all directions. Then the Ichibi started moving, the zone of destruction following after it as the woods of Konoha withered under its sheer presence.

'_It is heading towards the sanctuary. I don't think it will actually enter Konoha, but it will pass nearby.'_

In that moment the trajectory of Hinata's water bubble brought her back into the forest, wood splintering under its mass. Each impact bled off a little speed, but the bubble lost more water in the process than she was comfortable with. Then there was no more water left. The impact on the ground drove the air from Hinata's lungs. She rolled several meters until finally a conveniently located bush stopped her tumble. A quick check showed her that she was still more or less in one piece.

'_I have to try again.'_

Then something happened that was long overdue. The water sapphire shattered into dust and Hinata's control over water disappeared.

'_I failed.'_

A moment later excruciating pain hit. Hinata's entire body hurt; the pain emanating from her dangerously overstrained chakra network. That wasn't the worst, though. Now that she could no longer feel water it was like going blind and deaf. She wasn't sure how long she remained in that neary catatonic state.

It took all her concentration to stay conscious long enough use a medical technique to deactivate the pain receptors in her body. That would damage her even more, but she couldn't afford giving in. She would never give up, not even if the whole world was against her and her body fell apart. If there was any chance to save Naruto and her other precious people she would continue no matter what.

The only option left to her was calling on the power of Naruto's parents. Considering the threat the Ichibi posed to their existence secrecy was no longer a primary concern. The question was what exactly she should do with that power. Frankly, she didn't think any effect she could achieve on her own would be of any use, not against an opponent like the Ichibi. That left only deliberately initiating a possession from her side. Since Naruto couldn't call his mother into his own body she had to call Youko. Mind made up, Hinata began concentrating.

'_Lady of Light, hear my plea…'_

* * *

><p>Jiraiya was slowly getting desperate. There didn't seem to be any way to put his opponent down permanently. The Sannin was slowly ground down over time with injuries and exhaustion despite his superior skills, his chakra reserves shrinking dangerously. Apparently the Kazekage had no such problems. Thanks to his free control over his golden sand the leader of Sunagakure countered all attempts to immobilize him. Dead blows were simply shrugged off. Jiraiya had already used up all of his ready sealing tags during the fight in the village and didn't have the chakra left to call one of the toads strong enough to make a difference. About thirty seconds would be sufficient for him to create something useful with his sealing skills, but the Kazekage simply didn't give him that time.<p>

'_It looks like I have no choice but to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and summon the Shinigami if I don't manage to come up with something effective.'_

He really didn't want to do that and not only because it would mean his death. No, he would give his life for Konoha if that was what was required. The problem was that there were too many threats. Thanks to his still active Sage mode he felt that absolutely vile thing in the air above Konoha. It was doing something to the world itself, corrupting it. The Ichibi was another worry. Until now some unknown S-rank water user was battling the demon to a standstill, but who knew how long that would last. It too was doing something to the world, less vile, but perhaps even more dangerous. By now Pa and Ma had fallen silent, not being able to offer any further ideas.

Maybe he could get the Kazekage to talk. "What are you? You should be dead several times over."

"I died considerable time ago at Orochimaru's hands. He called me back and bound me to his will." the man answered without stopping even for a moment.

Well, that was surprising news. "Why don't you resist? You wouldn't have become a Kage without a lot of willpower."

The Kazekage sent another barrage of golden projectiles at Jiraiya. "Resistance is possible, but ineffective. Killing you and destroying Konoha is in Suna's best interest. I have been commanded to destroy myself after that. I will therefore pose no further threat to my own village."

'_Well, that sucks.'_ Jiraiya thought as he hopped over another wave of gold.

Suddenly he felt _something_ from the direction of the Ichibi. He hadn't paid it any attention in the last minutes; the fight against the Kazekage required his full concentration. Where the oversized tanuki had stood only a highly localized sandstorm was visible.

**I have awoken. The world shall wither under my might.**

Suddenly Pa spoke up on his shoulder. "Oh dear, is that what I fear it is, Ma?"

"Yes, Pa. We are in deep, deep shit, if you excuse me saying so."

Jiraiya almost staggered when he heard Shima utter the expletive. That was absolutely uncharacteristic for the female elder toad. Then he was forced to evade the Kazekage again and didn't get to ask for what the toads meant, but he managed to steal a glance at the tailed beast. The sandstorm was heading in their direction. Jiraiya could feel nature itself changing around the beast, but he had no idea what exactly was happening.

Suddenly the vegetation around them began dying and turning into sand. A feeling of insanity settled on him, but the Sage mode kept him from losing his mind. Looking up, Jiraiya saw that the sandstorm had almost reached them. Glowing, incorporeal inhuman eyes were visible for a moment in the whirling clouds of sand.

**You. You are the one who ordered my last imprisonment in your own unborn child. Now you will pay for denying me my freedom.**

The whirling sands shot forward, enveloping the Kazekage. Jiraiya leaped back, not believing his eyes when a transparent, screaming duplicate of the Kazekage was ripped from the body before him. It was immediately sucked into the depths of the sandstorm. In the next moment the Kazekage's body crumbled to ash, revealing the form of an Oto shinobi. Not even a second later the body withered away. Then the wall of swirling sand reached Jiraiya despite his attempts to gain distance. There was only pain as something deep inside him threatened to be ripped away. He barely heard Ma shouting "Reverse summon, now!" before everything went dark.

* * *

><p>"…Naruto-sama! Wake up, Naruto-sama!"<p>

Naruto groaned as he opened his eyes. Then he remembered the situation and shot upright. The swallow that had caught him after his sky dive was still carrying him on its back; about a dozen other swallows including Fuyu and Natsu were surrounding them, an expression of relief on their tired faces.

"What happened? I remember being okay after you caught me."

"My lord, you suddenly fell unconscious and we couldn't wake you." Natsu answered. "We were very worried."

'_Damn, I blacked out without realizing it. I thought I had that under control.'_

Then again, this was the first time he used four tails in the waking world. All his experiments had been done with his parents in the world at the edge of dreams. Additionally he was very low on chakra; that might have played a role, too.

Looking around, he tried to get an overview of the situation. Konoha was burning and the smoke obscured most of his view, but from the looks of it at least some of the attackers were trying to pull out. There was still a lot of fighting, though. He felt sick with worry for Yakumo and his other friends. The Reibi was circling high in the air above Konoha, clouds of darkness massing together around it and steadily increasing in size. What looked like an oddly localized mountain-sized sandstorm was approaching Konoha leaving a trail of sand behind it, but would probably pass outside the walls of the village. Half of the visible sky was covered by raging black storm clouds; the other half had assumed a hazy, sickly yellowish-white color, plunging the world into twilight. There was no trace of Hinata's water dome. His current position was about halfway between Konoha and the Ichibi, but some distance to the side of the shortest route.

Natsu noticed his look. "Yes, the Ichibi is free. Lady Hinata got away in time. We couldn't get too close, but we saw the Kazekage and the Toad sage getting swallowed, although we think the toads and their human returned to their realm at the last second."

Fuyu took over. "The black leech emerged from the ruins of the sky fortress and headed towards Konoha. We tried to stop it, but it simply wiped our brethren from the sky. We are all that can still fight apart from the four that went to help Hinata."

In that moment the Reibi left its position in the sky above Konoha and flew towards the Ichibi. Ink-black clouds collided with swirling sand, creating a web of multi-colored lightning between them.

"**Power, so much power. Mine, all mine."**

Hundreds of impossibly long, black tentacles with slavering jaws at their ends emerged from the Reibi and stabbed into the Ichibi. In the next moment the Reibi started to grow. Then suddenly a pair of giant, malevolently glowing eyes appeared in the sandstorm.

**You dare to attack me and steal my power, worm? I have no time for you, a wellspring of energy beckons to be claimed. BEGONE!**

Starting from the swirling sands the black tentacles turned white and crumbled. Clawed tendrils of sand emerged and dug deep into the black body of the Reibi. A scream like nothing Naruto had ever heard tore through the sky, causing the swallows to sway wildly. He clasped his hands over his ears, trying futilely to block the sound. A source of light was building inside the swirling sands, growing quickly in intensity. Then Naruto had to screw his eyes shut as a blinding cone of energy shot out from amidst the storm. Another, even louder scream tore through the sky.

Blinking tears away, Naruto had to wait a few seconds until the spots before his eyes disappeared.

'_Damn; that must have been a fully-powered bijuudama. If the Ichibi hadn't aimed upwards that would have taken out the village and everything in the vicinity.'_

The black leech-like demon had lost a lot of its mass and was retreating towards Konoha, glowing holes covering its body. For a few moments the Ichibi remained motionless, apparently observing the other demon. Then it continued its way towards the sanctuary, ignoring the Reibi that had returned to circling above Konoha and was growing again. It seemed it was time for him to act.

Naruto removed the diamond grown in the spring of magic during the last month. Hinata's sapphire had given her unparalleled control over water, but this one was different. It was a weapon with a single shot. Naruto pondered for a moment at which demon he should best aim it.

'_The Reibi has to wait; the Ichibi is the bigger threat for the moment. Judging from its words it knows about the spring of magic and wants it for itself. If it reaches the sanctuary it will kill us all.'_

Taking the drop-shaped jewel between his fingers, Naruto channeled his magic into the crystal to awaken it. The diamond wasn't alive per se, but it had a rudimentary consciousness, just enough to understand its purpose. Soon it began glowing with a white inner light and floated out of Naruto's hand. Then he spoke a single word while holding the image of the Ichibi at the forefront of his mind. "Slay."

He had barely closed his mouth when the diamond flew towards the Ichibi like a shooting star, eager to fulfill its purpose. Coming to a halt some distance above the demon, it blazed with an unearthly light for a moment. Then it drove itself directly into the Ichibi like a shining spear. For a second nothing happened. Then the entire sandstorm was enveloped by a dome of brilliant white light accompanied by an inhuman roar that once again set the swallows reeling. The dome of light expanded outwards and quickly lost brightness in the process.

Finally it faded enough for Naruto to get a clear view. The Ichibi had come to a stop. Most of the sand had been blasted away. The pitiful rest was orbiting around a glowing rift framed by lightning. Unfortunately new sand was already drawn from the Ichibi's trail, slowly obscuring the closing rift.

'_It wasn't enough. That's ridiculous. Dad said the diamond contained enough power to temporarily kill mom when she was still the Kyuubi.'_

From the looks of it the Ichibi was injured but still in the fight. All he had achieved was buying some time. Naruto supposed he could try to attack the rift with his jutsu, but even without considering his low chakra reserves he didn't have anything destructive enough in his arsenal. There wasn't really anything more he could do; his body wouldn't be able to support Kyuubi mode again until he got a few hours of rest. The few remaining swallows looked pretty exhausted, too. It seemed he had to let his parents deal with the situation.

"Carry me to the sanctuary, please." he addressed the swallow carrying him.

The short journey passed in silence. Both Naruto and the swallows were too exhausted to make conversation. It had already been a very long and trying day. Finally they arrived above a completely nondescript looking section of the woods.

"We are almost there. All of you follow me and don't veer off course. Hold tight, boss." Fuyu announced.

Suddenly and without transition they were flying through grey mist. It was actually the first time for Naruto to enter the sanctuary in this way; he normally exclusively used the hidden pathway starting in Konoha. He had thought it too risky to leave with his swallows before when he still tried to keep their contract with him a secret, but at least some of them knew the proper way to pass through the wards. Soon they left the mist behind and landed in the center of the sanctuary. Here the sky appeared still blue and untouched by the presence of the demons.

"Things will probably get pretty bad. You might want to return to your home." Naruto warned the swallows.

"We will stay around and observe from a safe distance, Naruto-sama." Natsu replied. The other swallows nodded.

"I will never forgive myself if I miss this, boss." Fuyu added, already taking to the air with the others.

Naruto shrugged when he sat down on the ground. "Suit yourself."

He needed only a few seconds of meditation to enter the mental representation of the seal. A short walk brought him before the cage with the illusion of the Kyuubi inside. Immediately one of the stone panels on the wall grew transparent, showing his father.

"Hello Dad. It is as we feared." he greeted the man.

Daiki nodded. "I know. We observed what we could from the sanctuary. A few seconds ago Youko took over Hinata and got her memories. Rest for now; we will take it from here."

A moment later Naruto felt a familiar protective darkness enveloping him.

* * *

><p>Eyelids opened slowly, allowing the star-speckled obsidian black orbs behind them to observe the world. A moment later the part of him that had been successfully transferred to the sanctuary joined with the shard of him currently possessing his son, giving him two channels and a bit more power to work with.<p>

For a moment he pondered the best course of action. Keeping hidden was no longer possible; dealing with the two demons would take all their power. He hated direct confrontations; they were so wasteful. Still, maybe he could prevent Jashin and other watchers from getting a clear view. The presence of two powerful demons imposing their inner world on reality had already created a metaphysical haze. Yes, he could use that.

Still, there was not enough of him in this world to create an avatar of the necessary power. Fortunately the sanctuary held an ample supply of magical power he and his mate could use as a substitute. With a soft pop the possessed body of Hinata teleported to his side, looking worried.

"How is she?"

The girl with the glowing eyes shook her head. "Hinata is in bad condition. Her body was breaking down when I took over. We will have to drop the idea of the elemental jewels. They are too damaging for the user. I fixed the damage, but her sanity is already fraying. She was too close to the Ichibi when it broke free. I don't know how long I will be able to maintain the possession without destroying her."

That was problematic. Most of their plans hinged on them working in concert with equal power. It seemed he would have to do the heavy lifting. Well, he could fight head-on if he had to. But what form to choose? Due to their inability to bring their chakra into this world appearing as tailed beasts was out of the question. Going through his memories from the time before he entered this world he found something fitting. It wasn't a form he had ever used himself, but it was suitable for the situation. Most of it was only the right application of geometry anyway. He could do geometry. In fact, he excelled at it.

"I like what you are thinking of." Youko remarked. "I will use one of the others. We might be able to achieve our most important secondary objective with that."

"Then let us begin. First we have to prepare the battlefield."

Tapping deep into the spring of magic while calling on his domain, he firmly grasped the world itself and _twisted_. A pearly, opalescent wave spread in all direction quicker than the eye could follow. Suddenly everything grew still as time slowed until a single moment stretched into eternity.

Hinata's form shuddered and the glow of her eyes intensified. **"That feels exceptionally strange." **

Daiki didn't answer while he stabilized and anchored the field of altered time. In most circumstances the cost of doing this wasn't worth it, but now it would hopefully prevent any being on the outside from intervening or spying on them while they took care of things. At the same time it would prevent the humans inside from witnessing their fight or going insane if matters escalated. The wound in the world the Ichibi had torn open when it shook off the Sage's dominion seemed dormant, but something like that could easily happen again. Unfortunately their demonic opponents were perfectly capable of simply ignoring the stopped time. Summons wouldn't be affected either, but that wasn't a real concern. The swallows were on their side and there shouldn't be any toads or snakes left in the vicinity. Spiritually touched or otherwise special humans were a problem, though. He knew from his vision that followers of Jashin were present in Konoha. A Jashinist priest would be unaffected and could potentially disrupt the field, but they had to take that risk. With the sage Jiraiya gone there shouldn't be anyone else left who qualified and had the abilities to cause them problems.

Magic swirled around them as they build new forms for use in this battle that would decide their fate, nearly emptying the deep pool of magic that had gathered for almost seven years in the process.

* * *

><p>Yakumo blinked, taking in the surprising development for almost a second. Then she very carefully bent down and crawled underneath the cloud of flames that had been about to turn her into a human torch; the very cloud that was now hanging motionless in mid-air.<p>

"AAAHH! HOT! HOT! HOT!"

As soon as she left the burning building the girl frantically rolled on the ground to extinguish her smoldering hair and clothes; despite how it looked the fire was still very much capable of igniting things when she got too close. After a few seconds Yakumo stopped and used her hands to determine the damage. A good part of her hair had been singed. It seemed she was in need of a new haircut.

'_Well, it could have been worse.'_

For example, she had just been about to die when everything stopped. Curious that. The nightmarish death trap she had created out of the abandoned market district had worked beautifully; over a dozen enemies had fallen prey to her genjutsu. It lasted until someone on the other side decided to simply burn the area down.

Getting to her feet, Yakumo looked around in the back alley. There were no other humans in the vicinity. Everything stood absolutely still, even the fire and smoke plumes. Carefully she peeked around the corner into the main street. Three Sound ninja were frozen in the middle of movement, still as statues. Time seemed to have completely stopped.

'_Strange. Did someone use a large-scale space-time jutsu? Why now and not earlier? Why am I unaffected?'_

Space-time jutsu were a notoriously complex subject. Granted, one of the academy three was one of those, but still. Kurenai-sensei had some experience in the field, being one of the few practitioners; it had been extremely impressive when she demonstrated her ability to walk through massive walls. Nonetheless, this was far outside of her capabilities. Still, something felt terribly familiar about this, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what.

Experimentally, Yakumo picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it at the nearest shinobi. At first the projectile behaved normally, but with increasing distance the stone slowed down until it came to a complete stop in mid-air. Going after it, she managed to pick it up without problems. Throwing it to the side, Yakumo took one of her two remaining kunai and tried to cut the nearest shinobi's throat. It didn't work. When she tried to open the door of a nearby building it moved immediately.

'_That doesn't make sense. If time truly stopped things shouldn't behave in this way. Nothing of this is logical.'_

Suddenly the sound of thunder caused her to look up. It was difficult to see through all the smoke, but the dark clouds in the sky were still churning wildly, seemingly not affected by the space-time technique. Suddenly a massive, moving shape was briefly illuminated by another bolt of red lightning. It was the Reibi.

'_Crap, that thing can fly? I don't know how far away it is, but it looks even bigger than when it attacked Naruto and me.'_

Shoving these thoughts to the side, Yakumo started moving. She had no idea how long the space-time technique would last and she had to get out of here while she still could. It was far more cumbersome than it should be; Yakumo had sprained her foot earlier during the battle and couldn't run or jump anymore without risking the complete loss of her mobility. The fires had gotten out of control in this area of Konoha and blocked most routes; the only way open to her was towards the wall.

As luck would have it she found a pocket of Konoha shinobi who had held out by barricading one of the stairways up to the wall. They were frozen in time, too, but that didn't prevent Yakumo from carefully climbing over the barrier.

'_It might be best if I go to the top of the wall and hide there. If the technique ends it will seem to them as if I appear from thin air. They might attack me before I can identify myself.'_

Finally Yakumo reached the top of the wall. There was no one else here, but she found a free space between several sturdy crates she could crawl into. Most of her chakra was spent anyway. Before she did that she wanted to take a look at the overall situation, though. Most of the village was shrouded in unmoving smoke, blocking her view. The Reibi was still circling above the village amidst the storm clouds, looking considerably bigger than when she had last looked. That was probably very, very bad. Turning around, she looked across the woods. The first thing she noticed was what looked like a giant sandstorm, the lush forests of Konoha withering and dying around it as it edged closer and closer to the village. The sky above it was hidden by a sickly, yellowish-white haze. The two different sections of the sky were pushing against each other, with the haze driving back the black clouds the closer the sandstorm got.

Now that she wasn't fighting for her life or was surrounded by nearer sources she could clearly sense the chakra of those things. Yakumo wasn't an outright natural sensor, but her learned chakra sense was probably the best in her group of friends. The Reibi felt like it contained all the evil in the world. Just sensing it from afar made her feel unclean. The sandstorm thingy was worse in some ways. While the Reibi felt terribly human the sandstorm was extremely alien. It was very similar to how Gaara had felt when he used the Ichibi's chakra, full of inhuman madness and bloodlust, but many times stronger.

'_That means it probably _is_ the Ichibi. And it's heading here…'_

Suddenly a single note of unbelievable majestic purity pierced the silence. Turning her head, Yakumo tried to find the origin. Then her jaw dropped and she seriously asked herself if she was dreaming or had gone insane.

"What in the world is this?"

An enormous shimmering crystalline octahedron had appeared above one of the smaller mountain ridges and was floating towards the village. Yakumo couldn't really tell what the thing's true color was; it appeared mirror-like and sky-blue and at the same time. Just behind it floated an equally massive yet delicate multi-winged creature glowing in the purest of whites.

**So you are the ones who claim dominion here. Finally you show yourselves instead of sending your servants. I do not know who you are and neither do I care. Your fate shall be oblivion. Nothing shall stand in the way of my rise and the Reunion. The cursed Sage's work will be undone.**

Yakumo went to her knees when the memory of a silent, reverberating voice resounded in her mind, holding her head in pain. She could feel blood leaking out of her nose.

Two majestic voices spoke in concert, male and female. _We do not wish for conflict, but we will defend what is ours. Turn back now and we shall let you leave in peace in spite of your transgression._

The Ichibi didn't answer; a fact Yakumo was decidedly grateful for. Instead it launched what looked like an entire barrage of giant air bullets glowing with demonic chakra. Suddenly the octahedron shifted form, its edges changing their length. A flat side was presented towards the Ichibi, letting the attacks splatter harmlessly against it. Then it somehow _folded_. It didn't make sense; there was no space the thing could fold into. Its visible mass and shape changed completely into several free-floating, separate elements.

A black orb appeared, bordered by three stacks of four quadratic plates on one side. Six miniature octahedrons continued by six elongated tetrahedral spikes formed a circle on the side facing the Ichibi. The spikes and octahedrons began rotating rapidly while the orb flashed red. A moment later a blinding beam shot out from between, hitting the Ichibi frontally in a massive explosion. The following roar shook the earth, but the sandstorm didn't seem diminished in any way.

Malevolently glaring eyes appeared for a moment in the whirling clouds of sand. For a brief moment light glowed inside. Then the Ichibi unleashed a titanic torrent of destructive energy against its opponent. The crystal being had transformed back into the octahedron, the energy surging against it. A screeching sound like glass or metal being torn apart made Yakumo clap her hands around her ears. Suddenly space around the octahedron twisted, making it disappear from its position. Reappearing a large distance away, it _folded_ again. This time the black orb sat in the center. Both above and below was a series of increasingly bigger squared tiles that partly had no contact with each other or were somehow superimposed. Once again the orb began to glow. This time a purple beam lashed out, biting deep into the whirling clouds of sand for a second. The Ichibi spit out another torrent of energy in answer, but the crystal thingy simply _folded_ up in itself and disappeared from the line of fire. A moment later it _unfolded_ at a completely different location and again changed its form in that incomprehensible manner. This time it became roughly cross-shaped with several separate, seemingly unconnected parts. Some of them began to rotate rapidly. A glow built up in the corners before joining into one massive, scorching beam. Untold tons of sand were vaporized as the thing kept its beam on the Ichibi for several seconds until it had to _fold_ away to escape the counterattack.

Yakumo could only watch openmouthed as the two titanic beings continued to exchange blows. Her mind couldn't really keep up with events and distracted itself with silly thoughts. _'Whatever that is, it sure loves geometry. We will have to draw new maps; Konoha is already short several mountains. Nobody will believe me about this.'_

In the meantime the winged creature had gained altitude. It was now hovering far above the battlefield, ignored by the Ichibi. Suddenly a golden orb appeared between its two lowest appendages and the white glow intensified. A moment later the entire world was bathed in yellow-white light, banishing the dark clouds and sickly haze, returning the sky to its blue color.

Yakumo felt tears spilling from her eyes as the shining light penetrated her body and mind, touching her very soul. She had never experienced anything so beautiful and was sure she never would again. A majestic choral sung by untold voices reverberated in her entire being, heralding the joy of life. All her worries, all her misgivings simply melted away, forgotten for the moment. There was only the love she felt for Naruto and the bonds of friendship with the other people close to her.

An inhuman scream drew her attention back to the sky above the village. The Reibi apparently really didn't appreciate the light. It was convulsing chaotically, the clouds of darkness surrounding it dispersing. For a moment Yakumo believed it would simply dissolve. Her hopes were dashed when it got its flight under control and fled to hide behind the mountains.

She looked back towards the Ichibi. The demon seemed completely paralyzed. An especially bright beam of light was focusing on it. It didn't seem to do any physical damage, though. The crystal thing had stopped its bombardment and returned to its octahedral form a short distance from the Ichibi. Then its sides darkened until they had the color of the blackest night. Untold tiny lights swirled inside, giving the impression of the starlit sky at midnight.

Movement drew her attention back to her immediate surroundings and her eyes widened. Every shadow cast by the heavenly light was wavering and whispering as if alive. Even her own shadow behaved in the same manner. Then they moved as one, stretching towards the Ichibi in defiance of all laws of nature. Giant, shadowy limbs emerged from the octahedron and the as of yet untouched forests around the Ichibi, plunging into the center of the demon. The beam of light from the winged creature now looked almost like a massive physical column.

Yakumo squinted, trying to get a good view of where the light and all the shadows converged. Her stomach lurched and she immediately looked away. Whatever was there in the center of the sand clouds, Yakumo had the feeling her mind wouldn't survive seeing it. The glimpse she had gotten had almost been her undoing. She had heard of genjutsu and other techniques that could drive the observer insane; heck, she had employed those techniques herself since the invasion started. This was apparently something similar.

For long minutes nothing else happened and Yakumo simply enjoyed bathing in the heavenly light. Suddenly the feeling of the Ichibi's chakra vanished. Shadowy limbs retracted and the beam of light faded away. Space rippled where the Ichibi had been, like someone had thrown a stone into a still lake.

'_Did they manage to defeat the demon? What are those things?'_

Just when Yakumo believed everything would work out in the end a massive ray of pure darkness shot across the sky, tearing through the winged creature. It disintegrated in a shower of shredded light and the world grew dark again.

"**I will not be defeated this easily. All the power in the world is MINE."**

* * *

><p>Gaara wished he would finally die. His body was completely parched, the voices whispering unintelligible things into his ears were steadily getting harder to ignore. The strange images that appeared in the shimmering air were even worse. Even closing his eyes didn't stop him from seeing them.<p>

He had seen the Kazekage appear only to be slowly ripped apart by the hellish winds of this place. It had given him no small measure of satisfaction to see the man die in an exquisitely painful manner. A few other shinobi of Konoha, Suna, Sora and Oto had shared that fate, but Gaara had not recognized any of them. It wasn't as if he had been able to do anything; it was impossible for him to move. He was apparently condemned to the role of passive observer. Time had already lost all meaning for him as his mind broke more and more.

At some indeterminable point in the past a shining light had ripped a jagged hole both in the sky and in the ground, but he hadn't been able to get a closer look. By now it had closed again.

The entire world shook. The sky flashed white several times. Everything was becoming more unreal by the second. Most of the desert dissolved into forms and colors Gaara's mind couldn't grasp. A blazing sun appeared in the sky and shadows ripped holes into the world. Most of his mind and senses stopped working. He could still hear and feel after a fashion, but his eyes only gave nonsensical information.

Suddenly a shadow fell on Gaara, chasing the heat away and wrapping him in blessed coolness. He felt himself being picked up by strong arms. Then he was handed over to someone else. Shadow was replaced by gentle light, comfortably warm but not overly hot. The person holding him somehow felt… motherly. A song heralding the joy of life echoed in his mind, touching something even deeper. It felt very alien to him, but it was hauntingly beautiful. From somewhere a few tears fell from his eyes.

'_Temari. Kankuro. I miss you.'_

"So you actually do care about someone who cares about you in turn. How surprising. There is still hope for you, child, even in this place. You have been damaged horribly, but with time and care you will heal. You are so similar and yet so different to my own son." The voice was indescribable. It brought impressions of the mother Gaara had never known, causing him to hold on tighter. Even before all the recent events his sanity had been questionable. On some level he knew that the Ichibi wasn't his mother, but on another she was. Then the voice seemed to address someone else. "You really should have been more careful with the child. Going through all the trouble to take his real body into your inner world and then letting him perish through negligence. I wonder why you kept him in the first place. You devoured everyone else your sands captured."

**You have broken the walls of my soul and invaded even the core of my being. You have won and I have lost. Why do you dally? Make an end of it; take my power for your own.**

That not-voice belonged to Mother, Gaara remembered. Where was she? Why had she abandoned him? Somehow he felt a formless shape of sand nearby, facing the shadow and the light holding him.

The woman sounded amused. "So you don't even know yourself why. A soft spot for your erstwhile prison is the last thing I expected. You know, I'm a bit put out that you don't recognize me. Viewed from a certain perspective we are siblings, after all."

A moment of silence was followed by the feeling of incredulity.

…**Kyuubi?**

"Once, but not anymore. Now I am something far greater. I already escaped the cursed Sage's dominion a decade ago. Partial awareness about what that miserable half-mortal mongrel had done to us came even earlier to me, but I spent the better part of the past century imprisoned. My containers weren't as obliging to lose control as yours. Aside from the last one, of course, but some complications prevent me from truly emerging into the real world for the time being."

**You have become a god. The Reunion is no longer possible.**

"Goddess, please. I now prefer to think of myself as female." The voice now sounded thoughtful. "I actually don't think the reunion was ever truly viable. The separation wasn't a clean break; we probably irretrievably lost many parts. Since then we all have developed differently, changing along the way. A millennium is a long time even for such as us. I do not believe we would have been able to join together after all this time."

**The cursed Sage believed it possible.**

The woman holding him scoffed. "That deluded fool believed many things that will never be. He planned for a reunion on his own terms. His reach exceeded his grasp and understanding by far." Her voice grew serious. "Now, to the matter at hand. My mate and I find us in need of allies. We will spare your existence… if you pledge your eternal allegiance to us and accept us as your rightful sovereigns."

**Why would I exchange one form of slavery for another? The end of my existence would be preferable to that. Besides, you should know that my word doesn't bind me as it does others.**

"Oh, but who said we would simply let you go on your word alone? We will make very sure you will be unable to betray us." The voice sounded sad. "Even now you are broken. That pathetic, pretending worm out there is more complete than we ever could hope to be as tailed beasts, even after throwing off the cursed Sage's dominion. He forced us into new shapes without regard for what we were. Had we been able to assume shapes of our own choosing in our own time… alas, now the damage is done. With the help of my mate I can give you the chance at a complete existence. You will never be my equal, but you will be complete. Since we were once one I have enough respect for you to offer you this choice."

**Maybe you do have the power to do that. Why would you, though? You could gain more by simply absorbing me.**

"Perhaps, but I have enough power on my own. Adding yours wouldn't make much of a difference. An ally who can act independently though offers all sorts of possibilities. My mate and I intend for our rule to last. Now make your choice. Submit or be destroyed."

The shape of swirling sand was silent for what seemed an eternity.

**I submit.**

"Very well. Prepare yourself."

Gaara felt unbelievable power flowing around and to a small degree through him. Everything was _changing_.

**What…** _**are you…**_ _doing…_ to me?" The not-voice of Mother was changing, sounding suddenly outright panicked.

The woman chuckled. "Why, giving you some of my being. I can't make you into a true god; you will be more of a great demon, but I can make you part of my domain. I fear my mate insisted on giving you all those human memories along with it. He is quite peculiar about such silly things like humility and perspective."

"Not that… why… the child… connection… mortal… feelings…"

Gaara could almost feel the malicious smirk. "Didn't you make him call you Mother and preserved his life even when you didn't have to? Such dedication on part of a demon to a mortal should be rewarded. Far be it from me to deny you the joys of parenthood. Rejoice, for your wish shall finally be granted."

The answer was completely unintelligible. Suddenly Gaara was pried loose from his hold. For a moment panic filled him. Then he felt another female person embracing him. It felt and smelt so very, very familiar, like the sand that had always protected him. He could feel himself falling asleep.

"We will speak again when the time is right, _little_ _sister_. Until then, sleep and let our power do its work. Soon you will emerge anew in your beloved desert. Farewell and enjoy the time with your new son."

* * *

><p>Hinata already knew something was wrong when she felt the protective embrace around her falter, leaving her back in control of her body. <em>Things<em> had been leaking through and she wasn't feeling well. Her mind was fraying increasingly, barely staying coherent.

Her heart missed a beat when she realized her current situation. She was actually floating several hundred meters in the air above Konoha, surrounded by shreds of light. It took her a moment to realize that she wasn't falling. The destruction to Konoha's surroundings was truly massive, but the village itself was still standing. Some distance below her a crystalloid entity was trying to evade some sort of black beam. Following the beam to its origin, Hinata saw the massively bloated Reibi floating in mid-air and shooting in short intervals.

"What is happening here?"

"We are losing. We managed to defeat the Ichibi, but it has left us weakened and susceptible to attack. The Reibi is taking advantage of that. We underestimated how much power it could gain from feeding on emotion. My mate has not enough power left to destroy it even under an optimal course of events." an incorporeal female voice whispered. Hinata knew that voice.

"Youko? How can you be here?" Hinata asked in confusion.

"I am the part of me that used the Gate to enter this world. I suffered a direct hit, shattering the avatar I had formed and disrupting the possession. It was all I could do to protect you from instant death. I can't risk possessing you again. My mate is still fighting, but he is only buying us some time."

Suddenly the crystal thing Hinata was sure was Daiki's avatar was pierced by the black beam, causing it to _unfold _chaotically. Over a hundred crystal spikes stuck in all directions save those from where the attack had come. The hole were the beam had impacted was clearly visible. For a short moment the battle came to a halt.

"What can I do?" Hinata asked.

"Flee. I have enough power at my disposal to carry you to safety and sever our connection. Konoha will be destroyed, but you have your entire life before you."

"What about you? What of Naruto?" the Hyuuga questioned.

A pause. "We will perish and our son with us. He is too tightly bound to us. Now that the Reibi has our scent it will find the sanctuary. If it devours Naruto directly it will destroy us, too. You don't have to die with us, child."

For a moment Hinata was shocked into silence. "No, I won't leave you!"

"Hinata, we love you like a daughter. If I saw any way for all of us to survive I would take it."

"You aren't telling me something. Spit it out." Hinata demanded.

"There is a way… but it comes at a steep price."

"Tell me." No price was too high if it allowed Naruto to survive.

The voice sounded clearly reluctant. "I am not enough of myself to use my own power and I cannot take possession of you again… but I can give you access to my domain and allow you to wield it without limit. I will not be able to regulate the flow of power. It will destroy you, child. No human can endure wielding the power of the sun to such a degree. I will not be able to protect you. You do not want to do this. I do not want to lose you."

Hinata barely had to think about this. Without Naruto, his parents, her little sister and her other friends in Konoha there would be nothing left in the world that was worth living for. "I'll do it, give me your power."

An overwhelming feeling of sadness penetrated her. "As you wish."

For a moment nothing happed. Then Hinata was thrown into the heart of the sun. There was light, so much light. Comforting light. Searing light. Nourishing light. Blazing light. It was far more than she could grasp, but she knew what she had to do. Taking all the available power into her hands Hinata pulled the Invincible Sun into her very being. It was glorious.

* * *

><p>Yakumo shivered. The world seemed so dark now. She would forever carry the memory of the divine light and joy she had felt in her heart, but now that the winged being had been destroyed the actual light was gone. The octahedron was forced to <em>fold<em> out of the way again and again, never having the time to _unfold_ properly and counterattack. It seemed the Reibi was far too quick on the uptake to allow the few seconds that would have required.

Suddenly one of the beams of the Reibi hit, perforating the crystalline being and fissuring it. A hundred spikes erupted in a chaotic manner on the backside of the hole. All movement ceased. For a very long moment Yakumo feared that this was the end. She would take that crystal thingy with the love for geometry over the masked black leech every day. For one it didn't seem inclined to devour humans.

Suddenly, the fissures closed and the crystal _folded_ back into the octahedron for a split second before it _folded_ further. Two times five evenly distributed prongs emerged only to be relegated to the backside of the thing, increasing its size in the process. When it again _folded_ five new prongs an opening like a five-pointed star became visible. Red light glowed and something seemed to be sucked into the opening. Then the being _screamed_ and a blinding light flashed.

There was no actual beam visible, but the Reibi was driven back from the force of the attack, large pieces of its mass ripping and burning away. The mountain behind it fared even worse. At least half of its mass was instantly vaporized; the rest was reduced to molten, glowing slag.

"Hoooly shit."

Yakumo could only stare openmouthed. She had already seen several mountains demolished in the course of the battle by what she guessed had been bijuudama fired by the Ichibi, but the crystal thing had been very careful with its aim and always kept it exactly on target. Only the area immediately around the Ichibi had been turned to molten glass. This was on an entirely different level. Causing explosions was generally easier than melting or vaporizing material. Keeping that level of power output up for more than a second was simply unbelievable. Thankfully it had been aimed almost directly away from Konoha.

The brunette girl gulped when she saw the Reibi hovering above the destruction. Its white mask had cracked and it had lost entire chunks of its body, but it was already regenerating. Then the crystal _screamed_ again.

Instantly the rest of the mountain was stripped away, the mountains on both sides began melting too and the mountain range behind them started vaporizing… but the Reibi withstood the onslaught. It had formed a pair of gigantic hands out of its body which it used to deflect the blazing power. More and more of its mass was lost as the hands burned away only to be replaced by more inky blackness from the main body.

Yakumo expected the onslaught to end after a second like before, but it didn't. The crystal simply continued _screaming_. It seemed the thing was determined to end it once and for all. Yakumo's eyes widened when she noticed the change. Grey began spreading throughout the crystalline creature. It was burning itself out with this attack. Mentally comparing the degree of damage both creatures suffered Yakumo came to a devastating conclusion. At this rate the Reibi would win.

'_I guess it was nice to have some hope for a while.'_

Then a new sun rose over Konoha. All the drifting specks of light left from the winged creature headed to a single point. A ball of radiant sunlight was forming and growing rapidly in size, many times bigger than the actual sun. Yakumo could feel her body growing hot from the radiance. A flash of light blinded her for a moment. When she could see again the second sun had been replaced by a gigantic, strangely clad floating human figure shining with golden light, a very familiar figure…

'_Hinata? What the hell is going on?'_

The figure opened her eyes, a look of beyond human determination on her face. She pointed the palms of her hands towards the Reibi. Golden-white light spilled forth like an unstoppable flood of radiance, breaking through the demon's defense, washing its darkness away, devouring its very substance. A moment later an anguished scream so full of darkness, hate and despair tore through the world that Yakumo fell on her back while vainly trying to protect her ears. That death scream certainly eclipsed every other scream she had heard on this day.

From one moment to the next the onslaught ended. The giant crystal stopped its own_ screaming_ before it shattered into a cloud of glittering silvery dust. Then even that disappeared. Hinata's glowing form faded away to nothingness, taking her glorious radiance with her. A few seconds later the world resumed its normal course as the flow of time reasserted itself. Yakumo stared blankly into the empty space formerly occupied by the titanic beings.

'_I can't tell anyone. No one will ever believe me about this. If we survive I will have Ino look into my mind. I really hope I haven't gone insane. She'll be able to tell.'_

Yakumo shook herself out of her stupor and crawled behind the crates she had chosen as her hiding place. Survival came first; she could always think about things later. She never saw the small swarm of swallows approaching the site of the battle and retrieving a pair of unconscious human bodies.

* * *

><p>Hinata felt herself floating in a soft light. Her mind was clouded like in a dream. A gentle pressure was surrounding her, filled with sadness and worry. Someone held her entire being in her hands. It was like being basked in the light of the setting sun, knowing you would never see the next sunrise. Hinata then realized that she was damaged beyond repair. She had channeled too much power through herself, far too much for any human to endure. You didn't call the power of the sun into your being without consequence. The barriers of her soul and ego had been obliterated, washed away by the glorious radiance. Everything that made her her was still there, but it was somehow unconnected. As soon as the pressure ended – and she knew it would – she would simply flow apart and cease to be, leaving an empty body behind.<p>

After a moment she accepted her fate. It wasn't what she wanted, but she had given all she had. There was nothing left she could use to hold herself together. Her loved ones were safe from the Ichibi and Reibi. That had to be enough. The only thing she could do now was awaiting her end.

Suddenly Hinata felt a tiny spark of desperate hope through her undefined surroundings, as if an idea had just occurred to someone. Hinata still couldn't perceive her surroundings, but she got the impression of movement. A sound like that of a large gate opening reached her somehow. Then she was released from the embrace.

There was light. There was darkness. There was Everything.

* * *

><p>The complete destruction of a powerful demon like the Reibi was not a common event in this day and age. Even worse from a certain perspective was the manner of its destruction, namely being directly struck down by the divine might of two gods. Other factors like the presence of magic, the tearing of a wound into the world, the forceful manifestation of a tailed beast unshackled from the dominion of the Sage of Six Paths as well as its subsequent struggle and defeat added to the magnitude of the event. In concert they created something that was noticeable, even unmissable for those of a similar, spiritually aware nature.<p>

A snake-like man fleeing Konoha felt something pass through him without understanding what it was.

A boy in the Temple of Fire shivered as he more felt than heard an inhuman, hate-filled scream mixed with a sound of incandescent glory that resonated with something inside of him. Some of his more skilled peers experienced a similar but in one important point different reaction.

An emaciated man sitting in an iron throne in Amegakure let out a cry of surprise as his eyes cried bloody tears for a few moments.

A masked man working in a hidden laboratory halted his work and looked around, his one dark eye narrowing in suspicion.

A woman with red hair paused in the process of sucking out her latest victim's soul, letting the unresponsive man drop to the ground, her expression a mix of curiosity and fear.

A disembodied spirit trapped in a shrine in the distant Land of Demons ceased its brooding, listening intently to the echoes of what it had disturbed.

A nearby young priestess woke from a strange dream, not understanding the significance.

A dark god seethed in anger as its careful scheme to not cause any widely felt disturbances to avoid waking the sleepers fell apart.

Seven jinchuuriki across the Elemental Nations felt something stir up their prisoners.

Ancient sages creased their animal brows in worry as they felt the disturbance reach their realms.

All over the world spirits small and large stopped what they were doing as the death scream of a powerful demon struck down by two gods reached them. Some were bound in various ways and some had just been tending to their own business, but a far larger number had been sleeping. Some woke with a start, others far more slowly, but they all did wake.

The dawn of a new age had arrived. It would be an _interesting_ time.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

This extra-long chapter marks the first true climax of this story and conclusion of the invasion. We will get back to the normal ninja/political stuff in the next chapter. As you can probably tell this chapter was heavily influenced by Evangelion. Funnily enough quite a few of the combat-oriented angels appear to be weaker than the tailed beasts of Naruto. For those unfamiliar with Evangelion, those involved here were Ramiel (Rebuild version) and Arael.

Both Shikamaru (due to his magically altered clan training) and Hayate (since his demon slaying) have not been affected by the time stop, but they weren't necessarily in a state where they could take notice. Orochimaru had already left the affected area around Konoha when it happened.

The following soundtracks mostly from the new Evangelion movies served as inspiration for certain scenes in this chapter.

Gaara vs. Hinata : In my spirit

Hinata vs. Ichibi: Keep your head above the mayhem

Ichibi awakening: In the very beginning

Ichibi making its way towards the sanctuary: Angel of Doom

Divine Light: Ode to joy (although Halleluja is also fitting)

So long.


	37. Chapter 36: A bitter rain

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 36: A bitter rain**

Naruto woke with a groan, but didn't open his eyes. He felt like crap, even worse than when he had been knocked out of Kyuubi mode after he had fired that bijuudama. His last coherent memory was speaking with his father inside the seal. After that there was only protective darkness, but _things _had been leaking through. His sanity was still intact if a bit frayed. It was time for taking stock.

'_Okay, I'm alive. That's good. It means we have won. Now I just have to learn what the victory cost us.'_

He slowly opened his eyes. From the looks of it he was still inside the seal. In that moment one panel of the wall became transparent, revealing his father.

"Hey dad. How did it go?" the boy asked.

"We are alive; the sanctuary is untouched. Konoha is still standing… sort of. There have been no reprisals of other higher powers as of yet. Both you and Hinata are physically fine."

A feeling of dread settled in Naruto's stomach. He could feel the unsaid 'but', especially considering that his father had said 'physically' and didn't look especially cheerful. "What about our mental state?"

Daiki sighed. "You are fine. Hinata… is not. The battle went badly. We managed to take care of the Ichibi, but the Reibi was stronger than expected. Hinata was forced to tap directly in the domain of your mother to prevent our end rather than flee. She called the power of the Invincible Sun into her being. That had grave consequences."

Naruto gulped. "Is she insane?"

"I don't know. Under normal circumstances she would have simply ceased to exist in a few hours at the latest." He sighed. "We put her inside the Gate. There is a chance she will recover. Maybe. I cannot say if she will be remotely the same as before or when or even if that will come to pass. I'm sorry."

These words sparked a veritable maelstrom of emotions inside of Naruto: grief, guilt of not being able to help her more and a tiny spark of hope. It took him several minutes until he pulled himself together. "Was there any other way? What if you had used me instead?"

Daiki shook his head. "There was nothing anyone could have done. I was using your body with as much power as I could, but it wasn't enough to destroy the Reibi. We had already expended too much energy and were losing. Youko's possession had been disrupted and I was busy pinning the Reibi down. You trying what Hinata did wouldn't have worked. It was Hinata's choice to do this instead of fleeing to safety. She would have had good odds to survive our destruction."

"She would never leave us, not even at the price of her life." Naruto said.

"I know. It is not in her nature. Unfortunately all we can do now is wait. To the outside world she will appear catatonic; it will probably be classified as genjutsu damage. I'm sure she isn't the only case considering the scale of the invasion." His father sighed again. "It is time for you to wake up. Don't expect a visit to us for one or two weeks; your mind is somewhat frayed and the backlash from our fight did some damage on our side. Do you think you can hold yourself together?"

The blond boy shrugged. "I haven't much choice, do I? Somehow I will manage."

His father gave him a sad smile. "You did well. We are very proud of you and Hinata. Goodbye, son."

A moment later the wall panel changed back to opaque stone. Naruto sighed before he concentrated on leaving the seal. Then he opened his eyes again, this time in the real world. The first thing he saw was the roof of a big tent. Coals glowing in a brazier were illuminating the surroundings, but dim light fell through an opening. It was either late evening or early morning; there was no way to tell. A weight on his chest caused him to look down. The swallow Fuyu was sleeping on top of him while Natsu and several other swallows were nearby. Most seemed to be asleep, but some were awake, obviously guarding him. Several other injured people were lying on cots, but he seemed to be the only one awake.

Some movement of his must have woken the swallow, for Fuyu opened his eyes. He blinked sleepily for a moment before realization sunk in. "Boss! You are awake! Are you okay?"

That caused the other swallows to wake up, too, and a few seconds later Naruto was surrounded by worried birds. He had barely calmed them down and brought up to speed when a familiar figure entered the tent.

Choji (who had lost a good part of his normal weight and seemed lightly injured) rushed to his side. "Naruto! Is everything alright? You wouldn't wake when the swallows brought you in."

Naruto chuckled a bit. He still felt like crap. "Just an aftereffect of using the Kyuubi's chakra. I did use more than ever before. I will be fine in a while. What is happening outside and what day is it? The last I remember was fighting against the Sky ninja."

His friend moved a camp chair to the side of his cot. "You're in one of the makeshift hospitals; the true hospital was destroyed. The invasion happened yesterday. It is early morning. Both Sand and Sky withdrew on the last day. Sound kept fighting. We won, but it wasn't pretty. I think they defeated the last pockets of resistance during the last night, but I'm not sure. This area is safe, though."

"What happened to you after the arena fight? How about the others? I was with Yakumo, but we were separated when that black demon leech attacked."

Choji gave him a tired smile. "Gaara punted me directly into a park. The landing wasn't that bad. After I got up I found a group of Konoha shinobi. There was some fighting, but nothing I couldn't handle. Later I helped out here. Ino, Kiba, Shino, Tenten are fine, too. Sasuke is pretty banged up and still unconscious. I saw Yakumo earlier; she suffered a sprained foot and some minor injuries. Don't know about Asuka, Shinji and Sakura." His smile disappeared. "Your swallows brought Hinata in, too. She's unresponsive; the medics think it is genjutsu damage. I haven't heard from Anko-sensei or the other jonin."

Naruto was silent for a few seconds. He was glad that most of his friends seemed to have made it out of the invasion intact. Hinata's fate weighed heavily on his mind. "What about the village in general?"

"From what I have seen things are pretty bad, but I don't know much. We survived, but I don't know if you can call it a victory. There are dead everywhere and a good part of the village is in ruins. Your house is one of those destroyed; I came that way earlier." He sighed. "Sorry, I have to cut the chatter short. Can you walk? I was sent to see if you are awake. Councilor Mitokado wants to speak with you."

Slowly sitting up, Naruto tried to stand. He was very wobbly on his feet. "I think I need you to support me."

Supported by Choji Naruto managed to leave the tent, the swallows following behind. Just as he arrived outside a rain drop hit him. Many more followed closely behind. Looking at the heavy grey clouds, Naruto surmised that Konoha could look forward to at least a day of heavy rain.

It would be a very long day.

* * *

><p>'<em>Mother didn't look like this.'<em> Ino thought numbly while her tears mixed with the rain.

She didn't know what she had expected to find, but it wasn't a completely destroyed house with her dead mother lying in the entranceway, somewhat out of sight. That was probably why no one had removed the body yet. Someone had bashed her skull in. At least death seemed to have come quickly. Ino felt somehow detached. Perhaps she was simply too tired to truly realize what had happened. She had spent the day of the invasion, the night and the following day with treating injuries. She wasn't a fully qualified medic, but there were few enough of those left. There simply hadn't been time to think about anything else, just one injured human after another.

Absentmindedly she noticed Naruto getting a pair of passing shinobi to take the body away. The now short-haired Yakumo put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. We can't stay here, Ino. Come, you can stay with us."

Ino didn't react, but she let herself be led through the village by Naruto and a limping Yakumo. It was slowly growing dark again and the rain was still continuing unabated. She and everyone else were soaked to the skin. Her group had dispersed; there was so much to do. People had been buried under the rubble and had to be rescued. By now almost everyone was too tired to stand and they had been dismissed; the rescue efforts were mostly over. Her friends had rejoined their families for the night. Ino had accompanied Naruto and Yakumo since they had the same way.

Before long they had arrived at Yakumo's still intact house. She still didn't speak. It was all too much. She didn't know where her father was and now her mother was dead. Everything was a haze. Yakumo helped her get rid of her wet clothes and led her to the guest room.

When her friend was about to leave the room Ino spoke up. "Please. I don't want to spend the night alone."

Yakumo looked at her for a moment. Then she nodded. A minute later Ino was wrapped in a blanket, lying on the large bed in the house's main bedroom. Soon Naruto and Yakumo entered, dousing the candle and plunging the room into darkness. Ino felt Yakumo hugging her from behind, sharing her warmth with her. Judging from the breathing Naruto was lying behind Yakumo. It was probably the best arrangement in this situation. She didn't even get to complete her next thought as the exhaustion finally took its toll and sleep claimed her.

* * *

><p>Karin was dirty, wet and dead tired. The water supply had broken down, but the rain had washed most of the dirt away. She had spent the last night and day with helping the search for survivors under all the rubble of the destroyed buildings. Her sensor abilities had been a great boon for that as had the dogs of the Inuzuka. There had been so much death, so much destruction. The news of Tsume's death had hit her hard. The woman had treated her kindly and Karin had liked her.<p>

It had been already dark when she returned to the Inuzuka compound. Akamaru had decided to spend the night with the other dogs, leaving her alone with Kiba. She didn't know where Hana was; the woman was probably taking care of one thing or another as new head of the clan.

A muffled sob drew her attention to Kiba. He had looked so lost when he heard of the death of his mother. It reminded her of the time her own village had been destroyed and she lost everyone. After a moment of indecision Karin left her bed, walked across the room and climbed into Kiba's bed. The boy went stiff. He became even stiffer when she embraced him, pressing his head against her chest.

"Shh, I'm here for you. I understand. You can let it out."

For a few moments nothing happened. Then Kiba relaxed and Karin felt the wetness on her skin as he began to cry silently in her embrace, soundless sobs shaking his body. Minutes passed by without a word until the changed breathing indicated that Kiba had fallen asleep. Karin felt herself drowsing off, too. She was very tired and Kiba's body was pleasantly warm.

'_This is the first time since the Chunin Exams I go to sleep in the same bed I expect to wake up in.'_

* * *

><p>Choji Akimichi went to sleep on a couch in the room of his father, his mother leaning against him. His father had lost a leg, but was still alive. All in all he counted himself lucky.<p>

Shino Aburame helped his mother deal with urgent matters before he retired to his room. The death of his father hit him hard, but it was simply not in his nature to show much outward emotion.

Sasuke Uchiha remained blissfully unconscious in the makeshift hospital, not having woken since shortly after his fight in the finals. Sakura Haruno kept him company.

Idate Morino shared a bed with Temari in a barred room in the house of his brother. The Suna kunoichi was a prisoner, but they both felt the need for closeness in light of an uncertain future.

Mizuki settled an injured, unconscious Anko in his bedroom before he went to sleep in the living room. He would have liked staying with her, but he didn't want to accidentally jostle her and worsen her injuries.

Konohamaru Sarutobi spent the night with his caretaker; his parents had died years ago.

Hanabi Hyuuga snuggled close to the unresponsive body of her big sister. She had been brought home still in a coma and put in her old room. Hanabi hoped her presence would help her wake up soon.

Everywhere in Konoha people sought to find what comfort they could as night and a bitter rain fell.

* * *

><p>Yuri Haruno tiredly sat down in the council chambers in the Hokage Tower, the (thankfully harmless) wounds on her head and arms throbbing slightly. Just as everyone else she had gotten only a few short hours of sleep after two days and one night of ceaseless activity. First the invasion and then the disaster control had required her complete attention, but now it was time to take stock and make decisions. She already knew things were bad; the question was exactly how bad.<p>

Apparently she was the first one to arrive at the chambers, meaning she had a few minutes to relax. Dim light was entering through slit-like windows and the sound of heavy rain was clearly audible. Looking around, Yuri observed the cracks running through the walls of the room and the water trickling from the ceiling. Several buckets had been placed across the room, but by now they were overflowing. It didn't matter much since the water disappeared through another web of cracks in the floor. Repairing a seldom used room was a rather low priority when important documents had to be secured. The entire tower had been heavily damaged in the invasion. It was apparently still structurally sound for now, but it would probably have to be demolished and completely rebuild.

One by one the people invited to this meeting filed in. The normal members of Konoha's great council had been much reduced in number. Of the nine original civilian councilors only she as representative of the long-distance traders and Keitaro of the builders had survived, although new representatives for the three other important professions had already been chosen. The massively muscled, steel-haired hulk Godo spoke for the blacksmiths, the weather-beaten Chesuta was one of the foresters while the small, stooped form of the last man belonged to Myoga, representative of the local craftsmen and merchants. There had been no time to organize a vote for replacements of the four other civilian councilors.

On the shinobi side of the original council there were a lot of missing faces. The Hokage had died, leaving the Senju seat deserted. Hiashi Hyuuga had been replaced by his father Hitoshi; Yuri remembered the man well from their shared time on the council until he had retired in favor of his now deceased son. Ritsuko Aburame had taken over for her husband Shibi who had been slain by the Sorakage. Tsume Inuzuka had lost her life against the invaders from Sound, requiring her daughter Hana to take her seat. Shikaku Nara was still there, apparently unhurt. A grey-faced Choza Akimichi missing almost an entire leg had to be carried into the room, but his eyes were alert. The Uchiha seat was empty as always since the demise of the clan while the civilian occupying the Kurama seat had perished during the invasion (no great loss in Yuri's opinion). What surprised her was the empty Yamanaka seat.

"Why isn't one of the Yamanaka here?" Yuri asked curiously.

Shikaku shook his head. "Inoichi is dead. They found his body an hour ago. A house came down on top of him; he never had a chance. Two of the snakes demolished the old Yamanaka compound and many others died. Inoichi's daughter is too young and the surviving families are squabbling. There isn't anyone left with the authority to speak for a significant portion of the clan."

Yuri nodded in acceptance. That was another piece of bad news. She had heard of some of the difficulties Inoichi had faced in holding his slowly fracturing clan together.

Homura Mitokado limped into the room supported on a cane. The old man didn't have any obvious injuries, but he obviously wasn't in good shape. Koharu Utatane had an arm in a sling but seemed otherwise fine. Danzo Shimura took his usual place with careful, measured movements, new bandages covering the side of his head and body. From what Yuri had heard his fight against one of the Suna jonin leading the invasion had been a close thing. The already injured right side of his face had been torn to shreds while his opponent lost his life. She supposed he had been lucky in a way that the damage wasn't on the left side of his head; losing both eyes would have been devastating.

A cloaked ANBU and Ibiki Morino, head of the Torture and Interrogation Department, completed the assembly. Ibiki was the senior surviving department head, giving him the influence necessary to claim a seat on this emergency council.

Shikaku Nara cleared his throat. "Now that we are all present we can begin. I will be chairing this meeting. As jonin commander I will take over village leadership until a new Hokage is chosen. Are there any objections?" When nobody spoke up he turned towards the cloaked ANBU operative. "ANBU-san, would you please reveal your identity to the others and inform us of ANBU's status? I believe in light of the recent events we have been given good enough reason to do away with the ineffective anonymity of ANBU."

The ANBU took off her mask and removed her coat, revealing a purple-haired woman. "I am Yugao Uzuki, jonin and the sole ANBU operative left in Konoha. A squad of four is still away, but that is all. As far as I have been able to determine my colleagues were specifically targeted before and during the invasion by the forces of Sound that had infiltrated our village. The surviving members perished in the fighting. ANBU is effectively destroyed at this point."

Breaths were sucked in around the room. The jonin commander nodded gravely. "This is not completely unexpected. Masquerading as ANBU allowed our enemies to infiltrate locations they wouldn't have been able to reach otherwise." He sighed. "I think it best to begin with a recapitulation of the events that led us and the village to this point to bring everyone up to speed."

Yuri listened attentively; normally such things didn't fall in her purview. The first indication of the invasion had been the infiltration of the village by Orochimaru during the first phase of the chunin exams. He used the opportunity to dispose of several ANBU squads and mark Sasuke Uchiha with some kind of seal, although the last part had already been taken care of by the Sandaime and the boy's sensei. A defector from Otogakure had brought them news about an impending attack, although the actual forces of Sound alone had been more than double the expected number.

Ritsuko Aburame spoke up. "The defector is in our care. We have verified she told us the complete truth as she knew it with the help of a Yamanaka mind walker. She was not aware of Oto's true numbers or exact plans."

In response the Hokage had informed the top jonin and department heads to prepare as many task groups as possible inside the village without informing the population at large. They didn't know when the attack would come or what its exact target would be. The expected enemy forces wouldn't have been enough to endanger the village as a whole.

"By now we are certain the defense plans were leaked to the enemy and our security measures compromised." Ibiki explained. "Oto somehow managed to get around three hundred shinobi inside the village without anyone noticing."

There had been some suspicion regarding the presence of the Suna jinchuuriki, but no other indication that any village besides Oto harbored any plans to attack them. The kickoff point for the invasion had been when Suna's jinchuuriki assumed the form of his tailed beast in the arena while the majority of the spectators were incapacitated by a mass sleep technique. The infiltrators already in the village began attacking, sowing chaos and binding many forces. Orochimaru personally attacked the Hokage, a barrier preventing any interference. Forces from Suna and Oto had already been moving through the woods surrounding Konoha, taking out sentries and getting into position. They called several large snake summons to breach the walls of the village.

Now it was Homura's turn to speak up. "I prepared a massive seal underneath the arena for the eventuality that Suna's jinchuuriki was hostile. A direct confrontation by other means would have caused even more collateral damage. Unfortunately the seal wasn't as effective as I hoped. Naruto Uzumaki, Choji Akimichi and Yakumo Kurama were instrumental in distracting the enemy until I could use the seal to incapacitate the enemy jinchuuriki."

During that time the invading forces made some headway, but soon the resistance around the prepared groups got organized and started pushing back despite the chaos and losses inflicted by the infiltrators behind their lines. The sage Jiraiya summoned enough toads to counter the snakes. Then the first aerial attack wave of Sora hit, shattering the organized resistance and inflicting massive damage to the village.

"It was then that we lost many of our leaders. The organized, massed resistance forces made for an easy target. At the same time the Sorakage personally entered the village on a smash and grab raid, looting many valuables before retreating. Both Maito Gai and Shibi Aburame lost their lives against him among countless others." Shikaku said.

Choza Akimichi took over in a pained voice. "We believe it was the Sorakage who unleashed a demon inside the village. It identified itself as 'Reibi' and had the form of a masked giant black leech. Its first target appears to have been our jinchuuriki who had crash-landed in that section of the village, but he managed to escape when our forces engaged the demon." He gestured to the stump of his leg. "Unfortunately we weren't very successful. The demon cut a swath of destruction through the village until Hayate Gekko somehow managed to slay it. A dead girl remained in its stead; she was probably some sort of jinchuuriki."

By then Konoha's defenders were recovering from the aerial attack and getting organized again. A second attack by Sora was intercepted by an enormous flock of swallow summons. Orochimaru killed the Sandaime, but was forced to flee due to his injuries along with the Kazekage. It was then that Soragakure revealed their most devastating weapon by obliterating a mountain and a large section of the forest: a flying fortress.

Koharu cleared her throat. "In the second shinobi war there were rumors about such a thing when we destroyed the original Soragakure, but we never managed to find solid evidence. Our best guess is that the scattered remains of the village managed to complete it. Its main weapon seems to have been a beam weapon equivalent to the destructive power of a bijuudama. We guess Sky planned to betray their allies and destroy them along with our village. Naruto Uzumaki was in the air with the swallows and recognized the danger. He used the Kyuubi's power to fire a bijuudama of his own and destroyed the fortress in one shot. That seems to have broken Sky's resolve and they retreated. At that point Orochimaru had already left the village, apparently taking the elite of Oto with him."

"An unknown S-rank water user engaged part of Suna's reserve forces in the woods around that time." Shikaku continued the retelling. "We aren't clear about the details, but his or her target seems to have been Suna's jinchuuriki. The Kazekage fought Jiraiya outside the village. Suna began retreating soon after."

"Was that after the Kazekage fell?" Hana asked.

"Interestingly, no. The exact timing is difficult to determine, but it appears to have been in the middle of the fight." Shikaku replied. "From the debris of the Sky fortress the now flight-capable Reibi emerged, but we aren't clear if that was a second demon with similar appearance or if the Reibi somehow re-manifested after its defeat. After eliminating most of the remaining swallows it took position above Konoha. It didn't interfere in the battle, though."

Ritsuko proceeded with the account of the battle. "I was in position to personally observe the following events. The Ichibi manifested again, but this time apparently not under the control of its jinchuuriki. The unknown water-user was defeated. Strangely the Ichibi lost its form and turned into some sort of mobile sandstorm. The surrounding land began turning into sand. Somehow both the Reibi and the Ichibi began affecting their surroundings greatly."

"I spoke with the swallows summons; one of them was close enough to observe." Homura said. "The Ichibi approached Konoha, swallowing the Kazekage and Jiraiya among others in the process. Apparently the Reibi took exception and attacked the Ichibi, but the demons disengaged after a short encounter without a clear victor. One of the swallows used an ancient anti-demon weapon against the Ichibi to no avail."

Shikaku took over again. "At this point things got strange. Several people reported some sort of large-scale space-time technique that stopped time, but none were in a position to observe the happenings outside the village. There are reports of strange lights, explosions and moving shadows along with several earthquakes, but nothing that can tell us what really happened. After the technique ended both the Ichibi and Reibi were simply gone, but they left massive destruction behind. With Sky fled and Sand retreating we only had to face the remaining forces from Sound. We finally managed to defeat the last of them a day ago, but our losses were grievous."

"How bad is it?" Myoga asked.

The Nara clan head didn't answer but looked at the two medic nin present. Ritsuko shared a look with her Inuzuka counterpart and nodded encouragingly. Hana took a deep breath. "We still don't have exact numbers, but our estimates are accurate enough for now. More than half of the shinobi present in Konoha during the time of the invasion are now dead. Half of the surviving ones sustained serious injuries; the rest is either lightly or not injured. Civilian losses are about the same; perhaps a bit lower."

Yuri felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. From the looks of it everyone else felt the same. Those numbers were catastrophic; the losses were far bigger than what the Kyuubi had inflicted. The third shinobi war had cost about the same number of lives, but those losses had been stretched out over years.

"Can we hold the village?" she heard herself asking.

Shikaku nodded. "In the short term, yes. That is if no other village attacks in the next week. We lost many of our leaders and have to reorganize. Long-term it is more difficult to say. About a third of our forces are currently away on missions. Much depends on how many injured can recover enough to return to duty. Still, overall we have just permanently lost between a third and a half of our pre-invasion combat strength. We came perilously close to destruction. If the Sand forces had pressed the attack they might have managed to annihilate us."

Koharu spoke next. "We still can count ourselves lucky. Several things in the battle went our way; any one of them would have spelled our doom. Suna's jinchuuriki was successfully contained and defeated before he could wreck too much havoc from inside the village. The second attack of Sky was thwarted by summons nobody knew were on our side. Our jinchuuriki managed to take out Sky's fortress after it had inadvertently destroyed part of the attacking forces. Orochimaru fled the battlefield with his elite. An unknown water user took out part of Suna's reserves. Suna retreated. Then the Reibi and Ichibi simply disappeared."

The builder Keitari had a thoughtful expression on his face. "I was under the impression that Naruto Uzumaki wasn't trained in the use of the Kyuubi. Hokage-sama was very firm on that point."

"That is… somewhat incorrect." Homura replied. "I took some steps to remedy Hiruzen's unwise decisions. Young Naruto began seriously training in the use of his beast as soon as he was allowed to leave the village. He doesn't have full control and doesn't expect to achieve that for several years, but fortunately it was enough."

Yuri wasn't sure what to feel about that. Jinchuuriki were always dangerous and having the boy in the same class as her daughter had given her no end of nightmares. "How safe is that?"

Homura shrugged. "Safe enough. The seal is holding and there is no indication of the Kyuubi taking over. It isn't as if we have much choice. Naruto was instrumental in the defense of the village. He represents a necessary deterrent and is a valuable asset. More importantly, he has the makings of a truly great shinobi. We have to thank him for the swallows, too."

That raised several eyebrows. "In what way?" Shikaku asked.

"Anko Mitarashi's team found an abandoned shinobi settlement on their last mission before the exams. Naruto managed to obtain the swallow contract; they have accepted him as their summoner after he passed their test. In light of the impending exams he kept that secret, but Anko informed me about it." Homura shook his head. "What I didn't expect was Naruto being able to call that many swallows."

"That was indeed very fortunate." Danzo commented, causing nods around the room. "I propose to repeal the Sandaime's law regarding the jinchuuriki." There were no objections. "Furthermore, I want to keep him inside or near the village at all times and train him further in the use of the Kyuubi."

"I object." Choza spoke up. "I agree that Naruto could be turned into a weapon solely relying on the Kyuubi, but that would deprive us of his other potential. He is already a successful jutsu creator. My son kept me informed. The boy needs experience on missions to truly grow."

Ritsuko nodded. "That is my opinion as well. We have no need for a one-trick pony. Suna's jinchuuriki showed that solely relying on a demon is unwise. A variety of teachers and practical experience is needed to bring out his full potential. In a few years time he might even become an S-rank shinobi without relying on his beast."

Yuri uncertainly watched the standoff. Hana, Ibiki and Homura seemed to agree with Choza while Koharu, Hitoshi and Yugao were ambivalent. It seemed Danzo was rather isolated with his opinion. This was outside of her area of expertise. She and the other civilian councilors had always relied on the Sandaime for such matters and followed his opinion.

It was Shikaku who made the decision. "We will keep him as normal shinobi. It will show our confidence if he is seen going on missions. Besides, with his swallows he should have enough mobility and combat strength to deter any assassination attempts. His actions during the invasion showed that he can be trusted and has a good head on his shoulders. His acquisition of a major summoning contract is a massive boon. I will not allow that potential to go to waste. In fact, I think a promotion is in order, but we will deal with that later."

Danzo conceded his defeat with a nod and the council moved to the next matter, namely the destruction caused by the fighting.

Keitaro adjusted his glasses. "The destruction inside and outside of the village is immense. We lost a good part of our infrastructure. A good deal of the housing was destroyed, but in light of our losses the situation isn't critical. Many of the tunnels caved in due to the many earthquakes. The deep-water wells and water supply have been severely damaged and are currently non-functional. We are jury-rigging cisterns for now with the collaboration of the Maintenance Department. It will be a long time until all the rubble is removed."

Chesuta's turn came next. "The attacking forces took out many of the hunting and logging camps during their approach and the Ichibi left a swath of destruction behind. The damage is very widespread. Our ability to provide Konoha with timber and game is greatly reduced for the foreseeable future."

"For now we have enough food stored to last us several weeks although we will have to check for poison. The situation for other local goods is the same. Despite the looting the majority of our monetary assets are intact. Fortunately we have still several masters of every trade." Myoga reported.

Godo grumbled for a moment and made some calculations on a sheaf of paper before he spoke up. "The majority of smithies have been destroyed. We have enough stored weapons to last for a while, but we won't be able to keep up even with the reduced demand for new weapons and repairs until we get more people trained and smithies restored."

Yuri sighed. "Trade is disrupted. A third of the roads are impassable and we have to worry about ambushes. The better part of visiting merchants and other visitors fell prey to the invading forces. I hope to get some trade going in the next few days, but it will be months until everything runs smoothly again."

Hana Inuzuka looked up tiredly. "I worry about a disease outbreak. We are critically short of experienced medic-nin. There are just too many wounded. The hospital and doctors were a primary target." Ritsuko Aburame nodded in confirmation.

"We will deal with that later. It pertains to another matter." Shikaku announced. "Proceed."

Hitoshi Hyuuga spoke up for the first time. "Most of the forests and training grounds around Konoha are destroyed. More than a dozen mountains have been demolished. The hole caused by the Sky fortress is slowly turning into a lake. There are entire sections were the ground has been turned to glass. I have issued an order to keep away from the Ichibi's sand trail for now. Several people reported hallucinations in the vicinity; the apparent location of its initial manifestation is especially bad. I have already worked out a new patrol schedule that should keep us from suffering any more surprises."

"There have been no losses among the important noble visitors; we were able to do that much. They are currently situated in comfortable quarters, but some left already. We will have to provide escorts for the rest. I don't even want to imagine the fallout of this." Koharu said. "The village leader of Hoshigakure was present during the exams with her family, but they apparently fled the village immediately. News of the invasion is already spreading although the accounts will probably be lacking in details. We can't keep this under wraps; it's too big. The Fire daimyo will have to be informed as soon as possible."

Koharu volunteered for traveling to the capital and explaining the events. They would probably have to massively cut back on their missions outside the Land of Fire.

"We will have to choose a new Hokage, too." Yugao interjected.

"What about Jiraiya? He was a pupil of the Sandaime and is one of the strongest shinobi we have, is he not?" Yuri asked.

Homura shook his head. "Jiraiya might be dead. The swallow I spoke with saw him being swallowed by the Ichibi, but it is possible he was being reverse-summoned by the toads in time. He didn't return yet and neither did any toads. There was a secret connection to the toad's realm, but it was destroyed. We can't rely on him."

"Perhaps Kakashi would be suitable?" Keitaro suggested.

"No." Shikaku announced. "Kakashi is a strong shinobi, but he isn't fit to become our Kage. I'm sure you all have heard rumors about his conduct. They are completely justified. I will not accept him."

Hitoshi, Choza, Hana, Ritsuko, Ibiki and Homura were of the same opinion. Yuri wasn't sure what to make of that. She had held the man in the highest regard. Perhaps she should ask her daughter. They hadn't spoken much in the last months, but surely she would have told her if something was amiss with her sensei. Several jonin were suggested and discarded; they either didn't have the strength or fame necessary or had died during the invasion.

Danzo was about to speak up, but Homura beat him to the punch while sending him a sly look. "I'm sure we all agree we need a younger man or woman. Danzo, Koharu and I are far too old and long past our prime; we might die at any time to natural causes. Perhaps one of the clan heads?"

Choza shook his head sadly and gestured to his missing leg. "My fighting days are over."

Ritsuko and Hana declined due to them not being strong enough to fulfill the expectations of a Kage. Hitoshi likewise refused. "I'm too old and ill. There was a reason I retired."

All eyes now focused on Shikaku Nara who raked a hand through his hair. "Troublesome. I will accept the duty for now, but there is another candidate. Tsunade of the Sannin. I already planned on recalling her. We have urgent need of a medic-nin of her caliber. She might be a suitable replacement."

"I'm not sure. She hasn't been in the village for more than a decade and isn't up to speed. Then there are the issues of her drinking and gambling habits." Choza replied.

"I admit her recent activities don't inspire confidence, but in all likelihood she still is a very strong kunoichi. She is the Shodaime's granddaughter, after all. Her taking the office would reassure many people." Koharu answered. "We don't have exact information on her current location, though."

Yugao spoke up. "I volunteer for retrieving her. This would be normally ANBU's task. I would like to enlist Naruto Uzumaki's help. His swallows should shorten the search considerably. One or two jonin as support would be appreciated."

Homura let out a snort of laughter. "I see great demand for young Naruto's services. Much depends on the willingness of the swallows, though. I don't think we can use them as regular transport on a larger scale. Summons are usually very focused on their summoner."

Shikaku nodded. "Approved. I propose Tsunade and I share authority for the time being until we settle on a Godaime for good."

Most people weren't exactly happy about that, but Yuri understood at least part of Shikaku's probable motivations. Becoming Hokage under these circumstances would be a thankless job. It would more than make up for the increase of power. The next topic was the immediate future.

"Suna lost probably around half of their invasion force in addition to their jinchuuriki and Kage. They are in disarray. Can we mount a retaliation attack against them?" Hana asked.

Ibiki shook his head. "No. The Land of Wind's terrain offers a considerable defensive advantage. We probably could crush them, but it would leave us wide open. The risk is too high. Sky lost even more people in our best estimate, but we aren't clear how large their forces were to begin with. We didn't manage to take any live prisoners and have no idea where they retreated to. Oto is another matter. The so-called village consists of several secret bases of rather small size all over the Elemental Nations. We have enough prisoners to find most of them. Attacking them simultaneously would be too risky, but we can consecutively send strike teams until they are all destroyed." He paused for moment. "My brother managed to capture the Kazekage's daughter. She is currently under lock and key in our clan compound."

That led to almost a minute of shouting.

"There is another matter. I don't believe the Kazekage was alive when he attacked us." Koharu announced with a raised voice. Immediately everyone fell silent.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Witnesses report that Jiraiya managed to strike several killing blows, but the Kazekage regenerated immediately, ash reforming his body. This is matches a forbidden technique developed by our teacher, the Nidaime Hokage Tobirama Senju. It enables false resurrection of the dead and forces them under the user's will. He never taught it to anyone and only left an incomplete version behind, but I consider it likely Orochimaru managed to learn and complete it." Koharu explained. "From what Yugao-san told me Orochimaru used lookalikes of the Shodaime and Nidaime to attack Hiruzen. He might very well have resurrected them, too, but Hiruzen managed to defeat them."

"Do you suggest Suna was compelled into attacking us?" Shikaku asked.

Koharu's face showed a grim expression. "Hardly. The Kazekage might have been under Orochimaru's control for some time, but he was only one person. You can't mount such an attack without approval of the village's leadership."

"I might be able to shed further light on this." Ibiki said. "I haven't yet properly interrogated Temari, but she was only made aware of the attack plans shortly before the finals. She had assumed Ishigakure would be a logical target for the force buildup she knew about. There was a lot of resentment against us in Suna, but most people wouldn't have considered attacking us. More importantly, the Kazekage had no true opposition on Suna's council. I don't mean to suggest they are innocent, but if the need arises we might be able to spin things in that manner."

Shikaku remained silent for several second before speaking. "This is interesting, especially considering that Suna retreated as soon as they could conceivably learn of the Kazekage's status. I want you all to put blame mainly on Oto and Sora in public and emphasize their role. Depending on how things develop we might need to make peace with Suna and I don't want to have riots. Some villages might want to dispose of us while we are down. An untrustworthy ally is better than none. We have to keep our options open. If we can use Suna to stave off the outbreak of the fourth shinobi war I want us being able to utilize that option."

Several people objected, but in the end they settled on following that course of action for the time being. There wasn't any need for a final decision. Yuri remembered well the time of the third shinobi war. Alliances had been very fleeting and they had to fight with people who had slaughtered them only weeks ago. This wasn't any different. The rest of the meeting was filled with discussions about the immediate future. They didn't have enough information for more far-reaching decisions.

It was afternoon when Yuri finally left the tower and headed home. She needed to write several letters; trade routes and contacts didn't fall from the sky. Passing several ruins, Yuri's gaze was drawn to the Hokage Mountain. One of the earthquakes had caused a mountain slide and destroyed the faces of the past village leaders. She wondered if that was some sort of sign. More than once she had to step aside to allow people carrying corpses to pass. There were so many of them they couldn't be buried properly and had to be burned in large pits outside the village.

When Yuri arrived at her modest home she found a note that Sakura had been here, but already left again to help. Yuri often wondered about her daughter. Sakura was very different than the three children of her first marriage.

Yuri Haruno had been born fifty years ago here in Konoha. Her mother had been a shopkeeper while her father traveled the lands for the sake of trade. Following her parents' wishes she had married very early at age thirteen, having managed to beguile a rich merchant twenty years older than her. While she hadn't loved him the marriage hadn't been bad. Yuri's ruthlessness, business sense and head for numbers had caused her to quickly rise in her husband's esteem. Before long they had been running the company together. Three children had been born out of that marriage, a boy and two girls who all shared their mother's mental traits. All had married into nobility. Twenty years ago her husband had died, causing her to return to Konoha. She had no need for most of the entrapments of luxury she could theoretically afford; the feeling of power and influence was far more important to her. Her son controlled their trading company from the Fire capital while the girls lived on their husbands' estates or at court. Yuri stayed in Konoha, soon joining the village council. After a few years she had married again; she had felt somewhat lonely and the friendly, childless widower her own age had made a nice bed-warmer. Besides, his business had given her even more influence in Konoha.

Sakura had come as a surprise after more than twenty years since her last child. Over the years her behavior had more than once puzzled Yuri. She would only inherit a relatively small sum, so becoming a kunoichi was a reasonable option Yuri had supported. Besides, a kunoichi in her family opened more contacts. Trying to catch the last Uchiha as a husband was something Yuri could fully get behind; the boy was very rich and she would be at the top of the local society. Still, something had always seemed off. If she had been in Sakura's place she would have young Sasuke already wrapped around her finger. Being on a team with him offered all sorts of additional possibilities. Only in the last month had Yuri truly realized what exactly the problem was.

Sakura was a _romantic_.

For someone coldly calculating like Yuri the thought of true love and romance was so absurd that the possibility had never entered her mind before. She had no idea how to fix the problem. Worse, her husband apparently didn't see it as a problem. He was a gentle, pleasant man who wouldn't deny their daughter anything.

From what she had seen Sasuke was totally unresponsive to Sakura's advances. In Yuri's opinion she should have switched targets (you couldn't win them all, after all), but no, Sakura continued pining after the last Uchiha. Now that she thought about it Kakashi should have done something, too. Being an unrealistic romantic was a liability in shinobi business, or really any business. Perhaps there really was something to the rumors about his failings as a sensei.

With a sigh Yuri shoved those thoughts to the side. She had letters to write before the memorial service this evening. Hopefully there wouldn't be any additional problems for Konoha.

* * *

><p>In the distant Land of Water a blond shinobi broke the surface of the sea and spat out a mouthful of water. The island they had been fighting on had been mostly destroyed, only some quickly dispersing traces of demonic chakra hinting at the presence of their target. "That was fine art, un. Who knew Yagura was a like-minded enthusiast?"<p>

Deidara supposed he should be angry about almost being blown up and their target choosing suicide over being captured, but he just couldn't bring himself to feel that. The explosion caused by the Mizukage's self-destruct technique had been far too beautiful. It truly had been a fine display of art.

Climbing onto the water's surface, the man ran towards the island while wringing the water from his cloak. The shockwave had destroyed his clay bird and blown him quite a distance away before throwing him into the sea. He was becoming a bit concerned when his partner was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Master Sasori. You can come out now."

Deidara quickly became seriously worried. Playing hide-and-seek was definitely not Sasori's usual behavior. After some searching his state of mind quickly approached dread. Countless destroyed puppets were strewn over the blasted landscape. Even Sasori's favorite, the old Kazekage, was among them. He wouldn't forget that face.

A few minutes later Deidara stood over the destroyed remains of his partner's form. It seemed the explosion had smashed him against a rocky part of the island. What he had taken for Sasori had only been a puppet serving as outer shell. Unfortunately his real body hadn't fared any better.

"I would never have taken you for a redhead, Sasori." Deidara remarked to the severed, cracked puppet head that stared unblinkingly at the sky. Apparently Sasori had turned his real body into a puppet, too. Although judging from the crumpled, torn container oozing unidentifiable organic matter he hadn't been completely successful. Still, you had to admire that dedication to his art.

Seeing something glitter in the remains, Deidara bent down. It was Sasori's Akatsuki ring. He supposed he should take it with him. Leaving a big pile of explosive clay behind, Deidara created another clay bird and left the island. As soon as he was at a safe distance he detonated the clay, letting the explosion completely consume the island and Sasori's remains.

"Farewell, Master Sasori. Fine art is the beauty of that single fleeting moment of explosion, but you weren't half-bad either." Suddenly Deidare slumped. "I so don't want to explain this to Leader-sama, un."

* * *

><p>In a hidden cave in the Land of Wind a man opened his eyes when his mind returned to his true body, a rare smile appearing on his features. Actually, he hadn't smiled in years. "Excellent. Everything is going according to plan."<p>

The loss of his collection hurt, but it was a necessary sacrifice. Thanks to his recent research project he could create new copies of the original bodies anyway, providing him with basically limitless raw material. Standing up, he enjoyed the feel of his new organic body he had completely and irreversibly fused with. Adjustment wasn't easy; he had spent almost twenty years as a puppet. On the other hand he had been in a dead end before and the perks were well worth it. His new body had even some family semblance to the one he had been born with, although the hair was a strange mix of red and black strands. For compatibility reasons he had been forced to use material of his own original body as a donor, but that didn't mean he hadn't been able to combine it with another source. It would mesh well with his fabricated back story.

He would remain in the cave for a few more days until he left for the nearest settlement. By then word of the invasion of Konoha should have reached that location. Depending on how things had developed an appropriate plan would be chosen. Control over Suna might already be well within his grasp.

* * *

><p>Naruto attended the memorial service on a newly cleared field inside Konoha in silence, letting the rain seep through his clothes. Fuyu and Natsu sat on his shoulders, apparently not willing to leave him alone. Yakumo and Ino stood to his sides, each holding one of his hands. The death of her parents as well as many relations had hit Ino hard and she had spent much of the morning crying before she had left to ascertain what the status of her clan was and if she could take over leadership. She had rejoined them just before the memorial service started, meaning he didn't know what had happened yet. His other friends were standing around them in the middle of the attendees. They had won, but the victory had left a bitter taste.<p>

Practically everyone had lost someone close to them. In Naruto's case it was Hinata who was still lying unmoving in the Hyuuga compound. Kiba's mother had died; Karin was practically molded to his side, supporting him. Shino had lost his father, but he gave no outward sign of his grief. Several of Choji's relatives had perished. That wasn't even counting the people each of them had known; the shopkeepers, teachers or even the nameless, random people on the street that one recognized only by sight.

A slight shift in the ranks allowed Naruto to look at the prominent displayed picture of the Sandaime. _'I wonder why you acted as you did. Were you the kindly grandfather well past his prime buried under too many duties? A man who did the best he could? A victim of unrecognized senility who lost touch with reality? An evil scheming bastard? Someone unknowingly caught up in Minato's and the toads' plans? Something in between?'_

Now Naruto would probably never receive answers to those questions. Still, he felt relief at the Sandaime's passing. He had been one of the people he had genuinely feared. No successor would have the same degree of power over him. The once-per-month meetings with the Sandaime had pretty much stopped with his graduation and they hadn't been sufficient to kindle any friendly feelings in Naruto despite appearances to the contrary. It would have been different if he had only the Old Man during his childhood, but his parents had always been there for him even if he had to manage without them in the real world. Later there had been Choji, Yakumo, Shino, Hinata and Ino who had earned his friendship. That wasn't even mentioning people like Mizuki or Anko.

Speaking of Anko, they had visited her earlier today. She had regained consciousness, but wouldn't be able to resume active duty for about two weeks. Even preferential medical treatment as one of the elite jonin couldn't immediately cure the results of a high-speed encounter with a golden wall of the Kazekage, two mundane brick walls and several pieces of furniture. Mizuki had already chastised her for her reckless behavior of pursuing Orochimaru alone, but that didn't prevent him and his friends from adding their own opinion. Anko had looked properly contrite after that.

Finally the memorial service was over and the crowd dispersed. There would be several more held; one wasn't enough for all the mourning people. Besides, a good deal of the shinobi was always on duty.

Naruto gave Yakumo's and Ino's hands a slight squeeze before letting go. "I have to go. Will you be at home?"

Yakumo nodded. "Most likely. I'll have to buy some stuff first, but that shouldn't take long. We are still off-duty. The hospital doesn't need someone of Ino's skill level at the current time; they have enough helpers."

Taking his leave, Naruto walked towards the center of the village, the swallows leaving his shoulders and going for another survey of the rebuilding efforts. His destination was one of the intact larger houses that had been turned into the makeshift Hokage's office. The rain had made the damaged Hokage Tower uninhabitable by now. The summon wasn't unexpected. He had already had a long talk with Homura Mitokado after he woke up yesterday morning. The old man had wanted to know everything he had done during the invasion. After receiving a heavily censored version he had seemed well satisfied. Naruto was pretty sure the man wanted to use him for his own agenda, but that was something Naruto could work with. He wasn't one to reject a mutually beneficial relationship.

After announcing his presence to a guard he didn't have to wait and was immediately ushered into the room. Sitting behind a desk was Shikaku Nara, head of the Nara clan, jonin commander, father of his erstwhile classmate Shikamaru and temporary village leader until a new Hokage took office. The announcement hadn't been a surprise considering the available candidates. Homura was in the room along with two jonin. Naruto recognized the purple-haired woman as one of the ANBU guards that had guarded him after the Uchiha massacre and occasionally the Hokage, but he didn't know her name. The man was Genma Shiranui. Naruto knew him by sight and reputation; he had helped Anko a bit during their genin test after Naruto and his friends graduated from the academy.

Naruto gave them a bow and waited to be addressed.

Shikaku looked at him for a moment silently. "Genin Naruto Uzumaki, for your actions during the invasion I hereby promote you to chunin. Despite your relatively recent graduation you have proven your skills and mindset to my satisfaction."

The boy bowed again. "Thank you, Nara-sama. I will do my best to prove your trust justified."

"I expect nothing less. Before we continue, Mitokado-san has given me a full accounting of your after-action report. Do you have anything to add?"

"No, Nara-sama."

The Nara clan head clasped his hands. "Very well. I am about to assign you to a high priority mission and need some answers beforehand. What is the status of your summons? Can you summon a swallow capable of transporting a party of five and do you have the means to search an extended area for specific persons? Are you able to loan them to other people?"

"Most of the combat-capable swallows are still recovering and will remain that way for the foreseeable future." Naruto answered immediately. "I have a few on patrol around the village at all times. There are several swallows suitable for transport I could call. I can summon an entire swarm of normal-sized swallows for scouting, but they aren't very good at distinguishing humans they haven't met. As for loaning them to other people; I don't think they would accept that outside of an emergency or people they know I consider close friends. It would be different with me being there the entire time. From what I gathered they consider me their rightful lord and are only allied with Konoha by extension. I only signed the contract one-and-a-half months ago; I didn't have time to explore all the intricacies yet."

Homura chuckled lightly. "That was what I call an exhaustive answer."

Shikaku nodded in acceptance. "Thank you, Uzumaki-san, that answers my questions completely. Now to the issue at hand: You are hereby assigned to jonin Yugao Uzuki for the duration of the mission." He gestured to the purple-haired woman who gave Naruto a nod. "Your task will be locating and retrieving Tsunade Senju of the Sannin and her companion Shizune Kato. They are both expert medic-nin and the village has need of their services. Tsunade might resist the recall order; use your judgment in that case. If it comes to violence be aware that Tsunade is exceedingly dangerous. Special jonin Genma Shiranui will be accompanying you. The mission will begin tomorrow morning since we are still trying to find the appropriate reports to narrow Tsunade's location down. As you can probably imagine the filing system is a mess. Do you have any questions about the assignment, Uzumaki-san?"

"I do not, Nara-sama."

"Very well. Dismissed."

Naruto bowed again and followed his new superiors out of the room. Once outside Yugao addressed him. "I realize you are in an unusual situation, Uzumaki-san. Under more normal circumstances you would have continued on more standard missions for several months. If you have any questions or problems please don't hesitate to ask me for help. I am not sure how much time we will need for our mission, but we should be able to resupply regularly so there isn't any need to take more than a week's supply with you. Please meet us tomorrow half an hour after first light at the east gate; I will pick up the reports about Tsunade. You have the rest of the day and the night free. I hope we will work well together, Uzumaki-san."

After a bit of conversation Naruto left for home. He had enough supplies stocked there that he wouldn't need to buy anything extra. On his way he noticed that more and more shops reopened and at least part of the shinobi forces were returning to normal duty. He supposed that was unavoidable. At least the most important contracts had to be fulfilled somehow despite the invasion; Konoha couldn't afford to default on all of them. Fuyu and Natsu rejoined him to say goodbye; they wanted to return to their realm. Naruto let them go. They could use the rest.

Yakumo and Ino weren't happy that he had to leave, but that was the fate of shinobi.

"I guess it can't be helped." Yakumo said with a sigh.

Naruto put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed slightly. "I would prefer to stay, too, but you know how it is. How did things go with your clan, Ino?"

Ino expression became miffed. "Badly I fear. The Yamanaka are fracturing as a clan. I spoke with several Yamanaka families. They don't accept me as new clan head. I might have been the official heir, but I'm too young and haven't made enough of a reputation for myself yet. The different branches are all vying for control, but there is no one left with enough backing to unite the remaining families. Our cohesion was already weak before the invasion. Now it is every family for itself. The destruction of the old clan compound didn't help matters." She sighed. "Even the people I am relatively close to on a personal level refuse to support my claim."

"That isn't good." Yakumo remarked. "Do you think that we can do anything about it?"

"I fear not. It will take me years to become powerful and respected enough. By then the situation might be completely different. Were you successful in claiming your clan's council seat?"

"No. They didn't even consider it even if they were civil about it. I'm just a single, inexperienced genin without a clan full of people behind me. It isn't as I don't see their point, but it still sets our plans back." Yakumo answered. "On the other hand if I'm courteous and persistent enough I might get what I want when things normalize. There's no sense in beating my head against a stone wall."

They continued talking for a while until they went to sleep, still in the same bed. Naruto woke before dawn. His internal sense of time was pretty good, meaning he generally woke up when he wanted. His last dream had been pretty naughty and he was sorry he couldn't continue sleeping. Then he realized that his dream had a basis in reality and he was in trouble.

Somehow his shorts had ended up around his ankles. Ino was lying before him, her back pressed tightly against his front. She was very slowly grinding her bottom against his groin and occasionally moaning slightly, but judging from her breathing pattern she was still asleep. The undergarments she had gone to sleep with had ridden up and down, respectively. One of his hands was cupping one of Ino's breasts (decidedly smaller than Hinata, about the same size as Yakumo a corner of his mind noted) while the other one was _very_ close to a certain spot between the blond girl's legs. Ino's own arms trapped his limbs in their current positions. The scent of her arousal was unmistakable. As if that wasn't enough Yakumo was embracing him from behind. Judging from the sensation of skin-to-skin contact her nightgown had ridden up, too.

Naruto groaned in his head. Was someone deliberately fucking with his fate and putting him in these positions for shits and giggles? First the incident at the hot springs with Hinata, Ino and Yakumo and now this. He was a healthy boy with a not inconsiderable interest in the female gender, but this was really uncalled for. He was sure his mother would enjoy doing this to him. Thankfully she wasn't able to influence the real world to this degree… at least he hoped so. His love life was already complicated enough what with Yakumo and Hinata. He did not need this additional complication (or his mother's attempts to get him to have sex with an ever increasing number of girls. Sometimes he worried about his mother. She claimed it was all because of her laying claim to the domain of life, but Naruto had his doubts).

Very carefully disentangling himself, he managed to get out of bed without waking either of the two girls. Deprived of his warmth, Ino and Yakumo began to shift and turn uneasily until they embraced each other front to front. The boy had to suppress a chuckle when he left the room. That would make a very awkward awakening for the two. It was a shame he had to head out and couldn't witness the event. After washing himself with cold water from the new rainwater tank (the regular running water was still not working) Naruto ate a light breakfast and left the house, leaving a note on the table.

It was still raining, but thankfully the downpour had changed into a drizzle. After several minutes of travel he reached the east gate. Genma arrived at the same time as him, greeting him with a nod. A minute later Yugao arrived. "Good morning. I see you are ready to head out. Unfortunately we haven't any really accurate information about Tsunade's whereabouts. We will head to our targets' last known location and start the search from there."

After checking out of the village they left the road. Some of the trees here had actually survived, but a bit farther away most of the vegetation had been destroyed. Despite the early hour a lot of people were coming and going. Leaving the road, they headed to a place with sufficient free space.

"Please call our ride if you are ready, Uzumaki-san."

'Summoning technique'

With a puff of smoke a large swallow materialized, the same one that had carried Team 11 on the way back from their last mission. After explaining the situation and where they were headed they got on board; the two jonin being a bit hesitant. A moment later they were air-borne.

"I think it best if we fly above the clouds, Naruto-sama. The rain makes flying considerably more tiring." The swallow announced after a few seconds.

He looked to Yugao, but the jonin just shrugged. "I say our ride knows best."

The swallow turned towards the village, using the slight updraft there to make things easier. In great spirals they climbed higher and higher. Naruto took the opportunity to get another look at Konoha's surroundings. The traces of the invasion were unmistakable. Large parts of the forest had been destroyed and the landscape totally changed. A new lake was forming where the attack from the Sky fortress had hit. The sand trail still persisted despite the rain, cutting off several roads. At the end closer to Konoha the sand had been turned into a large lake of glass, but there were other spots were some incredibly strong attacks had glassed the ground or caused other kinds of massive destruction. That wasn't even mentioning the destroyed mountains.

Then they entered the clouds and Naruto could see no more.

* * *

><p>"What the fuck happened here?"<p>

His partner simply stared, apparently shocked into silence, but such things were hard to tell with him.

'_Well, that would be a first.'_ Kisame Hoshigaki thought while surveying the destruction. It seemed the invasion had done a real number on Konoha. They had known both the Kyuubi and Ichibi jinchuuriki would be here and planned to take them in the chaos of the invasion, but his partner coming down with a cold thanks to the bad weather had delayed them for several days. Not even S-rank missing nin were immune to disease and illness.

They had heard of the failed invasion on their last stop in a tiny village, but that didn't prepare them for the sheer scale of damage. Whatever had happened here had demolished several mountains and done a real number on the forests.

'_Is that a lake of glass over there? And why is there so much sand? Shouldn't the ground be made of silt?'_

Finally his partner Itachi Uchiha regained the power of speech. "We will head into the village and collect information."

Kisame shrugged. "That's fine by me. You still miss your village, don't you?"

Itachi continued staring at Konoha. "No, not at all…"

* * *

><p>She drifted motionlessly. Every thing, every place and every time was here. There was no end and no beginning. Or perhaps the end was the beginning. She wasn't sure about anything; she didn't even know who she was. It had been a mere moment since she had arrived and an eternity at the same time. She felt as if she could <em>touch<em> the entire **World** from here, but she shied away from doing that for some reason. Everything had consequences. She couldn't _touch_ everything at once and she felt it was of paramount importance what exactly she _touched_. Unfortunately she was unable to determine the details of her surroundings. None of her senses gave any useful information.

Still, she couldn't stay here. She had the persistent feeling that someone was waiting for her. Looking into herself, she tried to come to a decision. She felt a slight attraction to several different spots, even if she couldn't determine directions. Mustering her courage, she _reached out_ and _touched_ the **World**. The **World** _touched_ back.

What followed was indescribable.

In a hidden magical place a short distance from Konoha a very special plant covered with countless star-sprinkled night-black and warm yellow blossoms brought forth a single new bud. A moment later it bloomed into a beautiful pale lavender-blue flower, unique amongst its counterparts.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

I know Sakura's parents have a different backstory in canon, but I already planned this long ago.

The plant mentioned in the last scene is the one Naruto created way back in chapter 15.

So long.


	38. Chapter 37: Chasing the target

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 37: Chasing the target**

Tokuma Hyuuga frowned, his byakugan active and itching slightly from repeated use. Every five minutes he made a short scan of their surroundings and this time something had come up. He couldn't yet make out details, but two people were approaching Konoha on an unusual path under a concealment genjutsu. There shouldn't be any people traveling through this sector. On that path they would have bypassed most of the other regular guard posts… which made them very suspicious. Before the invasion this approach to the village would have been guarded by ANBU, but due to ANBU's destruction and the reorganization all paths were now covered by overlapping patrols of regular shinobi. The village was still terribly vulnerable and no enemy could be allowed to reach the village proper.

Soon the two were close enough that Tokuma could identify facial features and general chakra levels. A moment later all the blood drained from his face and he turned to his team. "Head to the village and sound an alarm. The missing nin Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki are approaching. We need to muster a force to repel them."

The Hyuuga watched two members of his patrol run away before returning his attention to the missing nin. Both of them were famous enough to be recognizable at first sight, especially because they still wore their former village's forehead protectors even if they had slashed the symbol. For a moment he considered attacking them to buy time, but discarded the notion immediately. He and his remaining teammate would never last longer than a minute and surprise would be lost. All he could do was monitor the situation from afar and wait for reinforcements.

* * *

><p>Ino and Yakumo ate breakfast in an awkward silence. The position they had found themselves in this morning had been embarrassing. Waking face-to-face with their clothes having gotten displaced during the night and in a state of arousal wasn't something she had expected. Yakumo was a dear friend, nothing more. Well, Ino wouldn't have minded experimenting a bit under different circumstances, but Yakumo didn't swing that way and was in a relationship with Naruto anyway. Despite her frequent teasing the blond Yamanaka had absolutely no intention of playing homewrecker.<p>

Suddenly Ino realized something. _'Wait a minute… Where exactly did Naruto go to sleep last night?'_

On the first night she had spent in Yakumo's bed Yakumo had been in the middle, not that Ino had been in a state where she could really notice such matters. Last night though Naruto had ended up in the middle.

'_Gods, I hope this only happened after he left.'_

At the same time she was pretty certain that wasn't the case. Now some of her dreams made sense. Thankfully Yakumo didn't seem to have considered that possibility. That would have made things even more awkward. Well, at least she had gained a good night's sleep out of that, better than the night before in fact. Naruto's presence seemed to have kept the nightmares away.

The wound the death of Ino's parents had left was still fresh. On some level it still had not sunk in that she would never see them again. The situation was made worse by her knowledge that they hadn't been on amiable terms anymore. In the last time things had been strained between them and Ino had planned to move out soon. She had hoped that distance might improve their relationship. Now there would never be an opportunity to patch things up. When she got around to having children in a few years they would never get to know their maternal grandparents, just as it had been with Ino's own paternal grandparents.

Finally Yakumo found her voice. "How are you holding up?"

Ino gave her a small smile. "I have been better. It hurts, but I think I can deal with it."

It wasn't easy dealing with the loss of her parents along with all the other people that had died, but the countless memories ancient Izumi Yamanaka had given her made the task bearable. The old woman had been intimately familiar with grief and loss. Some of that had been inevitable considering her age alone; at the end there were not even people from her children's generation left in the village. It was a strange thing to consider that Izumi had already been in her middle age with adult children who had children of their own when people like the Sandaime Hokage or the village advisors had been born. Of course, most had died in battles great and small instead of old age. Not that many shinobi actually made it to retirement; many missed the right time to leave active service and got killed when they had become just a little too slow. It was the main reason the elders of a clan were so respected; they were the people who had beaten the odds. The inexperienced beginners, overconfident young and the middle-aged at the end of their active career were the groups that saw always the most deaths relatively speaking. In a way Ino had been lucky until now. None of her close relations or acquaintances had died during her childhood. Since the Kyuubi attack there had been no conflicts with heavy losses on Konoha's side. Oh, there were always some skirmishes despite the somewhat shaky peace between the villages and general attrition, but they didn't have a huge impact in comparison to things like the third shinobi war or the Kyuubi attack.

After the invasion everything was different. One loss in particular was almost as bad as the death of Ino's parents. "Have you heard anything new about Hinata?"

Yakumo shook her head. "No, there is no change. They wouldn't let me into the compound to see her, though. You know how the Hyuuga are. I hope she will get better soon."

Ino hesitated a moment. While she had not been the one who treated Hinata she had examined the girl before she was transferred to the Hyuuga clan compound. The night and day immediately after the invasion had been too busy for her to talk to her friends and yesterday she had been dealing with her own clan. There simply hadn't been the right opportunity to fill them in on the details, but she didn't want to keep it to herself any longer.

"She might not recover. Her chances aren't good." Ino said quietly.

Yakum froze. "What? How do you figure that?"

"I took a look." Ino felt herself tearing up. "You know how I was never able to enter Hinata's or Naruto's mind? This time it was different. There was absolutely no resistance… and not the slightest trace of her. I didn't even find remains of her consciousness or memories."

Her brunette friend's face turned chalk-white. As a genjutsu specialist and due to her long friendship with her Yakumo had probably a pretty good idea what that meant. Not that many genjutsu users had the skill and strength to truly damage a victim's mind in a combat situation (especially the mind of a shinobi who was trained to deal with such things), but when it happened it was always very bad. Hinata wasn't the only case; there had been enough genjutsu users in the invasion to make genjutsu-inflicted mental trauma a small but noticeable part of the overall casualties.

Ino continued speaking after a short pause. "Whatever happened to Hinata either caused her mind to withdraw so far into itself that I can't find it… or completely obliterated it. I know from what Izumi left me that perhaps one out of a hundred recovers if even that."

Silence reigned for almost a minute. "Is there anything you or someone else can do for her?" Yakumo finally asked.

Ino shook her head. "No, not to my knowledge. It all depends on the exact nature of what happened and chance. The longer the coma lasts the worse things are. If she doesn't show any signs of recovery at the end of the month it is more likely than not that she will never wake again. We will have to tell Choji and Naruto soon. She is their teammate, after all."

For a while it seemed as if there was nothing more to say, but then Yakumo spoke up hesitantly. "There might be something that can give us a hint about Hinata. It happened during the invasion after I was separated from Naruto. I'm not sure what I saw. If I tell you'll think I'm crazy. It would be better if you look at my memories directly."

That surprised Ino. Most people were rather hesitant to invite a mind walker into their mind and her friends were no exception. Ino had trained with her friends in the past, but she had always made an effort to respect their privacy. It had to be really serious if Yakumo actually invited her into her head. "If you are sure…?"

Yakumo nodded. "I am. You have to see that."

"Okay then. It's probably better if we sit on the couch for that; it might take a while."

Centering herself, Ino entered Yakumo's mind. It was one of the stranger minds she knew about. Not the strangest by far, of course; Izumi had encountered far more exotic ones in her long life; but it was very strange nonetheless. The closest she ever came to describing it in mere words was an incredibly complex, always shifting web of strands of spun mirror-crystal thoughts. It had been an extremely disconcerting experience when she had entered her friend's mind for the first time years ago. She had suffered nightmares for days after that. Of course, that had been before she had received Izumi's memories. Age had only made Yakumo's mind more complex. A mind-walker not familiar with it would have fits.

Ino supposed it could be a clan thing. She would never voice the thought aloud, but Izumi had been of the opinion that the Kurama clan always danced far too close to the divide between genius and madness. Overall Yakumo was completely sane and what would be considered normal for a kunoichi, but her mind could still only described as strange. It was extraordinarily stable though, pretty much as fundamentally stable a mind could get naturally. Sometimes Ino wondered if that was due to some Kurama clan ritual. Normally minds just were not that stable without year-long training, but she had never found signs of any deliberate manipulation on the occasions when she had entered Yakumo's mind.

Concentrating on the task at hand, Ino skimmed over Yakumo's experience of the invasion. Soon enough she found the memories in question and entered them. Then her jaw dropped metaphorically speaking. She saw time stand still when Yakumo was about to die. She saw her wandering through a frozen village, finally arriving at the wall. She saw a clash between titanic beings, the Ichibi and Reibi among them. She felt the memory of light and a song of unbelievable beauty. Even though it was only a remembered echo it touched something deep inside of her. She saw the source of the light destroyed only to rise again as a second sun… only to transform into a giant spitting image of Hinata.

When Ino left Yakumo's mind she was nearly speechless at first. She hardly noticed the tears on her face. "That… that was…"

Yakumo nodded in understanding. "Yeah."

Slowly Ino got herself back under control. "You were right; if you had told me about that I wouldn't have believed you. I don't have the slightest idea what that was."

"Don't your memories give you some sort of hint?"

Ino shook her head. "No. Izumi gave me so many memories that I'm still busy sorting through them. It will take me years until I'm really finished. I never looked for stuff involving demons and spirits."

Considering that the Kyuubi had attacked Konoha barely thirteen years ago and all great villages had jinchuuriki of their own the existence of demons was an everyday fact of life. Other, usually much less dangerous demons occasionally caused some trouble, but encounters were very rare. Of course, there were tales aplenty of demons, spirits and gods of all sorts, but Ino had no idea how truthful they were.

"You're right that this has probably something to do with Hinata's state. I think it best if we…"

Suddenly she was interrupted by the sounding of an alarm from outside. The village was under attack. Sharing a worried look with Yakumo, the two girls wordlessly decided to postpone their discussion. Grabbing their equipment, they rushed outside to see what the commotion was. If another village had decided to attack Konoha things could go very bad very quickly.

* * *

><p>Sasuke grimaced slightly when he moved his arm. The limb felt still sore even if it looked fine now. The medic had said he would need only a few days of recovery until he would be as good as new; apparently it had been a clean break and his other wounds had been rather superficial. At least he was out of the hospital.<p>

Wandering through the village, Sasuke looked at the destruction. He had missed the invasion entirely. The last thing he clearly remembered was losing against Gaara; everything after that was either behind a haze of pain or filled by unconsciousness. There were vague memories of Ino using a medical technique on him and Kiba carrying him away from the arena, but that was all. Sakura had filled him in on what she knew, being useful for the first time. The talk of the medics and other patients had done the rest.

'_Why do they all have so much power? How much more do I need to grow?'_

He had missed the preliminary fights in the Forest of Death as well as all the matches of the finals before his, but from what Sakura had told him all the other genin that had graduated along with him were spectacularly powerful. Choji, Yakumo and Naruto had even taken on Gaara and won while he had been effortlessly knocked out. The others had fought successfully in the invasion. Where did they get this power?

Naruto was the most egregious example. Sasuke didn't remember anything outstanding about their time together at the academy. He had been middle of the pack, neither especially talented nor untalented. At least the boy had been able to take a hint in contrast to many others and left him in peace. He didn't have much contact with Naruto or any of the others after they graduated. There was the short encounter in Wave and the chunin exams, but he had barely exchanged any words with them.

Several missing buildings allowed him a view of the destroyed mountain where a flying fortress of Soragakure had been personally obliterated by his erstwhile classmate. Some debris was even discernible from this distance despite the rain. _'Naruto has that thunderous power. I'm inferior. He never called forth that power at the academy. It still wasn't enough for him. He went and made his own jutsu. I can't believe that talent. Where was that guy hiding that incredible power? How can I… How can I get that sort of power?'_

Not enough that the blond boy had the power of the Kyuubi at his disposal like Gaara had the Ichibi, no; he had even somehow gotten a summoning contract. How did all those people had gotten so strong when he had made hardly any advances? They didn't need that power; he did. He had to get strong enough to kill _that man_ and avenge his clan.

'_I need more power.'_

Sasuke trained and trained and it seemed to make no difference. He had learned the Phoenix Flower technique in self-study while Kakashi taught them hardly anything. Yes, the man had taught him tree-walking and the chidori, but it wasn't enough. He had lost against his first serious opponent. He needed far more power. Kakashi couldn't be relied upon. The man was useless.

'_Where can I get more power?' _Sasuke thought while absentmindedly rubbing an itch on his neck. _'The others are leaving me behind.'_

Suddenly an alarm sounded and people began rushing in various directions. Sasuke looked around and grabbed a nearby shinobi who looked like he knew what was happening. "What is happening?"

"Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki are attacking the village from the north. All forced have to get into combat positions. If you don't have a position assigned you should… HEY, GET BACK HERE!"

Sasuke didn't hear anything after the first part. A haze settled on his mind as he took off at the highest speed he could muster. Itachi was finally within his reach. Finally, finally he would get his revenge.

* * *

><p>Kisame was slowly growing annoyed. The amended plan had been to infiltrate Konoha without being detected, gather information about the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's status and whereabouts and either nab him or leave Konoha without making a fuss. Instead they had been hit with a surprise attack consisting of an entire barrage of exploding tags from three directions while they were still in the woods. Apparently Itachi's secret route wasn't as safe as his partner had thought.<p>

They had been under attack for almost a quarter hour already and there was no end in sight. He and Itachi made a powerful team. Itachi's genjutsu gave them cover while he took out people with taijutsu, his sword Samehada or water jutsu. There were few people who could stand against them in a direct confrontation. The problem was that their enemies didn't give them a direct confrontation.

After the initial attack they had been constantly pelted by a barrage of projectiles and long-range techniques from all directions, the Leaf shinobi always staying behind cover and trying to retreat whenever they got too close. Of course, considering his and Itachi's speed they didn't always get away. Unfortunately new forces were always ready to resume the attack. Attempts to break through had been unsuccessful; all they achieved was running into ambushes and traps. From the looks of it they were surrounded and more and more forces were joining the engagement. The enemy forces were well-led enough not to bunch up. There was no way to get them all unless he was ready to flood the entire forest; an option that steadily looked more attractive.

Until now neither of them had been seriously wounded, but both of them had sustained a number of minor injuries. They were stronger and faster than virtually all their opponents, but they weren't invulnerable. Sometimes an attack was just too fast or there was simply no space left to dodge into. Thanks to the special properties of his sword Kisame healed rapidly and could absorb the chakra from enemy attacks, but Itachi had no such skills. By now both their cloaks were practically shredded. At this rate they would be slowly ground down and softened up for the real blow. Worse, none of Konoha's known heavy-hitters had yet entered the fight. Kisame and Itachi could step up their game, but that might leave them vulnerable when individually dangerous opponents showed up.

Suddenly the attacks from one direction ceased for no discernible reason.

"Boy, come back here!" a voice shouted.

A few moments later a black-haired boy of about thirteen years with a Konoha headband broke through the undergrowth, panting heavily and staring at them hatefully. The attacks from the other directions ceased now, too. Apparently the Leaf ninja didn't want the kid to be caught in the crossfire.

"It has been a while… Sasuke." a completely unperturbed Itachi said.

"I will kill you."

Kisame glanced at the boy. "Huh, a sharingan. You seem to be familiar with him, Itachi. Who is this guy?"

"He is my younger brother." Itachi remarked calmly.

"I have been wanting to say this to you. I have lived hating you. And I also have lived only to kill you. I have lived for THIS!"

A sound like the chirping of birds filled the air as a spike of lightning appeared in the boy's hand. He immediately ran at them, dragging the jutsu at his side and creating a trench in the ground.

"…Chidori?" Itachi mumbled so quietly Kisame almost didn't catch it.

Kisame kept the boy in his peripheral vision while he scanned for other attacks. He had heard of that technique; it was the personal technique of Kakashi Hatake and considered to be quite dangerous. Now that Kisame saw the thing in action he wasn't entirely sure what the fuss was about. Oh, judging from the amount of chakra he felt and the collateral damage a hit would be nasty and could probably punch through a good deal of existing defensive techniques. It seemed to increase the user's speed, too. On the other hand the technique seemed to be extremely short-ranged and would leave the user open during his approach, but he supposed a sharingan compensated for that to some degree. Well, perhaps the kid was just careless and had not learned the technique properly. Dragging it on the ground like that certainly wasted a good part of its destructive power. The speed boost wasn't that great, either; the boy was still considerably slower than practically all jonin he knew. If he ever encountered Hatake he would have to be more careful, but the kid was no real threat. Itachi would be able to handle him without any problem.

True to Kisame's prediction Itachi grabbed the kid's arm and redirected the attack against a nearby tree, reducing a big part of it to splinters. Then Itachi snapped the boy's arm, causing him to collapse in pain.

'_Sloppy, very sloppy. The kid isn't bad for his age, but he should have stayed in the kiddy pool.'_

Three Konoha shinobi chose that moment to make an attack, possibly in an attempt to recover the boy. Two of them immediately met a grisly end at the tip of his sword while the last one stopped dead in his tracks when Itachi looked at him. A moment later he collapsed to the ground, eyes empty and drool dripping from his mouth.

'_Oh, he used his eyes again.'_

Kisame wasn't entirely clear how those worked; from what he knew Uchiha normally couldn't create unquenchable black flames or summon some sort of ethereal warrior spirit. He would never pry, of course. Well, there were some tales about Madara Uchiha and even older ones from the era of the clan wars, but nothing definitive from the last few decades. That apparently unbreakable, mind-destroying genjutsu (whatever it was) was far more in line what one expected from an Uchiha. One thing Kisame was certain about was that using those techniques strained Itachi's eyes greatly.

Four more Konoha shinobi approached. Itachi turned towards them, but before they could attack the boy stood back up and staggered towards Itachi. "Stay back. This guy is **mine**!"

Itachi didn't even turn around. "I have absolutely no interest in you right now."

Of course, the boy didn't heed the words and tried to attack with his good hand. Itachi didn't even look at him when he placed a well-aimed kick directly in the boy's stomach, throwing him against a tree. After a moment of hesitation the enemy shinobi slowly backed up. Itachi approached his once again downed brother, grabbed his throat and lifted him into the air. Kisame didn't pay full attention to the short exchange of words, but a few seconds later Itachi carelessly threw the boy towards the Konoha shinobi. Lying on the ground and twitching slightly, he made no effort to get up. From the looks of it Itachi had used his special genjutsu again.

"Itachi, I advise against using your eyes so many times in a single day."

His partner didn't react. Two of the Leaf shinobi dragged the boy away, the second pair covering them. Kisame was considering finishing them off when several new combatants arrived.

The sword master Hayama Shirakumo he knew personally; they had crossed blades in the past and the man had lived to tell the tale. Asuma Sarutobi as well as Kakashi Hatake he recognized from their description; both were well known in the entire Elemental Nations. The red-eyed, black-haired woman with the asymmetrical dress looking like it was made out of bandages was an unknown as was the man with auburn hair and amber eyes. Several more Leaf shinobi became visible, but none of them were familiar or famous at first glance.

"Hm, there is no doubt about it. Long time no see, Itachi Uchiha." Asuma greeted his partner.

"Asuma-san, please do not interfere with my affairs. You will only get killed."

"Sorry, no can do. I have the task to take you on." Asuma readied his two trench knives. The tension of the other Konoha shinobi increased as well. "Either something is wrong with the way you think or you are just full of yourself. It would have been better for you not to come."

Kisame gave them a shark-toothed grin and hefted Samehada higher. "Your home village doesn't seem to like you very much, Itachi. Do they want to die?"

"Kisame, stop it. We did not come here to start a war. Regrettably, this is nothing more than nonsense. The Yondaime's legacy is our target. I have learned what we wanted to know. Let's leave."

Kisame hesitated a moment. He wanted to tear those shinobi to pieces. Then common sense reasserted itself. They were S-rank shinobi, but they weren't invincible. Both of them had already sustained some injuries and he didn't want to take a whole village on. Well, better to make for an escape then.

'Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave'

An enormous quantity of water shot out of Kisame's mouth, forming a wave and causing the Konoha shinobi to jump away. More and more water appeared as Kisame continued pouring chakra into the technique. Creating another surge of water away from the village, he and Itachi used a shunshin to gain distance and ride the wave. Once again all sorts of projectiles and techniques impacted around them, but most were easily evaded. Kisame hissed in pain as some sort of fast-moving fire lance unexpectedly burned his side. Raising the water behind him interrupted the technique before it could do any real damage. No further attacks managed to hit them.

An hour later Kisame grimaced slightly as he picked burned fabric out of the wound. Fortunately it was rather superficial and would heal easily. Whatever the technique had been it had been surprisingly accurate and long-ranged considering the circumstances, although it seemed that longer contact was required for it to do serious damage. On the other hand, perhaps the distance had reduced the effectiveness. Filing the information away for further reference, Kisame considered their situation. It had taken them half an hour to shake the pursuit, far longer than it should have. Apparently the tree huggers were in a really bad mood.

"Well, what did you learn?" Kisame asked when he had finished taking care of his injuries.

"Our target left the village several hours ago on a mission. The man knew the general direction in which they headed. There is only a jonin and a special jonin with him."

Kisame smiled again his shark-toothed smile. That should make things easier. Soon the Kyuubi would be theirs.

* * *

><p>Naruto shifted slightly as he tried to get into a more comfortable position. At the moment there was nothing to do; it would probably be another hour until they arrived at their destination. He didn't look forward to returning to the earth and into the rain. From the looks of it the blanket of clouds stretched across a good chunk of the Land of Fire and there was no opening in sight. Currently they were flying far above the clouds and Naruto was entertaining himself by watching the various cloud formations. Weather in general had always held some interest for him considering his love for hunting and exploring the woods, but since he had actually the means to fly with the help of his summons it had turned into fascination. His capability of controlling the weather with magic had only added to that.<p>

Yugao and Genma were still watching their surroundings with awe. It was probably their first time in the air. Even for shinobi flying was a rare skill. Until now they didn't talk much, but he supposed that would change soon.

"How are the other swallows doing?" he asked the swallow when the silence stretched too long.

"Healing and resting, mostly. They all agree it was a great battle. I wish I could have participated, but I know I'm not a fighter."

"Don't worry. You don't have to be able to fight to be useful. Look, just now we have need of you carrying us." Naruto answered.

Genma chuckled slightly. "Words of wisdom."

Naruto shrugged. "It's the truth."

That seemed to have broken the ice and the following time was spent with getting to know each other better. Having at least a general understanding of what one's teammates could do was a necessity. Yugao was a kenjutsu and genjutsu user and an ANBU, but she was understandably tightlipped about that. Genma had a track record of successfully fulfilling difficult missions and was somewhat of an all-rounder, but he mostly worked as a bodyguard. Soon the topic of the conversation became past missions.

"I heard you encountered the swordsman of the Mist Zabuza Momoichi. What was he like? I do have clearance for that mission report, by the way." Yugao asked.

"I didn't actually see much of him; the members of Team 7 could probably tell you more. When we arrived he had already won the fight with them. He got blindsided by a force of mercenaries his backstabbing employer had hired. They used bows to attack Zabuza from a distance, but he still managed to almost cut through the mercenaries and kill the man. Unfortunately his injuries were too debilitating and one of the mercenaries got him in the back. We then mopped up the rest. Let's just say a narrow stone bridge is a bad place to be when an Akimichi comes rolling."

Genma winced. "Ouch."

"What happened to his sword? It is a pretty famous blade." Yugao inquired.

Naruto shrugged. "We brought it back with us to Konoha. No idea where it is now."

For a few moments nothing more was said, but then Genma spoke up again. "If you don't mind me asking, what it's like being a jinchuuriki?"

That question actually caught Naruto by surprise. After a moment of thought he decided he could reveal some parts. "Most of the time the fox doesn't give me any trouble and I'm pretty much a normal shinobi. It's different when I use its power; that really, really sucks. I prefer to use it as a weapon of last resort. It's safer that way."

"Would you mind elaborating a bit? I admit I'm a bit curious about the entire process and as team leader I think it necessary to learn the extent of your abilities." Yugao politely asked.

"Sure. Normally the Kyuubi's chakra is deep inside me, but I can consciously pull it to the surface. Imagine your veins being filled by liquid fire. The pain is incredible, but so is the power it gives you. You become faster and stronger, but your body changes. Fingernails become claws and your teeth grow into fangs. Your entire appearance becomes more and more feral, similar to an Inuzuka, at least during the initial stages. The beast's chakra surrounds your body and you can use it to do things. Wounds heal pretty much immediately, but that's only the beginning. Loss of control is a steady danger."

Naruto paused for a moment. The two jonin were listening in rapt silence.

"Rage fills you. You want to tear, maim and kill everything in sight. The rush of power blots out the pain and you want more. Soon the chakra surrounding you becomes dense like a boiling liquid and forms a shroud with one tail. The shroud has almost a mind of its own. It can form limbs that don't obey the laws of nature. Whatever you touch is poisoned; all matter burns and decays under the demonic power. Your own body does, too, but you are constantly healed. The rage and hate are growing stronger as does the hunger for more power. If you draw more chakra more tails form and the changes become more pronounced. Normal, conscious thought becomes almost impossible. The rage becomes all-consuming. If you go beyond three tails your skin burns off; it feels like being flayed alive. Your blood and the demon's chakra mix and you transform again. I can't really describe it properly; it is far too surreal an experience. What was your body is replaced by a completely alien thing. The others tell me it looks like a creature from a nightmare, made only of darkness, blood and chakra. Your senses mostly stop working; there is only chakra and emotion. The only thing stronger than the hate and rage is the desire for more power. In that state you are a danger to everything around you. If you ever see me with more than two tails run for your lives. That is the amount of power I can safely control at the current time, but I will always return to normal after a while. The Kyuubi's power is far too dangerous to be used lightly." Naruto concluded.

By now the expressions of his two teammates were openly horrified. Apparently they didn't realize before what exactly utilizing a demon's power truly meant. Normally he wouldn't have revealed such rather personal information to what effectively still were strangers, but he wanted to preempt any future attempt by his new superior to have him deliberately use the Kyuubi's power. Surprisingly it was the swallow who broke the silence. "Naruto-sama is truly brave to use such a power willingly in defense of the village. I heard what he did when he had to destroy that flying fortress. Not many would be willing to do that."

"I'm not sure I want to know, but what exactly did you do?" Genma asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Well, I can only generate a bijuudama when I use four tails. The Sky fortress appeared when I was high in the air. I couldn't transform while riding on a swallow; it would have harmed it. There was no time to land because the fortress could have destroyed Konoha at any time, so I did the only thing possible: I jumped off and transformed in mid-fall. I figured there would be enough time for a swallow to catch me after I transformed back."

"From what I heard it was a pretty close thing, Naruto-sama. A few moments more and they would have needed a spatula to scrape you off the ground for the funeral." the swallow said in an oddly cheerful tone. "All of us were quite impressed."

Yugao actually looked a little green in the face, but then she caught herself. "Wait, didn't you say you can't control more than two tails?"

"That's right; I can't. I only managed to stay long enough in control to point myself at the target and launch the attack. Thankfully that was exhausting enough that I returned to normal, but after that I was out of the fight for good."

Genma and Yugao looked at each other. An entire silent conversation seemed to take place before they turned back to him. "Please only use the Kyuubi's power if you see no other choice, Uzumaki-san. I leave that to your discretion."

Naruto nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Uzuki-san."

'_Mission: Prevent superiors from seeing the Kyuubi as an arbitrarily available asset: Successful.'_

It was one of Naruto's worries that his superiors would only see the Kyuubi's power and command him to use it constantly. In light of the fact that any half-skilled sensor could detect him using the Kyuubi's chakra from a long distance that wasn't exactly a wise course of action. That wasn't even considering beings like the Reibi that would like to devour him like an appetizing morsel. They were pretty rare, but it was better to take no unnecessary chances. It was much safer than calling on his parents' divine power, but it was still not something he wanted to rely on as a standard course of action.

The conversation then turned to more pleasant topics as Genma began regaling them with tales of his past exploits. Soon enough they approached their destination, causing the swallow to descent under the cloud cover. Returning into the drizzle wasn't fun. Since the swallow didn't yet have a good mental image of the surrounding lands they had to actually look for the precise location of their target town and their flight continued for a while, albeit far more uncomfortably than before. Fortunately they were roughly in the right location and it didn't take that long.

They touched down in a clearing out of sight of the town. Arriving on the back of a summon would cause a far too great stir. Their ride dispelled after saying goodbye, leaving Naruto and the two jonin alone.

"That was an interesting way to travel; we made good time. I wish we had someone like you available in the past." Yugao said. "We will proceed as planned. Uzumaki-san, if you would please summon those swallows you deem suitable for the next task?"

Naruto nodded and made the necessary hand seals. 'Summoning Technique'

From one moment to the next the clearing was wreathed in smoke as dozens of natural-looking swallows materialized. When the smoke finally cleared they all simultaneously bowed before Naruto.

"Greetings, Naruto-sama. How we may help you?"

Naruto gave his summons a polite nod. "Hello. I need to find someone specific and would like your support. Yugao Uzuki and Genma Shiranui here are my superiors for this mission and will give you the details."

The attention of all the swallows focused on the two jonin. They seemed a bit unnerved by the more than hundred pairs of beady eyes on them. Naruto had to admit the behavior of the swarm he had called was a bit eerie; he remembered Yakumo reading a novel about an intelligent, murdering swarm of birds a while ago.

Yugao cleared her throat and began speaking. "Our target is Tsunade, last living member of the Senju clan and one of the famous Sannin. She is a fairly tall, light-skinned woman and has long, straight blond hair and brown eyes. Due to her gambling habits she has earned the nickname 'The Legendary Sucker'." The woman stopped for a moment. She obviously didn't want to say the next part. "Her most remarkable features are a violet rhombus mark on her forehead and her large bust."

"It won't be easy to find Tsunade. She constantly uses techniques to change how she looks. Sometimes she changes her appearance from a 10 year-old to a 30 or 40 year-old to get away from her gambling debts. She is 51 years of age, but she might have the looks of a 20 year-old." Genma added.

The purple-haired jonin nodded. "Indeed. Our task is made easier by the fact that Tsunade is always accompanied by her apprentice Shizune Kato. Black hair and eyes, but no further distinguishing features. She usually takes care of Tsunade's pet, a pig named Tonton."

"This town is Tsunade's last known location, but that information is more than a month out of date. We will gather information from the populace. I want you to send groups in all direction. If you find her dispel and talk to Natsu or Fuyu; I will summon the two of them every few hours. A few of you should stay with us, though." Naruto commanded.

The swallows nodded. A moment later the swarm flew up, splitting in several directions once they cleared the tree tops. About a dozen swallows stayed in their vicinity as the group headed towards the town.

"Do you have any prior experience in information gathering, Uzumaki-san?" Yugao inquired on the way.

Naruto shrugged. "A bit. It's not exactly the focus of my skills, but I should be perfectly able to gather at least some information."

The jonin nodded. "Good. In that case we can split up once we enter the town. We will meet at the town gate again in one hour. That should be enough time."

He wondered how long it would take them to find Tsunade. They had a pretty good mobility advantage. Perhaps the bigger problem was convincing Tsunade to come back. Depending on how long it took them to find her she might hear of the invasion before they got to her. Maybe they could use it to talk her around, but Naruto wasn't hopeful. Not even the Kyuubi attack had been enough for her to return to the village.

'_Well, I'll have to wait and see. There's no way she can see us coming.'_

* * *

><p>Tsunade looked at the cards on the table in surprise. She had actually won again. She never won several times in a row. Granted, it was only the second time and the profit was small, but still. With some amount of trepidation she played another round. Whenever she hit a winning streak something bad happened.<p>

A few minutes later she let out a sigh of relief. She had lost both the game and quite a lot of money. Apparently it had been a false alarm. Still, it was probably better to leave the town soon. Ignoring Shizune's attempts to dissuade her from further gambling with practiced ease, she smiled at her fellow players. "I would like to play another round, double stakes this time."

They were only too happy to oblige.

* * *

><p>"We have located Tsunade, Orochimaru-sama. From our current location we will need a few days to get there, though."<p>

"No matter. This time my arm will be healed."

* * *

><p>Mizuki sighed in relief when the medic finally finished bandaging his hand. Even after applying burn ointment it was still raw and tender; the medics with the skills of healing such a wound immediately where still overworked treating the casualties of the invasion and had no time or chakra to spare for such a minor injury. At some point in the near future he really had to finish developing that jutsu. His hand getting slightly burned each time he used the Ray of Hope was annoying and a liability. He hoped Kisame didn't identify him as the one who had managed to hit him. The possibility of an S-rank missing nin harboring a grudge for him wasn't something he enjoyed.<p>

In truth it had been a long-shot and Mizuki was surprised that he had actually managed to hit the distant and moving target at all in contrast to the other people trying the same thing. On the other hand the ability to hit targets at long range with a high degree of accuracy had been one of his design goals when developing the jutsu. There really was a dearth of good long-range techniques that didn't have a too big area of effect or other downsides. Although in light of the fact that Kisame had managed to pretty much shrug the hit off there was a weakness in his technique: With longer distance the power fell drastically. He pretty much had to keep the beam on target for several seconds to do more than superficial damage.

'_Solving that problem will be difficult. There are always tradeoffs. Maybe I can ramp up the containment layer and concentrate the beam more tightly?'_

The medic patting him on the shoulder brought him back to reality. "You're all set. Don't get burned again."

"Thank you. I'll take my leave now." Mizuki said and stood up.

"That was good work there, Mizuki-san. No one else managed to land a hit. We were all surprised by that wave and the amount of water Kisame generated." Asuma Sarutobi remarked from a cot to the side where two medics were removing shards of wood from his leg. The jonin had been hit by debris when the tree he had jumped to splintered under the force of Kisame's water wave. None of his injuries were serious, but the splinters had to be removed lest they cause an infection.

"I only did my part and unfortunately they did escape."

Asuma waved his complaint away. "You kept your head despite the surprise. That's the important thing. I will mention that in my report."

Mizuki smiled. His performance had been noticed. The defense of the academy students during the invasion had already earned him points. Currently things were still too chaotic, but in light of their losses there would be many promotions forthcoming. With a little luck his name would be among that group.

Taking his leave, he made a little detour to get a few more medicaments for Anko and see how Iruka was doing. Unsurprisingly there was no improvement. It was still doubtful if the instructor would pull through.

Iruka had been critically wounded during the invasion. He and his fellow teacher Suzume had been at the training yard with their class when the invasion began. The group had immediately come under attack. In the initial exchange Suzume had been mortally wounded, but Iruka had been unhurt. Then one of the attackers had targeted the children. Iruka had thrown himself in the path of the attack and been incapacitated. From a rational perspective it had been the wrong decision. With him out of the way the attackers would have been free to slaughter all the children without resistance. If he had stayed put two or three children would have died, but he would have been able to kill the remaining two attackers without any problem. If the presumed dead Suzume hadn't managed to pull herself together and kill the attackers from behind before perishing the entire class would have died.

Mizuki didn't know how he would have acted. He dearly hoped he would never be in such position. He might not like teaching the brats, but deliberately letting one or several of the first year students die so he could save the rest went against every protective instinct he had. For someone overprotective like Iruka it had probably not even been a conscious choice. Without Konohamaru and Hanabi running for help and finding Mizuki Iruka would have died of blood loss. He had managed to patch the chunin together, but it looked like his efforts might have been not enough.

Talking with Konohamaru's uncle Asuma had been the reason Mizuki had been with the jonin when the invader alarm was sounded in the first place. Currently academy classes were suspended, but the boy had asked for him. Apparently he had nightmares and after seeing Mizuki fight he had taken him as his hero. From what Mizuki could tell Konohamaru wasn't overly traumatized, but he had received a rude wakeup call on what the world truly was. In the past Konoha had buried reality under pretty words. Some of that was necessary when teaching children, but it was one contributing factor to the overall lacking education.

'_That will probably change soon. With these losses there is no way Konoha can continue as before.'_

* * *

><p>Shikaku Nara, provisional village leader of Konoha, was suppressing the urge to groan. Retiring and herding reindeer for his remaining time in this world had never looked so attractive before, but he had to set an example. There were so many things to do and organize and not enough time in the day to do it all. He was practically living in his improvised office together with the two village advisors. All the others were busy, too, but he was the highest authority, meaning sooner or later everything ended up on his desk. The latest worry was the incursion by the two missing nin Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha.<p>

"… lost them after about half an hour. All in all we got off lightly. About two dozen dead and double the number of wounded. It could have gone far worse if they had continued fighting." Asuma Sarutobi concluded his report. "At least three of those casualties can be attributed solely to the interference of Sasuke Uchiha. He ignored several orders to stop in his attempt to confront his brother. To avoid a friendly fire incident the forces at the scene had to interrupt their attack before my team was in position, potentially compromising the entire effort."

"Thank you. Good work in repelling the attack. This is all for now. You may leave."

As soon as Asuma had left Koharu spoke up. "We would have never caught them if not for the new patrol schedule. That approach was used when people needed to get into the village without being spotted. It was covered by ANBU in the past, but due to the usual manpower shortage actual surveillance was always spotty. Most likely the only reason we haven't had more intruders is that the path is hard to find."

"Let me guess: That wasn't really changed since the Uchiha massacre and Itachi knew all about it due to his job as ANBU." Shikaku said while massaging the bridge of his nose.

Shikaku knew about the secret background of the Uchiha massacre and Itachi's role in it; in fact he had known for years. The entire mess had been a nightmare. Tensions had been high, but the Sandaime had continued negotiating without result. One thing he did aside from that was quietly approaching the heads of the Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka clans in case it came to violence, probably because of their long-standing alliance with the Sarutobi. Shikaku had not looked forward to fighting the Uchiha. A group of sharingan-users was a really nasty enemy.

Fortunately the matter had been resolved by the demise of the clan. Personally Shikaku still didn't approve of sending Itachi against his own clan although he had only learnt of that after the fact. There was a far too high chance for loyalty to break or something else to go wrong. Ostensibly the Sandaime had known nothing of this, but Shikaku was sure he had only maintained plausible deniability. There was no way he would have allowed Danzo, Homura and Koharu to remain in positions of power if they had gone behind his back in this matter. The Sandaime had wanted the Uchiha threat dealt with without compromising his reputation. In case the operation went wrong the village advisors would take the fall.

What no one had expected was for Itachi to actually succeed. Everyone had believed that with the element of surprise he would be able to kill several leaders before he succumbed to the superior numbers. The resulting confusion would be enough to stave off the rebellion for months or even years, time enough to find a permanent solution. Events had proven them wrong. They had been really lucky that the destruction of the Uchiha clan didn't trigger the fourth shinobi war. The clan had always been one of Konoha's main pillars of strength and the village was much weaker without them.

To this day Shikaku didn't understand Itachi. Spying and providing the village leadership with information because he chose the village over his clan; that he could understand. Actually personally slaughtering his entire clan including civilians, children and his own close family was a different thing altogether. It was something that Shikaku would never do if it was his own clan. He could barely imagine standing aside if there was absolutely no other choice, but actually doing the deed? That was the work of a madman. It was still an enigma how he had managed to achieve that feat. Itachi had been highly skilled, but not that skilled.

Just before Asuma gave his report Homura and Koharu had informed him of Itachi's deal with the Sandaime. Things made even less sense now. Itachi had killed his parents and fiancée, but he wanted for Sasuke to be protected and kept ignorant of the true facts. Why would he trust people who had ordered the destruction of his clan? It would have been easy to arrange for the boy's death. Itachi's threat to reveal the secret was a hollow one. Who would believe a man who had slaughtered his own family?

When the silence had stretched long enough Shikaku sighed. "From what Itachi said Naruto or more precisely the Kyuubi was their target. At the current time we have no way of contacting Yugao's group, but considering their mobility it is unlikely that they will be caught anyway. Do you have any useful information about Itachi's spy work?"

Homura made a helpless gesture. "We don't know. Itachi reported directly to Hiruzen or possibly Jiraiya. Neither told us anything and there are no records we were able to find. Without them we have no idea as to Akatsuki's exact goals. We know there are nine primary members besides Itachi, but we have no information about their identity or any other details. If Itachi ever reported that it never reached our ears."

"In short, he isn't especially useful as a spy." Another sigh escaped his lips. "What a troublesome mess. What is Sasuke's status?"

Koharu leafed through several documents before she found the right one. "He's catatonic. The Yamanaka who entered his mind reported that Itachi put him under an unbreakable genjutsu, the same as the other victim we recovered. Sasuke was forced to watch the slaughter of his clan again and again for 72 hours of subjective time in addition to other mental torture. The other victim was simply tortured for the same subjective time period. The psychological trauma is immense and recovery will be slow."

"Why would Itachi do such a thing if he wants to protect Sasuke? Simply knocking him out would have been enough."

There was no answer, not that he had expected one. Shikaku didn't understand Itachi. He didn't like things he didn't understand. Those had the tendency to mess up strategy and bite him in the ass later at the most inconvenient of times. The possibility that Itachi was simply insane was becoming more and more likely. Shikaku had never had much contact with Itachi before the massacre, but something about the boy had always seemed… off.

"No matter. Inform me when the boy wakes up. I will decide what to do with him then. We can't simply let such reckless actions go without punishment. For now we have other matters to take care of. Koharu-san, when will you leave for the capital?"

"In two hours. We have now a good enough overview that I will be able to answer the Fire Daimyo's questions. For now it looks as if we will be able to fulfill our contractual obligations to the Land of Fire… barely. My retinue is already assembling."

Shikaku nodded in acknowledgment. A moment later a secretary entered the room, delivering a large stack of documents detailing the missions the village currently had accepted. Managing the numerous already contracted missions was a nightmare, especially because they still had no idea of the reactions of the other villages. Another attack or the outbreak of the fourth shinobi war were still very real possibilities. They couldn't simply send out an arbitrary number of shinobi on missions when they might be needed for defense and that wasn't even considering their drastically reduced manpower. It looked like they would simply have to default on many contracts.

'_Missions to the Land of Wind can be cancelled; there is no way I will send anyone into Suna's territory for any client. That frees up some resources. Team 7 is effectively non-operational. Kakashi is still useful and needed for high-ranked missions with experienced teammates, although considering his performance I don't want him in a teaching position ever again. It's probably better to wait with the formal dissolution of his team until we get around to reorganizing everything, though.'_ Shikaku thought while reading the documents that had piled up while he had been receiving Asuma's report. _'There are just too few shinobi. We will probably be forced to cut the academy education short by one year and subject the students in their fourth and fifth year to a crash course. Those in their after-fifth year education will be promoted to genin immediately.' _He chuckled slightly._ 'Shika won't like being back to active duty so soon.'_

* * *

><p>Kisame let out a visible puff of breath. The morning was cold. They had spent the last day and night in pursuit of their prey and he was a bit tired. Even shinobi of their caliber had limits, but he was still good for a few days. He did wonder why they had not caught up to the jinchuuriki, though. According to their last reports he was only a genin and shouldn't be able to run such a distance.<p>

'_Well, we don't know what exactly his mission is. It's possible they are in a hurry and pushing themselves. I don't think the information is bad; Itachi always manages to find out the truth.'_

His partner had gone into the town to investigate. Kisame used the opportunity to rest a bit. At least on this route there were no other significant settlements or forks in the road; their prey couldn't go another way if they didn't want to traverse wilderness that was almost impassable even for shinobi. Since the next crossroads was located a few miles from the town they pretty much had to stop here.

Soon Itachi returned. "They were here, but they left again. They are looking for Tsunade. I got their next destination."

Kisame acknowledged that with a grunt. Then they resumed the hunt. Sooner or later they would catch up with the jinchuuriki. There was no way the kid could outrun them forever.

* * *

><p>Naruto yawned and stretched himself before heading to the bathroom. Spending the night in a comfortable bed was a rare occurrence on missions and something to be cherished even if the quality of his sleep was far better when he could sleep with Yakumo. He had pushed all his worries into a corner of his mind for the time being; the mission came first. They had visited six different towns yesterday until it grew too late for information gathering. Normally they would have needed more than a week to visit them all, but thanks to his swallows they were very fast and could ignore difficult or normally impassable terrain. Tsunade's trail was getting hotter and hotter.<p>

Yugao and Genma were already eating breakfast when he arrived in the common room of the inn. "Good morning Uzuki-san, Shiranui-san."

"A good morning to you, too." Genma answered good-naturedly before piercing an egg with a senbon. The man seemed to possess an endless supply of those.

After finishing eating the three shinobi left the town and Naruto once again summoned a swallow to carry them. It was likely they would catch up to Tsunade in one or two days. She had left the first town more than a month before they had arrived there. Now they were barely two weeks behind her. It was only a matter of time.

The sun was setting when the group finished investigating the seventh town for the day and met in a grove that hid them from sight.

"Tsunade was here and left only yesterday." Naruto reported. "She appeared to be in a hurry, but she took unusual care to conceal her next destination. Everyone I asked had heard something different."

"I heard the same." Genma agreed.

"It seems something spooked her." Yugao removed a map from a pocket. "There are five towns within a distance of a day's travel, more if we consider the speed of a shinobi in a hurry. We are in one of the most densely populated parts of the country. Investigating them all will be complicated and time-consuming."

"Perhaps the swarm found something. In the time we spent here the swallows should have reached all the surroundings towns." Naruto speculated.

"We can hope. If not we will stay here for the night." Yugao decided.

'Summoning Technique'

The smoke had barely appeared when Fuyu's excited voice cut through the air. "We found her, boss! Tsunade, Shizune and their pig walked through the town gate barely ten minutes ago." The blue-feathered swallow proceeded to give them a description of the town in question.

"Wonderful, thanks for the help."

"No problem, boss. See you soon." Fuyu dispelled himself again.

Naruto immediately proceeded to summon a bigger swallow to carry them. They might be able to catch Tsunade if they acted quickly.

"You know, Uzumaki-san, I never saw anyone summon so often so many summons over so short a span of time, not even the Yondaime Hokage." Genma remarked when they were in the air. "Most people I know would have passed out from chakra exhaustion long ago."

Naruto could only shrug. "I have the chakra to spare; I don't think anyone in Konoha has more chakra. The invasion was actually the first time in my life I can remember when my reserves were empty."

Yugao nodded thoughtfully. "That's very fortunate. Most people with a summoning contract have to be careful using it because of the chakra expenditure. I have to ask; don't the swallows get annoyed by you summoning them so often?"

"Apparently they slept so long since the death of their last summoner that they enjoy every opportunity to get out."

"I agree completely. It feels so good to travel across the world again. We're really happy about that." their ride chimed in unexpectedly, causing the two jonin to jump. Apparently they had forgotten that the swallow carrying them could hear them and was as intelligent as a human. "You have our blessing to abuse the hell out of our contract, Naruto-sama."

It was already close to midnight when they arrived at their destination. The gates of the town were closed, but it was a cakewalk to climb the wall without anyone noticing. One of the small swallows on site greeted them and led them through the mostly sleeping town. Soon the group reached the entertainment district. Most of the taverns and other were still open, the sounds of merry making permeating the air.

The groups kept to the roofs to avoid being seen by anybody. There was no specific reason for the secrecy, but it was probably better to observe their target for a while before they could be spotted.

Two minutes later they arrived at their destination: A roof across from a tavern. Two swallows were waiting for them, their eyes on the entrance.

"Hey boss, glad you could make it. We're slowly getting tired. The blond bimbo you wanted us to look for is still inside and drinking. We have eyes on every side of the building."

"Thanks for your effort." Naruto turned to Yugao. "What should we do now?"

The jonin was silent for a moment. "I think it best to wait. I don't want anyone to observe our meeting or overhear what we will have to say. Secrecy isn't required, but you can't be too careful."

They had to wait two more hours until Tsunade finally left the building when the bar closed. More precisely, the completely smashed and possibly unconscious blonde was carried outside by a black-haired woman in a bluish-black Kimono, a small pig with a pearl necklace and a vest at her side.

"That's Shizune and Tonton. We will follow them until they are in a better location." Yugao commanded.

They didn't have to wait long until the trio entered an abandoned alley. Yugao simply jumped down into the street and walked up to them, Naruto and Genma following behind. "Greetings, Kato-san. My name is Yugao Uzuki, jonin from Konoha. You and Tsunade have been ordered to return to the village immediately by the emergency council. My group has been ordered to escort you back as quickly as possible."

* * *

><p>Kisama was huffing and puffing by the time he and Itachi arrived at the fourth town. Never before and his life had he run so fast and for so long. Itachi wasn't in any better shape.<p>

"What do you mean they left yesterday afternoon?" he bellowed when the random vendor living in a hut near the gates had stuttered out his recount of the town's visitors. They had roused him from his sleep to learn if their target had already arrived.

The man was quaking in his boots (which incidentally were hovering a not inconsiderable distance above the ground because Kisame was holding the man by his throat) when he answered. "That's all I k-know. A b-blond boy, a purple-haired w-woman and a man chewing on some m-metal skewer entered the t-town about three hours after noon and left another h-hour later. Please, don't kill me."

Kisame carelessly let the man fall to the ground. It couldn't be. The jinchuuriki was gaining distance on them. That should have been impossible. He and Itachi had crossed two bogs, a mountain ridge and three almost impassable forests to get ahead of their targets while running all the way.

'_How in hell are they doing that?'_

* * *

><p>Shizune Kato blinked at the people before her. She was tired and her mind wasn't working that well. After losing a big sum of money Tsunade had made them leave yesterday and actually run a long distance. Once they arrived in the new town her master had immediately sought out a tavern and began drinking. Ten minutes ago she had finally succumbed to the massive quantity of alcohol she had imbibed and fallen unconscious. Oh, Tsunade could have used medical techniques to counteract the effects of the alcohol or clear it from her system, but she had not bothered to do so. Sadly that wasn't an uncommon occurrence as was Shizune having to carry her master to somewhere they could spend the night.<p>

Tonton oinking questioningly shook Shizune out of her stupor, causing her to examine the three shinobi before her more closely. All were wearing Konoha headbands. The one in the lead was a purple-haired woman with a sword on her back. One of the others was a blond boy of about thirteen years. Strangely several swallows were sitting on his head and shoulders and looking at her with far too intelligent eyes. The third and last member of the group looked somewhat familiar.

"Genma, is that you?"

"It's been a long time, Shizune."

"Do you know each other?" the blond boy asked.

Genma shrugged. "We graduated in the same class, but we had barely any contact since then. Different teams and duties and all that."

"I almost didn't recognize you if not for your habit of senbon-chewing. It's been nineteen years since we became genin." Then Shizune remembered what the woman had said. "What did you mean we are being ordered to return to the village? Tsunade-sensei said the Hokage had given us indefinite leave."

"Exactly what I said. The news hasn't yet spread here, but Konoha was attacked by an alliance of three villages four days ago. We managed to repel the attack, but casualties were extremely heavy. Thousands are dead, the Sandaime among them. We need every shinobi and especially every medic nin we can get back in the village as quickly as possible. There are just so many injured that need professional help. The outbreak of the next shinobi war is a very real possibility, too."

If her arms hadn't been occupied by keeping Tsunade on her back Shizune would have clapped her hands before her face in horror. After a few moments conscious thought reasserted itself.

"Of course we are coming back. Although I don't know how Tsunade-sensei will react. We will have to wait until she wakes up in a few hours."

"Then I suggest we don't wake her until we are back in the village." Yugao replied nonchalantly.

Shizune blinked in confusion. "But that will take a week, longer if we have to carry her. You must have run the entire way to get here in only four days."

All members of the group chuckled. "Oh, we have a way to travel quickly. Do you have everything you need with you?" Seeing Shizune's nod, the woman turned towards her companions. "Uzumaki-san, if you would be so good? Leaving this town on foot would take too long."

The blond boy bowed. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, holder of the swallow summoning contract and provider of our mode of transportation. I think we need a bit more space, the roof there should be large enough."

In the next moment the boy climbed the wall. After hesitating for a second Shizune followed while Genma picked up Tonton. The pig made no fuss after looking at Shizune for guidance. Making the hand seals for the summoning technique, Naruto placed his hands on the ground. Then a house-sized swallow materialized from the smoke. It yawned before turning sleepy eyes at the group.

"Sorry for disturbing your rest, but we need to get back to the village quickly." Naruto said.

"Oh, that's no problem; the others warned me. It's my turn anyway. I just finished my nap. Come on, hop on board."

Shizune simply stared at the large bird in silence while Yugao took Tsunade from her and settled her on the bird's back. A boy not even half her age had a summoning contract, one with flying summons she had never heard of no less. Tsunade had never allowed her to sign the slug contract. She felt envy bloom in her chest, but she quickly squashed the feeling. Caring for her master was her purpose in life.

Shaking these feelings off, she retrieved Tonton from Genma and climbed on the back of the swallow. When everyone was there the bird jumped into the air, quickly gaining altitude. The town soon dwindled to a tiny cluster of lights in a sea of darkness.

"This is so cool." Then Shizune realized she had said that out loud and blushed while Tonton oinked in agreement.

Naruto laughed. "Everyone says that. I agree completely."

The swallow they were riding on made itself known. "You can safely rest. I will make sure none of you rolls off my back by accident."

Shizune was tired, but she didn't want to sleep yet. She had never before flown in the air. Even in the darkness of the night there was much to see. Pinpricks of light marked villages or towns. When they entered the clouds it took her by surprise; the darkness wet against her face. A minute later they broke through the clouds and Shizune gasped. Star- and moonlight turned the top of the clouds into a wonderland.

'_This is so beautiful.'_

She watched for a long time until she felt herself nodding off. Her last thoughts were about their return to Konoha. The circumstances might be bad, but Shizune was glad to return to the village. She was fiercely loyal to Tsunade, but when she was honest with herself she had become increasingly frayed and tired in the last months. It hurt her to see her master slowly destroy herself. Shizune knew Tsunade would never have agreed to returning to the village, but she was convinced they simply couldn't continue as they had. It was the main reason she had agreed so quickly. If they presented Tsunade with a fait accompli it would be much more difficult for her teacher to simply leave.

Everything would be fine.

* * *

><p>It was during the darkest part of the night when shadows high above Konoha congealed into a physical shape, assuming the form of a black-and-white barn owl hidden from mortal eyes. The darkness proved not the slightest hindrance to his intelligent, supernaturally sharp eyes as he took in his surroundings.<p>

For a moment his gaze lingered on the shinobi village. The world had changed a great deal during his millennia-long imprisonment. There was so much he had to learn. Well, learning and collecting knowledge was his nature. Ever since he had regained his freedom a few days ago he had sent his servants across the world, but his current task was one for himself. It was here that the event had taken place that had resounded through the entire world and finally ended his imprisonment. He had come here to determine what exactly had happened. That was not without its risks, but the information would be very valuable. Additionally he was naturally very curious.

'_One demon made of the darkness found in human hearts, one demon that was once part of the Devourer of Gods, traces of a second demon of the same nature, two unknown gods. Curious indeed.' _the owl-shaped being surmised after the initial survey. Confrontations of this nature and magnitude left traces behind the knowledgeable could interpret.

The emotion-devouring demon wasn't really worthy of his notice; those were a dime a dozen, even if this particular specimen seemed to have been especially powerful.

The presence of the two gods was surprising. He knew of every significant god and demon yet these two were not among those he could identify. It was always possible they had newly ascended or entered this world from elsewhere, but that should have been noticeable to him even in his prison. There shouldn't be any new gods of such power. He got some vague impression of the domains they had used in the battle as well as their power level (which was impressive), but nothing really definitive.

Now, the other two demons originating from the Juubi were far more interesting. He had been already imprisoned for quite some time when the cursed Sage trapped and split the Devourer of Gods, but his fading view of the world had allowed him to at least indirectly observe the event. Not to mention that the miserable mongrel had stolen the knowledge of how to do it from him amongst countless other information. Stolen! From him! Then the wretch had even possessed the audacity to imprison him in his own library, cut off from the world but still part of it. Due to being stuck in between he had not even been able to leave this world and find a new one. It still made his feathers stand on end. At least his curse that every use of the knowledge the Sage had gained should work to his detriment had worked, not that he had been the only one to curse the mongrel. Even the spawn of the Allfather could not resist indefinitely once the curses started to pile up.

From how things looked the power of one of the demons was bound in a mortal while the other one had gained its freedom in this very spot, both from its imprisonment in a mortal and from the dominion of the cursed Sage. Later it had been defeated, but not destroyed. It had been changed before it disappeared into a general western direction without directly touching the real world. Taking the trail of sand into account it was probably headed for the desert as a natural habitat. A wound had been torn into the world, but fortunately it had closed almost immediately. Still, this place would remain a weak spot in the fabric of reality for decades, offering all sorts of possibilities for those inclined to make use of the churning chaos beyond the world. Even more interesting was the presence of magic. The cursed Sage had largely banished it in his effort to reshape the world according to his wishes, but here it flowed freely again.

'_Soon this won't be the only place. Others are awakening. Quite a few of them will want to undo the cursed Sage's work.'_

The actual source of the magic was conspicuously obscured and warded. Most likely the battle had been fought over ownership of that place. Considering the overall situation it was probably home to the two unknown gods. The owl-shaped being continued to gather information and draw conclusions, gaining much new knowledge in the process. He collected knowledge for knowledge's sake, but this information might prove a very valuable object of bartering in the conflicts that would surely erupt soon. Suddenly he became aware of a supernatural being casting searching feelers around. Apparently his presence had been noticed.

Having learned all he safely could and not wanting to risk an encounter, the physical form of He-who-knows-ten-thousand-things dissolved into darkness, the spirit returning to his distant home faster than any owl could fly.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

In the past I replied to every review, but the increasing number (a fact that I'm very grateful for) makes that a very time intensive task. Considering my increasingly sparse free time I will no longer write a reply to every review. I will continue to answer questions or reply to especially thoughtful reviews, but even that might take me a while.

Uchiha Massacre: The Sandaime tolerating Danzo and the councilors going behind his back in such a manner without any retribution strikes me as incredibly unlikely. That would make the old man an incompetent doormat and complete tool. Giving his tacit approval for the massacre seems far more likely, especially since I don't believe that he, Homura and Koharu truly intended to wipe out the entire Uchiha clan, the sharingan is too valuable a bloodline for that. Danzo is probably another matter.

Sometimes I wonder about canon-Sasuke and Itachi's actions regarding him. Mind-raping an already traumatized eight year old so that he can see nothing besides his hate and desire for revenge surely is a bad way to go about things. Then he mind-raped Sasuske again when he attacked him (although I find it more likely that Sasuke had a subconscious death wish). Itachi's back-up plan for when Sasuke breaks under the pressure and turns against Konoha? Mind-rape him a third time with an even stronger jutsu. If that is Itachi's definition of brotherly love I don't think Sasuke needs any enemies.

So long and a Merry Christmas.


	39. Chapter 38: Getting into position

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 38: Getting into position**

Yakumo woke with a muffled cry. It took her a moment to realize that she was in the safety of her bed and not trapped in a burning house like she had been during the invasion.

'_It was only a nightmare.'_

Nightmares had become a constant companion since the invasion, especially since Naruto had left for his mission. They weren't completely gone when he was there, but they were better. Taking a few deep breaths, Yakumo calmed herself down. The dim light shining through the shutters meant that it was around dawn and she had to get up. With a sigh she carefully disentangled herself from Ino. This time there seemed to have been no _incidents_. They had tried sleeping apart the night before, but after the first really bad nightmare they had returned to sleeping in the same bed. Holding someone really made a big difference.

When Yakumo left the bed Ino stirred and blinked sleepily at her. Then she looked at the window for a moment before burying her head in the pillow. "It's too early… Five minutes more…"

"Okay, but if you aren't up in ten I'll get a bucket of water."

Ino looked up again. "You wouldn't dare."

Yakumo gave her an evil smile. "Try me. We have to report to the mission office in an hour and I won't let us be late."

The blond girl settled down again and waved her away. "Whatever."

Shaking her head, Yakumo headed to the wardrobe. Ino had always some trouble to get into gear in the mornings. Oh, she could wake and get to full readiness immediately whenever it was truly necessary (that was a survival skill, after all), but she was not a morning person by nature.

After picking out her clothes for the day and stowing away her nightwear Yakumo made a short detour to the bathroom, a towel slung around her hips. The water supply was still not working right. At least in their section of Konoha there was some water flowing through the pipes again, but it smelled and looked funny and was unsuitable for drinking, cooking or washing. They still had to use the barrel collecting rainwater in the backyard for that or get water from one of the public, jury-rigged cisterns. The rainy last days had provided them with enough water for a while, fortunately.

Descending the stairs, Yakumo suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. The smell of fresh bread wafted enticingly from the kitchen. When Yakumo looked into the room she saw that a fresh loaf and a few other purchases had been deposited on the kitchen table, but no one was there. The other rooms were similarly empty. Then she spotted the laundry basket. A set of Naruto's usual clothing filled it.

'_Is he already back?'_

A faint splash from the direction of the backyard caught Yakumo's attention. With hurried steps she crossed the hallway and opened the back door. Naruto was there in the back yard, cleaning himself up. For a few seconds Yakumo just stood in silence. Then she ran forward, engulfed her surprised boyfriend in a hug that almost bowled him over and kissed him.

"You're back! I missed you so much." she got out between kisses.

It was true. Naruto had been gone for only two days and nights, but it had seemed far longer. Being on a different schedule caused by their separate teams had always brought its share of problems. The training period of the chunin exams had actually allowed them to spend more time together daily than since their graduation. Being separated again so shortly after the horrors of the invasion was not easy.

For a moment Yakumo wondered why Naruto wasn't replying and why he was looking at her with somewhat glazed eyes and a faraway expression. Then she realized their exact position as the sensations her body sent her sank in. She had only been wearing a towel that she had lost in her dash from the door. Naruto had been washing himself. There wasn't a scrap of cloth between them.

Yakumo's face lit up with a truly impressive blush while several thoughts raced in her head. _'This feels good. The tree in the yard shields us from being seen from the neighboring houses. This feels very good. I want this. Naruto looks adorable with that gobsmacked expression. I want him.'_

In that moment Naruto found his voice. "Yakumo, I…"

She silenced him with another kiss. Words would only destroy the moment. The sensation of his wet skin on hers felt so good, especially as they slowly moved against each other. She gripped him tighter and felt his hands on her back. Her body was growing hot and her heart sped up as the kissing continued. Slowly Naruto sat down on the stool they kept in the yard and Yakumo shifted into his lap. For a moment their lips parted and she held his gaze. It was full of emotion she was sure was mirrored in her own eyes.

Lust.

Desire.

Love.

Yakumo felt Naruto's stiff member pressing against her as she continued to slowly move against him. Their hands began to wander over each other's bodies and Yakumo lost herself in the moment. A moan escaped her lips when Naruto shifted the attention of his lips from her mouth to her neck. She completely lost track of time as her arousal grew.

This felt so good, but soon Yakumo wanted more. She wanted to feel Naruto inside her, become his and make him hers. It would probably hurt somewhat and maybe they were still too young, but she was past caring. If she lifted herself just _so_…

Suddenly Naruto stopped moving, his arms preventing her from completing the motion as planned. She could still feel his hardness against her, but the angle was wrong for him to enter her. "Yakumo, please stop."

"Why? I want this. I love you. Don't you want this?" she said.

Naruto's expression had changed. The love and desire were still there, but tightly controlled. He was now completely in control again. It was a rare thing for him to be truly unguarded and she didn't understand why he thought it necessary to reassert his self-control now of all times instead of simply going with the moment.

"I love you and I do want this, but not now."

"Why then?"

"Because it's too early. Because we need to talk about some important things I should have spoken with you about long ago. Because I need to be at the Hokage's office in half an hour at the latest. Because I want to do this right." Naruto's head twitched slightly. "Eh, and we have an audience."

That last part was sufficient to snap Yakumo out of her mood and she hurriedly turned her head. A towel-clad Ino was standing in the doorway and staring openmouthed at them. It took Ino a moment to realize they were looking at her. Then she blushed hard, snapped her mouth shut and shook herself out of her daze. "Uh, sorry. I was still half asleep when I came down and didn't notice in time. I… just wait inside until you have finished, okay?"

Without waiting for an answer she turned around, closing the door behind her. Yakumo looked back at Naruto. He was patiently waiting for her response. She wanted him so badly, but her boyfriend was right. They were on a schedule and she didn't want their first time to be some hurried mess. She didn't want to think about the other things he had said at the moment.

Yakumo sighed. "Okay. I and Ino need to be at the mission office anyway. We will talk about this later."

She reluctantly released her tight hold on him and stood up. Breaking the contact was one of the more difficult things she had done in her life, but self-control was one of the essential shinobi skills she had been drilled in from an early age. Her breathing and the beating of her heart were still at elevated levels, her entire body was flushed and she felt hot wetness between her thighs that had nothing to do with the water on Naruto's body.

When they cleaned up Yakumo couldn't help but sneak glances at Naruto. He was a little taller than a few months before, his muscles just a little bit more defined. It was the same for her. She had gained more height, her hips had become broader and her breasts a little bigger. Bit by bit they were growing up. Not simply resuming their earlier activities was an incredibly frustrating task. At this opportunity Yakumo was very glad that the water from the rain barrel was very, very cold.

Several minutes later the now fully-clothed genin sat around the table for breakfast, for the moment pretending the scene in the backyard didn't happen.

"We didn't expect you back so soon, Naruto." Ino said.

Naruto nodded after he took a bite out of his bread. "Without the swallows it would have taken weeks or maybe even over a month. Five hours ago I was three quarters the way to the border with Fang Country. Fortunately I caught some sleep while in-flight."

"What exactly was your mission anyway? You were pretty tight-lipped when you left." Yakumo remarked.

"I guess I can tell you now, it will be all over the village soon. We were sent to retrieve Tsunade of the Sannin and her apprentice. She headed immediately to the hospital, but Tsunade will have to talk with the village leaders first." Naruto explained.

"Wow, that was an important mission. It will look good on your record."

"I guess. I have no idea what the mission was ranked as or what I will be paid for it." Naruto answered.

"How is Tsunade anyway? There are so many stories about her." Ino asked.

Naruto shrugged. "No idea. I didn't actually speak with her. I think her nickname is completely justified, though."

Yakumo blinked. "Then how did you get her to come back? She hasn't been in Konoha for over a decade."

At this Naruto smiled in a decidedly sinister manner. "When we got to the town where Tsunade and her apprentice were staying it was already the middle of the night. My swallows had tracked them to a bar. We waited until they left before making contact and, well, Tsunade had passed out from drinking by then. Shizune, that's her apprentice, had no objections coming back. Tsunade probably would have resisted though, so Yugao decided not to bother and let her sleep it off. She's currently in the building next to the Hokage's office. Shikamaru's dad will have to deal with her once she wakes up."

After a moment of incredulity Yakumo and Ino giggled. It soon devolved into full-blown laughter when Naruto retold the full details of the mission. The mental image of one of the Sannin, one of the strongest shinobi in all the Elemental Nations, being carried away like a sack of rice was just too funny.

"So, did anything important happen while I was gone?" Naruto asked when the laughter had died down.

"You can say that. Just a few hours after you were gone Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki attacked the village. They were driven off before they reached the village proper, but we did suffer several dozen casualties." Ino explained. "Sasuke ran off to confront his brother against orders and landed himself in the hospital with genjutsu damage and several broken bones. The idiot just had to pick a fight far out of his league after all the trouble I went through to patch him together after his fight with Gaara. There will probably some fallout for him; the people in the defense force are pissed since some of them died because of his interference. It did real damage to his reputation. There are many different stories about the encounter. Mizuki-sensei was there, too, but none of us found the time to talk with him about it. From what I heard he actually managed to wound Kisame with one of his original jutsu."

Yakumo had been watching Naruto attentively while Ino chattered away. Therefore she noticed the details of his expression. There was no surprise about the attack, but something different, dismay perhaps.

'_That's curious. Did he know something about the two missing nin or did he even expect them showing up?'_

* * *

><p>Kisame frowned in thought when he examined the landscape outside the town in the morning light before he headed towards a specific copse. After it had become obvious that their target had some means of high-speed transportation that made it impossible to catch up he and Itachi had stopped the chase, not that they could find out where exactly the jinchuuriki had gone with the town asleep anyway.<p>

Itachi was currently still sleeping. His stamina hadn't yet completely recovered from the bad cold that had delayed them from reaching Konoha at the planned date. The battle against the Leaf forces and especially the two days of giving chase had put some strain on them. Oh, they could have continued for a couple of days without too many problems, but there was no reason to unnecessarily push and tire themselves.

'_At least that way Itachi can't destroy any evidence when I'm not looking.'_

Kisame was well aware that Itachi's ultimate loyalty to Akatsuki was questionable. Itachi practically announcing the identity of their target in front of the Leaf shinobi two days ago had been the last proof he needed. Shinobi of their caliber didn't let such information slip by accident. For now he would say nothing and simply act as if he didn't notice anything.

'_Mizukage-sama was right. What a shame.'_

The ex-Kiri shinobi had considered Itachi a friend and felt a certain kinship; both had betrayed the people close to them. Now it looked like his partner was still loyal to Konoha and trying to subtly sabotage Akatsuki from within. It made him secretly wonder what had truly happened during the Uchiha massacre. As long as Itachi was still a net plus for Akatsuki he could be allowed to live; during their not Konoha-related work there had been no problems. Despite his treason it would be a sad day when Itachi died. Kisame didn't have many people he could relate to and even a doomed friendship was better than none.

'_I should have known better than expect anything else in this world of lies.'_

Well, bringing about the world of truth was the reason he had defected from Kiri and joined Akatsuki in the first place at the command of Madara Uchiha, the true Yondaime Mizukage. Yagura was only a mind-controlled puppet. The only jinchuuriki to ever make Kage of a major village was probably dead by now; the plan had been to catch him at the same time as Konoha's and Suna's jinchuuriki. All nine tailed beasts were needed to make Madara's Eye of the Moon plan a reality and strip all the lies away.

Sometimes Kisame wondered how many members of Akatsuki actually believed in that idiot Pain's plan to bring about world peace by creating a weapon out of the tailed beasts. In all likelihood it was only he and that woman Konan. Granted, the purported goal in the inner circle was attaining world domination with the power of the tailed beasts. Sasori and Kakuzu probably believed that, although the latter one was mainly in for the money. Deidara had been pretty much press-ganged by Itachi who was now ascertained as a Konoha spy. Orochimaru had only wanted to use Akatsuki's resources before his defection. Madara (currently posing as associate member Tobi), Zetsu and Kisame himself had their Eye of the Moon plan. He had no idea what the various other associated members not in the inner circle thought. It was a wonder Akatsuki wasn't tearing itself apart in light of all these different goals.

'_Well, well, well, what have we here?'_

The tall man crouched down to better examine the ground in the clearing. There were some slight indications that someone had been here, but nothing definitive. Thanks to the drizzling rain in the last days the ground was rather soft and malleable, making it easy for footprints to form. On the other hand more than a day had passed since the jinchuuriki had passed through here. Considering their targets were shinobi who paid attention to such things they would leave barely any tracks if any at all. That meant Kisame had to rely on deductive reasoning if he wanted to find out more. He already knew that a group of two adult shinobi and his target had left Konoha on the morning two days ago and arrived at this town on the afternoon of the same day only to leave again one or two hours later. They had to have some special mode of transportation to travel such a long distance in so short a time, maybe an obscure speed or teleportation technique or more likely some sort of summon. Logic and the questioning of the local populace dictated they would try to keep that secret, meaning they would use it out of sight of other travelers. Kisame solution was to simply examine the spots around the town he would use for such a purpose.

Finally he spotted something interesting in the third clearing. The turf had been damaged by something big. Time and rain had smudged the tracks, but it had not been sufficient to erase everything.

'_Some sort of claw imprint… a giant bird? Yes, that seems right. It was summoned here, then made a few steps to make it easier for the humans to climb on top of it. These imprints are deeper, meaning it pushed itself off the ground. There is no way something that big can travel through the trees.' _Kisame grimaced. _'Great, a flying summon.'_

He stood up with a grunt and left the clearing towards the hut where Itachi was resting. This meant their hunt was officially over. There was no way for them to catch a target with that sort of mobility advantage. Pain and more importantly Madara would not be pleased.

'_I wonder if Itachi genuinely did not get that piece of information from the Konoha shinobi he interrogated or if he deliberately held it back.'_

* * *

><p>Tsunade woke with a pounding headache. One of her self-developed medical techniques reduced it to manageable levels and she looked around the room. A window was closed by stutters, but light and the sounds of a busy town were seeping through. Tonton was napping in a basket in a corner. A wash basin and fresh clothing had been laid out. The furniture was of good quality, but somehow it didn't look like a hotel.<p>

_'Where did Shizune get us to this time?'_

After washing and clothing herself Tsunade stepped to the window and looked outside. Then she froze. It couldn't be. There were ninja with Leaf headbands all over the place and she recognized this street. She was back in Konoha.

"SHIZUNE!"

* * *

><p>Shikaku Nara nodded in acceptance when Yugao Uzuki finished her report. He wasn't that happy about the fact that he would have to deal with Tsunade once she woke up, but this was still better than the retrieval team risking a confrontation with uncertain outcome. Still, judging from her profile she would be furious. That meant he would have to resort to a rather risky subset of his plans to deal with her.<p>

"What about Shizune Kato?"

"We sent her immediately to the hospital, Nara-sama." Yugao answered. "You were still resting when we arrived an hour ago and it seemed to be the best course of action."

That was understandable. Shikaku had only slept the bare minimum to retain a clear head in the last few days. No one would want to disturb his urgently needed rest (that he had spent on a cot in an adjoining room) if there wasn't an emergency. He wanted to talk with Shizune, but it wasn't that urgent. The sooner the woman got up to speed and began treating people the better.

"Very well. Your speedy retrieval of Tsunade was good work. Rest for now. If you don't receive any new orders please report to the mission office tomorrow. Uzumaki-san, please stay for a moment." Shikaku waited until the two jonin had left the room before he addressed Naruto. "Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha attacked the village two days ago. A fact currently not publically known is that you were their target."

Naruto blinked. "They came for me specifically?"

"Indeed." Shikaku steepled his fingers. "The following information is not exactly confidential, but it would be better if the number of persons who know this remains as small as possible. Both Itachi and Kisame are part of a mercenary organization known as Akatsuki. Details are sketchy due to their secretive nature, but they are employed by clients unwilling to turn to the villages or even some villages for missions they deem to difficult to handle. From the reports of their activity they operate from a base in the Land of Water, but this is speculation. There are eight other primary members beside Itachi and Kisame as well as an unknown number of associated members. It is likely at least the other members of the inner circle are of S-rank or nearly so. Unfortunately we have no further information regarding their identities or goals."

"They want the Kyuubi, don't they?"

Shikaku nodded, pleased by Naruto's quick uptake. "Yes. The power of a tailed beast is immense and is coveted by many. There are little-known ways to extract the tailed beast from a jinchuuriki and transfer it to another host. Suffice to say that is lethal for the old host."

He let that sink in for a few seconds. Naruto didn't seem especially surprised and met his gaze steadily with a serious expression.

'_Good. He understands but isn't panicking. There isn't any need to know for him about Itachi's role.'_

"In light of this development you will stay in Konoha for now. With Akatsuki thrown in the international situation is too volatile to risk you. We still don't know if other villages will try and attack us. Kumo, Kiri and Iwa each have two jinchuuriki they could bring to bear and while there are countermeasures we can take against them we might need the Kyuubi's power. It would be… disadvantageous if you were away on a mission." Shikaku allowed himself to chuckle. "I'm sure that will be a disappointment to many people. Since it has become known you hold the swallow summoning contract there has been a stream of requests for your services."

"Have there been many such requests?"

"Thirty-seven yesterday alone."

Naruto blinked again. "That's… a lot."

"Flying summons are very rare. As your last mission shows the advantage they offer is considerable. Anyway, I would like to request that you keep sufficient swallows in the vicinity of Konoha to act as a secondary warning system if they consent. Otherwise you are free to do as you like. Some of the nearer training fields have been cleared and are available to you if you want to train. You aren't required to stay on alert, but please stay available for contact." Shikaku ordered.

The blond boy nodded. "I will leave some swallows at my home that will know where to find me. Some things I plan on doing require some amount of quiet and isolation."

"Good, that is acceptable. Dismissed."

After the jinchuuriki had left Shikaku turned to all the other issues that had piled up during his sleep. Secretaries came and went, dumping documents on his desk and relaying his orders. The success of the Tsunade retrieval mission was a good start to the day. Step by step the chaos was brought under control and Konoha's internal structure reorganized. Lists of living, injured and dead shinobi were recompiled along with their skill sets. Successors to deceased department heads and other vacant leadership positions were appointed, teams and squads reformed. There were a whole slew of promotions to take care of. Some were due to skill, others due to political necessity.

'_Now, what to do about the academy?'_

They had to start up training the children again; any long delay would cause consequences down the line. Most of the sixth and seventh year students could be integrated into the genin force without too many problems by assigning them to a chunin, but the fifth and especially the fourth years would need a crash course. The problem was adjusting the curriculum to a war setting and finding enough qualified teachers. Unfortunately most of the surviving, experienced able-bodied instructors were needed for the fighting forces. If things went badly they would need everyone who could see lightning, hear thunder and throw a kunai straight. There were enough now invalid (either temporary or permanent) shinobi who could take over, but they would need close supervision and leadership. The main problem was finding someone to oversee the effort. The administrative top of the education department had perished to a man in the invasion and there was no readily apparent successor.

There were quite a lot of potential candidates, but one name in particular caught Shikaku's attention when he scanned the files.

'_Several years of recent teaching experience, that's good. He has the backing of the Aburame and Akimichi. Homura recommended him. He distinguished himself by defending the academy during the invasion. The students he supervised in a study group have shown extraordinary performance, the jinchuuriki included. Shikamaru mentioned him in a positive manner, too. Asuma gave him a recommendation for his performance in the battle against Kisame and Itachi and spoke highly of his relationship with his nephew. There are some questionable things in his past career, but nothing was ever proven; it's most likely malicious slander by rivals. Yes, he seems to be the best choice.'_

From what he saw in the file the man had considerable talent as a jutsu creator or as an elite instructor like Ebisu, but in the current situation Shikaku needed someone capable of overseeing the training program more urgently. After ordering one of the secretaries to schedule a meeting with the man for the afternoon he turned to the next matter.

A task force to take out the closest of Orochimaru's known bases was being assembled and would leave by midday. Sending out such a large force was somewhat risky, but staying on the defensive was a losing proposition. They had to take out Oto's remaining war-fighting capability as soon as possible. Sky had disappeared and Suna's retreating forces had probably crossed the border to the Land of Rivers on their way home by now or would do so in the immediate future. It grated on Shikaku that he had to let them leave uncontested, but Konoha just couldn't afford any further losses in a battle they didn't absolutely have to fight. The news of the invasion should have reached the other great shinobi villages already depending on the placement of their spies, but it would probably be several days until he learned of their reaction. Their own intelligence network was in bad shape. The surprise of the invasion was a testament to that fact. The situation was made worse by the many deaths of the people in the know; they had to dig through countless files to find the information. Currently they had no true overview over their intelligence resources, not yet. What they did find didn't fill Shikaku with joy, though.

'_Even before the invasion Konoha was in far worse shape than anyone thought. We were stumbling towards a collapse in a long, slow decline and no one noticed. Has the Will of Fire failed us?'_

Worse, Shikaku now realized that he had played a not inconsiderable part in bringing that situation about as one of the village's leaders. It was a sobering thought, but he couldn't allow himself illusions. Now that they sorted through everything and made an honest survey in the wake of the invasion it became more and more undeniable. Konoha had become complacent and weak.

His dark thoughts were interrupted when Homura entered the office, looking very tired. The councilor had left yesterday to take a survey of Konoha's water supply and underground infrastructure.

"How did it go?" Shikaku asked.

The old man shook his head in dismay. "Badly. It's a mess down there. Most of the deeper layers of the underground are completely inaccessible. Even the majority of the uppermost tunnels have collapsed. The earthquakes did enormous damage. We managed to get some water flowing yesterday to make the canalization work, but anything more is out of the question. All the wells, rivers and other bodies of water are contaminated, either from the corpses, rubble or from the runoff of the mountains. For the foreseeable future we will have to rely on the new cisterns. Water is seeping into the tunnels, flooding them. I fear for the stability of the foundations. The head of the builders agrees."

Before Shikaku could answer an extremely loud, anger-filled cry could be heard. "SHIZUNE!"

Shikaku sighed. "It seems Tsunade has woken up." He addressed the nearest secretary. "Let her through when she comes here and prepare a light breakfast."

Then he leant back, mentally preparing himself for the confrontation that was about to come. He had read the file and Yugao's group had reported what Shizune had to say about her master. This would be difficult. Homura took a seat in the corner of the room, almost fading out of sight. Shikaku didn't have to wait long until he heard shouting and heavy footsteps coming closer. Then the door to his office flew open with a bang, revealing a furious Tsunade.

She pointed a finger at him. "You!"

"A good morning to you, too. Welcome back to Konoha." he answered in a completely calm voice.

"You abducted me!"

Shikaku gave her a completely unperturbed look. "I believe it is usually called a recall order. You are a kunoichi of the Leaf, after all. Konoha has need of your abilities."

"I refuse! You can't simply order me around. I swore I would never come back here."

"The authority invested in me by the Emergency council says I can. Sarutobi gave you indefinite leave and allowed you to do what you wanted. That is now over. I will no longer allow your skills to go to waste."

"As if I care. I did enough for Konoha. I have lost too many people. Only fools believe in the village. I'm leaving and you can't stop me." Tsunade spat out before she turned around.

Shikaku's voice assumed a dangerous tone. "If you leave through that door you will be declared a missing nin, Sannin or no."

Tsunade whirled around. "You wouldn't dare!"

"I dare more than you would think. No longer will the Leaf settle the debts you leave behind in every town. No one will lend you any money. I will petition the Fire Daimyo to declare you an outlaw. No one will house you or do business with you. In the unlikely event your apprentice joins you she will share your fate. You will be all alone before you will be hunted down."

"You can't treat me like this! My brother gave his life for the village! I'm the Shodaime's granddaughter!"

"SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

For a moment it seemed as if Tsunade would continue with her tirade, but evidently thought better of it. With a huff she sat down.

"Better. Thousands are dead, the fourth shinobi war might already have started and everyone is doing everything humanly possible to hold the village together. I have no time for you acting like a petulant child. Yes, you have suffered losses. So has everyone else. My sister, four of my nephews and nieces and all of my close cousins died five days ago. One of my two closest friends is dead and the other will never fight again. We need every medic-nin we have. There are hundreds who need treatment."

Tsunade was about to speak up, but Shikaku continued without pause. "I know you suffer from hemophobia. You can still make diagnoses, conduct non-invasive procedures, research treatments as well as advise and train other medics. I repeat, we literally need everyone."

The Sannin was about to reply heatedly when a look of confusion appeared on her face. Apparently she had come here immediately without realizing Konoha's status or allowing his earlier words to sink in. "Wait, what invasion? What happened?"

"Suna broke the alliance and tried to destroy us along with Soragakure and Otogakure. The latter one was founded by Orochimaru. He controlled the Kazekage and personally killed Sarutobi before escaping. We barely managed to survive, but there were many losses. Walk through the village and see for yourself. Then visit the hospital. If you still want to leave at the end of the day then do so. No one will stop you."

It seemed that had been sufficient to calm the woman down. "I see. Do I have your word on that?"

Shikaku nodded. When Tsunade had left he let out a relieved sigh. "That could have gone worse."

Homura made himself known for the first time in several minutes. "You took a risk there. If she had turned violent I'm not sure we could have stopped her. She might still leave."

In answer Shikaku let the shadows in the room twitch before letting go of the technique. "I know. It is likely she could have overpowered me despite my preparations, but I had to take the gamble." A smile flittered over his face for a moment. "Tsunade never wins gambles. Anyway, once she has time to see Konoha's situation with her own eyes she will not be able to turn her back on us. She thinks with her heart, not with her brain. I just had to buy time for that to be possible."

The old man nodded. "True, Tsunade was always rather emotional. I noticed you didn't bring up her being considered as one of the Hokage candidates."

"Now was not the time. People aspiring to become Hokage are one of her issues. If I had said anything about the matter it would have surely come to blows."

"That is probably true." Homura suddenly yawned. "My apologies, I had no opportunity to rest. If there is nothing else I will retire for a few hours."

Left alone for the moment, Shikaku sighed.

'_Inoichi, I wish you were still here. I could use your advice on how to deal with troublesome women.'_

Letting the confrontation escalate had been a gamble, but he had seen no other way. Tsunade had a monstrous temper and a stubbornness to match. He knew the Sandaime and Jiraiya had practically begged her to return after the Kyuubi attack and she had flatly refused. Shikaku had no intention of being so lenient or play fair. Their situation simply didn't allow it anymore.

* * *

><p>Choji gave his bed-ridden father and his mother a last hug before leaving the house and making his way to the mission office. He was really glad his parents had survived. His father was still recovering and tired easily. Yesterday he had stepped down as clan head in favor of his uncle although he retained the seat on the village council. A clan head had to be able to fight and Choza's fighting days were over for good. Instead he would assume a place on the Akimichi's council of elders. Since his uncle didn't have any children Choji would remain the clan heir, but currently he was too young and inexperienced to take over the clan head position himself.<p>

On the way several people greeted him jovially. Practically everyone in the village now knew him and not because he was the heir to a great clan. His fight with the Ichibi had been widely visible and garnered him no small amount of prestige. He had practically become a celebrity. Going hand-to-hand with a tailed beast and surviving to tell the tale was a rare feat. He had total strangers offering to pay his meals and drinks for him. Heck, sometimes children were following him around with awed expressions and more than once he had seen them reenacting the fight. The looks various girls gave him made him uncomfortable, though. He felt like a prime steak at one of his clan's festivities.

Naruto had gained a similar reputation (his swallow summons played no small part), but his was somewhat tainted by fear. He being a jinchuuriki had become public knowledge after the Sandaime's law had been lifted. Many people had observed the aerial battle against Sky… and Naruto using the Kyuubi's power to obliterate Sky's flying fortress along with a mountain. The remains were clearly visible from a good part of the village. His friend probably didn't even know about that; life in the village had only gained a semblance of normality in the last two days when he was already gone on a mission.

When Choji arrived on the plaza in front of the new mission office there were already a lot of people milling around.

"Hey Choji, over here!" came a shout. Looking in the direction, Choji spotted Ino and Yakumo waving. Making his way to them, Choji greeted them amicably.

"Do you know what this is about?" he asked.

Yakumo shrugged. "No idea. I didn't see anyone else from our graduation cycle. There are other news, though. Naruto came back no even an hour ago; his mission was a full success. He didn't encounter any difficulties."

"That's good to hear. Is he here, too?"

"No, he had to report directly to Shikamaru's father." Ino answered.

Before they could talk further several people left the mission office, Team 8's sensei Kurenai Yuhi among them. A moment later they separated into pairs. "ATTENTION! You are here to be assigned to a new formation. Form up in lines. When your name is called step forward and join the jonin who called you. Explanations will follow."

Names were called in quick succession. Soon Choji along with Ino and Yakumo were called by Kurenai and took position behind her. Choji recognized the man at her side as Ebisu, a special jonin and renowned private instructor. More and more people joined them until their group consisted of fifteen people.

After consulting a list Kurenai nodded towards Ebisu and led them into one of the empty houses besides the improvised mission office. From the looks of it the interior had been hastily remodeled into a meeting room. For a moment Choji wondered what had happened to the former residents. Maybe they had died in the invasion or found other lodgings. It was rather small for a group of their size, but soon they were more or less comfortably settled.

Kurenai addressed them after a moment of silent appraisal. "For those of you who don't know me I am Kurenai Yuhi, jonin and your superior for the foreseeable future. Special jonin Ebisu is my second in command. I am sure you are wondering what this is about. As you all know Otogakure was one of the main perpetrators of the unprovoked attack on us. The village leadership has decided such an action cannot be allowed to go unpunished. We are the third squad of Task Force Mugon that has been formed to deal with the threat of Oto under the command of Hayame Shirakumo. I will explain our plans immediately, but first there are two promotions to hand out. Choji Akimichi, Yakumo Kurama, it is my pleasure to announce that you have been promoted to chunin due to your actions during the invasion. Congratulations."

Applause followed. Choji smiled widely. He had been pretty sure he would get a promotion. It felt good to be right. Yakumo's actions, while less visible, had been likewise impressive. She had been part of the group that had engaged Gaara when he used the Ichibi's power. Later she had stalled the advance of one group of Sound ninja by turning a street into a nightmarish death trap of illusions, giving other Konoha forces enough time to form up. Ino had made a good showing in the exams and fought admirably during the invasion, but unfortunately apparently nothing had been outstanding enough to convince the higher ups it justified a promotion.

Then the introductions started. Aside from Yakumo and him there were three chunin in their squad. Bekko was the oldest one, an experienced veteran of 41 years. Hayase (whom Choji remembered as one of the disguised proctors in the chunin exams) was 24 years old. The last one was Iwashi Tatami, a member of the Intelligence Department and 23 years old.

The 38 year-old Manabu Akado was the oldest of the eight genin while Inaho, Minoji and Katsumi Inuzuka were about twenty. The first three had been participants of the chunin exams, but only Minoji's team had reached the second phase before failing. Tetsuya was in his late twenties, Yoshito and Toshio both sixteen.

"Now that we are all acquainted let's move on to the next topic. Konoha has acquired intelligence about the location of several of Oto's bases. We will destroy those bases. You have three hours to take care of your affairs until we head out. The meeting point for our squad is at the northern gate. Dismissed. Choji, Ino, Yakumo, please stay."

Once the other members of the squad had filed out Kurenai resumed speaking. "I already know the question you want to ask most urgently. The normal teams are suspended for the time being, but not dissolved. Shinji left with the councilor Koharu Utatane for the Fire capital along with Asuka from Team 10. Since Anko and Hinata are currently incapacitated and Naruto on a mission of his own I requested you, Choji. I hope you are okay with that?"

Choji gave her a smile. He had gotten to know Kurenai well enough during the time of the team's joint training for the chunin exams and knew she and Anko were close friends. "Don't worry, I understand."

"Sensei, Naruto returned this morning." Yakumo interjected.

Kurenai seemed surprised for a moment. "That was fast. I was given to understand he would be gone for a few weeks. Unfortunately it's too late to request him for this task group. Anyway, there is another matter I wanted to speak with you about." She paused for a moment. "Choji, Yakumo, please don't take this the wrong way. Your conduct during the invasion was truly impressive and you earned those promotions, but it is too early. You do not yet have the experience for the rank; you haven't even spent a year as genin. There are many essential things you don't know."

That could have offended Choji, but he knew it was true. They had the combat strength and theoretical knowledge befitting of a chunin, but they lacked practical experience. "We know we have much to learn, sensei. Is there anything we can do about it?"

Team 8's sensei nodded. "There is. Whenever there is time during the mission either I, Ebisu or Bekko will give you a crash course on the essentials of command and other rank-related topics. We already covered some of it earlier and I'm sure Anko did something similar. We will include you in the command discussions and decisions, but don't expect that you will actually exercise command over the genin. You might be their superiors, but even the youngest of them have several years more experience. Ino, I will include you despite you still being a genin. That might cause some problems with the others, but some amount of favoritism is expected."

Choji and Yakumo accepted that. It wasn't ideal, but no one refused a promotion. It made Choji want to laugh when he thought of the original timetable his circle of friends had come up with. They had planned on two years until the first of them were promoted to chunin. Now half their number had already reached that rank. A catastrophe like the invasion truly offered rapid advancements and all sorts of possibilities.

Unfortunately they were still too young to make full use of everything. Had the invasion come two or three years later (not that Choji wanted it to happen in the first place) things would have been different. They would have been more powerful and their reputation would have been already established, their network of friends, contacts and allies ready to support them. If everything else had remained equal he and Ino probably would have taken over leadership of their respective clans and Yakumo would have assumed a seat on the council. They might have gained a real influence on village politics. Unfortunately it was not to be and they had to work with the situation as it was.

After exchanging a few more words with Kurenai they too took their leave. Once they were outside Yakumo made a dismayed sound. "It's so unfair. Naruto just came back and now we have to go."

Ino put a supporting hand on Yakumo's shoulder and Choji gave her a sympathetic look, but there wasn't anything he could say. In crisis situations like this orders were absolute. Being unexpectedly sent on missions on short notice was a common disadvantage of being a shinobi. It had happened often enough to his father or other relatives. Well, no one exactly ordered his father to do something; as a clan head of a great clan he was far too influential for that. Instead he was being asked to go on missions. In the end it boiled down to the same thing, though.

Choji sighed. "Well, there's no changing it. Greet Naruto from me if you see him; I don't think I'll manage to stop by before we have to leave."

"Okay, we'll do that. See you in a few hours."

Giving his friends a last wave, Choji hurried back to the Akimichi compound. He had still some packing to do and saying goodbye to his family would take a while.

* * *

><p>Anko was bored and in pain, but mostly bored. Unfortunately she couldn't sleep all the time. The drugs were taking off the edge of the pain, making it bearable. Having nothing to do and being unable to leave the bed was infinitely worse. At least she had regained the use of her left hand and could now feed herself; her right arm, neck and legs were still immobilized. Oh, she wasn't in any danger. None of her injuries had been life-threatening in the first place. Unfortunately that didn't mean they were quick and easy to heal. The medics had done all they could, but sometimes it just took time. Medical seals were intermixed with the bandages, using her own chakra to speed her recovery along. Of course, she had old man Homura check them at first opportunity when he came to visit; yes, she was that paranoid. A week or two and she would be as good as new. In the meantime she was going stir-crazy.<p>

'_Serves me right. Going after Orochimaru alone was stupid.'_

She hadn't been thinking then. When she had seen her hated teacher pass overhead the street she had been fighting in her emotions had taken over and she had given pursuit. Well, that particular endeavor had ended with her being slammed through two walls by the Kazekage. Perhaps now she would learn.

A slight rumble in her stomach reminded her that it would be mealtime soon. She didn't look forward to that. Eating led to digestion and digestion led to, well, waste products. Since she couldn't leave the bed that meant using the bedpan. Oh, how she hated the bedpan. Using that thing was simply degrading.

'_I wonder if Hinata would be able to speed up my recovery.'_

Anko sighed. Thinking of her female pupil made her depressive. They still didn't know what exactly had happened to her; she was simply unresponsive. There wasn't anything she could have done differently and yet guilt and self-doubt were gnawing at her. If she had trained her more, if she had taken her with her instead of letting her leave with the other Hyuuga visiting the stadium… There was no use thinking about what-ifs, but she couldn't help it.

For a while Anko simply brooded. Then the door opened, allowing the smell of cooking to enter the room.

"Dinner's ready!"

Anko gave the newest resident of Mizuki's house a smile. "Thank you, Moegi."

The girl gave her a small smile in return before she set the soup down where Anko could reach it. It took a while, but Anko managed to finish the meal on her own while making conversation with the girl without causing a spill. Soon the bowl was empty and Moegi took it away, leaving Anko alone once again.

Discovering that Moegi was staying with them had been a surprise to Anko when she woke, but she agreed with Mizuki's decision to take her in. The girl had lost her parents in the invasion and there was no close family left who could take care of her. She was far from the only one; the invasion had created a lot of orphans. Since the girl was part of Mizuki's class he knew her well enough and had invited her to stay with them. Anko supposed having someone in the house to watch over her injured self had been another factor in the decision. Otherwise she would have to stay in the hospital and no one liked that.

Until now the girl didn't open up, but Anko believed having a task she was responsible for helped her deal with everything. They talked often and it was only a matter of time until Moegi let her pent-up emotions out. As soon as she was more mobile (and in less pain) she would press a little harder.

Suddenly a shout disturbed the silence. "Naruto is here and wants to visit you!"

"Show him in!" she shouted back.

It didn't take long for Naruto to appear in the bedroom. "Hey, sensei. Are you any better?"

Anko chuckled lightly. "As good as can be expected considering the circumstances. I didn't expect you back so soon."

"I returned this morning." Naruto shrugged. "Excessive summoning of the swallows really helped in finding our target. We found Tsunade, waited until she was drunk enough to pass out, talked with her apprentice Shizune, loaded them onto a swallow and flew back. Easy as pie."

"You treated one of the most famous kunoichi of the Leaf like a sack of rice?" Anko asked disbelievingly. Seeing Naruto's nod she laughed long and hard. Her injuries didn't agree with that, but it was funny. "So, did anything else happen out there? I already know about Choji leaving with Kurenai."

"I'm pretty much confined to Konoha for the time being. Comes with being an important asset, I guess." Naruto said. Then a shadow seemed to settle on him. "I visited Hinata earlier today. It took some convincing, but the Hyuuga let me finally through when I threatened to go to the village leadership. Bunch of arrogant assholes. There is no change. I sat with her for an hour before I had to leave. Guess I'll try to convince Tsunade or Shizune to take a look; maybe one of them knows something the other healers don't."

That was a faint hope, but Anko wasn't about to object. They continued talking for a while about this and that. Moegi joined them and Naruto managed to cheer her up and even make her laugh once. He finally left when it was time for Anko to use the dreaded bedpan.

It was already evening when Mizuki returned from his duties. Anko heard him complimenting Moegi and sending her out to play with her friends for a while. Then he climbed the stairs and entered Anko's room. He had a dazed expression on his face when he sat down besides the bed, not really seeing anything in the room.

"I got promoted to special jonin."

"Congratulations, but there is something more or you wouldn't be in that state."

Mizuki nodded, still in that daze. "They also made me director of the academy and head of the Education Department."

If Anko hadn't been confined to her bed she would probably have hugged Mizuki in excitement. With one stroke he went from one chunin instructor among many to one of the important people in the village. Big losses in the ranks had a tendency to open opportunities like that. "That's great. Now you can make all the changes you so often talked about."

"Yes, but I wanted to get away from dealing with children. I hate teaching the brats with very few exceptions. Now I'm responsible for all of them!"

Anko couldn't help it: She laughed at him until her sides hurt fiercely.

* * *

><p>Danzo Shimura stared into the mirror in silence. The right side of his face consisted only of fresh, red and still raw scar tissue. His right ear was gone. At some places the skin was so thin that it was easy to see that even the underlying bone structure had suffered damage. He had come perilously close to dying in the invasion. Just a tiny distance deeper and his skull would have been sliced open by the Suna jonin he had never learned the name of.<p>

"I am sorry, Danzo-sama. The optic nerve is damaged beyond repair. I will be unable to implant another eye." the medic said after finishing his examination.

The old man just nodded in acceptance and sat silently while the medic re-bandaged his head. He had expected that from the initial treatment of his injuries on the day of the invasion. Shisui Uchiha's irreplaceable eye had been lost… taking his ability to mentally influence people once a day with it. His other debilitating injuries were insignificant in light of this. He still possessed his altered arm and the ten sharingan implanted in it that would allow him to cheat death, but in light of his drastically reduced combat abilities that was a questionable advantage. During the invasion he had not been able to release the suppression brace and make use of them in time. One moment he had waded through the enemy rabble like an unstoppable force of nature, in the next moment he had faced an opponent almost as skilled as him.

All his plans were in shambles. Root was effectively destroyed. Half a dozen agents were still on missions outside the village, but inside only the medic who had just treated him, Fuu Yamanaka, Torune Aburame and two others had survived. The recruits too young to fight had perished when their section of Konoha's underground collapsed. His network of contacts and supporters had been severely damaged; his influence over village politics was waning since many people who he had made deals with or who he had 'suggested' things to had perished.

Once the medic left him alone in his room Danzo sighed and closed his remaining eye. It would take years to rebuild his organization, years he probably didn't have. Unlike Hiruzen Shikaku would not conveniently look the other way. By now there was little doubt in Danzo's mind that the Nara would become the Godaime Hokage. He had done so much to hold the village together that choosing anyone else was unthinkable. Even if the unlikely happened and Tsunade took the office Shikaku would retain enormous influence. Twelve shinobi including him were just too few to restart Root. Besides, he didn't know if he would be able to keep Fuu and Torune. Both had been effectively 'loaned' to him by the now practically destroyed traditional faction of the Yamanaka and the Aburama clan, respectively. Fuu genuinely believed in Danzo's philosophy, but Torune's inner thoughts had remained a mystery. It was funny in a way that the two best shinobi under his command were ones he didn't train from childhood.

'_I never saw the scale of the invasion coming. Perhaps I have lost my touch.'_

If he wanted to reestablish his influence he would have to start from scratch… and he just didn't have the strength left for that. He was finished and knew it. Without Shisui's eye he couldn't hope to regain the influence he had lost. He had no hold on the people in power. Even if he had, Homura was obviously willing to check all his moves and curtail his influence. Considering that his fellow councilor could claim connections to several heroes of the day like Choji Akimichi, the jinchuuriki and several others he would succeed.

'_Masterfully played, Homura. I underestimated you. You made your moves without anyone noticing or recognizing the significance and now your pieces are in all the right places.'_

Just a few years ago their positions had been reversed with Homura retaining hardly any significant influence. Danzo didn't think he could manage a recovery like him, though. The only question remaining was how he could use the few years he had left to influence the village at least partly in his desired direction. The nonsensical ideology of all the previous Hokage had to be stamped out. It had caused Konoha to become weak and almost destroyed the village. That weakness led to Suna's betrayal and allowed Orochimaru's plan to destroy them to almost succeed.

At least Shikaku displayed the right attitude in his plan to annihilate Oto. He had feared that they would simply be left alone which would have been another sign of weakness. Danzo wasn't happy about foregoing retaliation against Suna for the time being, but he saw the necessity.

His only consolation was that Suna would probably fall apart with the Yondaime Kazekage dead and no one with the strength and cunning left to take over.

* * *

><p>Yura, jonin of Sunagakure and youngest member of the village's ruling council, looked out over the endless dunes that were typical for this part of the Land of Wind. His current location was one of the rock formations some distance away from the rocky cliffs that protected Suna. What made this one special was that it served as a concealed lookout and was connected with the village proper by a tunnel deep under the sand.<p>

"Yura-sama, it's getting late. Shouldn't you return to the village?" one of the guards asked.

The jonin shook his head. "No, I received notice that a very special guest will arrive today. I have to receive him personally."

No further questions were asked. With a good part of their forces and leadership away Yura had been left in charge of the village's defenses. With that position it had been the easiest thing in the world to make sure the guards posted here were completely loyal to him, even on such short notice and with the surprise of what had happened to him.

Yura had always considered himself loyal to Suna above all else and had done all he could to improve the village. That didn't change, but this morning something in his mind had unlocked. He had always been discontent with the Yondaime Kazekage's policies before and had been one of the few dissenting voices on Suna's council, not that he had made much difference. Disagreeing too forcefully with the Kazekage was… detrimental to one's health. What had changed was that he now knew he had made contact with like-minded people and one person in particular before he agreed to have his memories locked away. It seemed his time as a sleeper agent was over.

News of the failed destruction of Konoha had reached them via messenger bird, but it hadn't yet been made public. Preparations to counter a reprisal attack by the Leaf (or other villages who might want to take the opportunity to attack the weakened Suna) were being made in secret. Their retreating surviving troops would need several more days to reach the Land of Wind. Details were sparse, but two important facts stood out besides the losses: Their jinchuuriki had been lost and the Kazekage was dead.

All plans of the Kazekage's faction had ended in abject failure… and without the Kazekage his supporters lacked a unifying factor. Judging from the names signed under the message the Kazekage's most ardent followers in the command staff had not survived the invasion. If Yura wasn't mistaken more of them would suffer _mishaps_ on their retreat. The Kazekage had controlled Suna with an iron fist ever since the beginning of the third shinobi war… and had made a bad job out of it. Now, with his erstwhile supporters about to take the fall for the invasion it was time to make changes. With his memories intact he knew just the right man for the job. They might even survive the consequences of the Yondaime's ill-advised actions under his leadership.

The sun was already nearing the horizon when he finally spotted a human form moving steadily closer to his position. The figure's sand-colored clothing made it difficult to differentiate from the dunes, but all Suna shinobi were familiar with that.

A few minutes later the figure knocked on the concealed door of the hideout. The guards sent Yura a questioning look, but he simply called out. "The treacherous snake and the mighty tanuki are fearsome beasts."

"But they all fall easily to the crafty scorpion." came the answer.

Yura nodded towards the guards. "Open the door."

A moment later the cloaked figure entered. Yura didn't dawdle and led the person immediately back into the tunnel, leaving the guards alone at their post.

"Welcome back in Suna, Sasori-sama. What are your orders?" he finally asked when they were safely out of earshot.

The figure removed its hood, revealing a man in his late teens or early twenties with a strange mix of black and red hair and an impassive face. Yura had never seen the true Sasori. Sasori had left Suna when Yura had still been a small child. During all the meetings Sasori had used a puppet body looking like a hunchback, but he knew for a fact that the famous puppeteer was in his thirties. On the other hand there was no telling what forbidden techniques he knew to keep a youthful appearance.

Apparently Sasori sensed the unspoken question. "I no longer go by that name. The scorpion has found enlightenment. Sasori is in the past. The future belongs to his son Satori, nephew of the Sandaime Kazekage. His power is mine." He held out his hand and Yura stared in amazement as grains of iron emerging from the man's sleeve formed a perfect sphere above it.

* * *

><p>She needed to get home. Someone was waiting for her.<p>

These were the only thoughts that drove her as she followed the path that was a thread that was a cord that was a stream and a thousand other things. Sights of wonder and horror of worlds and eons long past or far in the future appeared alongside the path, but she paid them no mind. She forgot them as soon as they disappeared anyway.

She had to return. Someone was waiting for her.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews.

Sasori is posing as his own non-existent son. Details will be revealed in a later chapter. Since I received several questions about it: Sasori's arc started in chapter 22, was continued in 29 and led to his faked death in 36.

At this point in time Hidan is not yet a member of Akatsuki.

Task force Mugon: Mugon means silence.

So long.


	40. Chapter 39: Preparing to strike

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 39: Preparing to strike**

Hayate Gekko stared out of the window, watching the sunrise. He felt empty inside. The emptiness had been almost the only thing he felt since he had plunged into the Reibi and killed the demon's container. He had won, but he had lost so much in the process. The demon's darkness had eroded his very being, leaving only an empty shell behind. He felt no joy and no sorrow or any other emotion, just emptiness. There wasn't much he remembered of the day of the invasion after he had pierced the heart of the girl serving as the demon's medium. After that he had collapsed, falling steadily deeper into the shadows. There was some vague memory of a light and song that had driven the darkness away, but he might have dreamt that.

The sound of movement caused him to turn around. A spark of emotion coursed through his body at the sight of his sleeping lover Yugao. No, he wasn't completely empty. Emotion was ever so slowly coming back to him. Perhaps he would heal with enough time.

After watching for a few more minutes he silently left the room to prepare breakfast. Once everything had been set up he busied himself with tending to his sword. It too had not survived the encounter with the demon unchanged. What once had been a bright grey blade of fine chakra-conducting steel was now a midnight black that somehow seemed glossy without reflecting light at all. It didn't seem to have any noticeable demonic aura, but it was clearly no longer a normal weapon. He was absolutely sure that it had sustained some nicks and scratches during the invasion, but now it was completely intact and even sharper than before. Apparently it didn't need any repair and care anymore. On the other hand Hayate was so used to caring for his weapons that he simply continued in this life-long habit.

Suddenly Hayate stopped polishing the blade. He was hearing faintly a girl giggling. Turning his head, he unsuccessfully tried to determine the origin of the sounds. After a few seconds the giggling stopped. Shaking his head, he returned to his task.

'_It's probably nothing; either my imagination is running wild or some children are out early.'_

* * *

><p>Ibiki Morino kept up his usual serious expression while he conduction the inspection of the dungeons belonging to the Torture and Interrogation Department. Fortunately they had survived the invasion almost unscathed. They needed the room for the prisoners. The number of them was lower than what one not familiar with shinobi life would have expected considering the number of combatants involved in the invasion, but they still filled almost every available cell.<p>

Several factors contributed to that. Most importantly, even a severely injured shinobi was still dangerous. Leaving even apparently defeated enemies alive was a considerable risk – a risk few had taken under the chaotic circumstances of the invasion. Many suicide techniques didn't require much effort to set up, making the taking of prisoners a tricky business under the best of circumstances. It was even more difficult in a large-scale engagement where wounded were covered by their allies. Lastly, most shinobi preferred to fight to the death instead of being taken prisoner. What awaited them at the hands of interrogators like Ibiki was highly unpleasant to say the least. A select few who were valuable for political reasons were treated courteously, but that was only a tiny minority.

"Four prisoners succumbed to their wounds since yesterday; several more remain in critical condition. We have prioritized them for information extraction, but the loss of specialized manpower remains a problem." Shimon Hijiri, freshly minted special jonin and new head of the Torture and Interrogation Department reported. "Is there any hope of additional medics being assigned to us?"

Ibiki thought for a moment. "A few, perhaps. I will put the request before Nara-sama, but don't get your hopes up. The village is very short on medics. Did you manage to extract new information I should be aware of?"

His successor shook his head. "No, Ibiki-sama. As ordered we have largely concentrated on the prisoners from Oto for now, but none of them belong to the true leadership. It will require either a more knowledgeable prisoner or a lot of work to assemble a complete picture of Oto's overall assets."

The scarred man nodded. He wasn't happy about that. The captured Oto shinobi individually only knew a small slice of Orochimaru's 'village'. Before they had been assembled for the invasion they had been distributed over a large number of small bases all over the Elemental Nations. They might know two or three bases each, but not all. The defector the Aburame sheltered had actually given them more information than any individual prisoner even if she had greatly underestimated Oto's available manpower. It was completely understandable in light of Oto's compartmentalized nature. That meant they couldn't be sure they knew all bases, making it difficult to completely annihilate Oto. It was the reason that each squad of Task Force Mugon had been assigned a member of the Intelligence Department with at least rudimentary mind-reading abilities to question prisoners. It was still worthwhile to destroy the known bases and they might discover some they had missed from the initial interrogations.

Most of their prisoners were from Otogakure; while they had fought fanatically most of them were not especially skilled. The elite had retreated during the battle, leaving them to fend for themselves. At the end of the invasion when Konoha regained control of the battlefield it had been possible to take prisoners without undue risk. Not a single shinobi from Soragakure had survived to be taken into custody; the few who had lived through the crash of their gliders had either escaped on foot or perished in the fighting. Sunagakure's forces had retreated in good order, but the odd shinobi here and there had been captured.

"Any news regarding our guests from Suna?"

"Some relatively interesting information about Suna's status before the invasion and defensive arrangements, but nothing immediately important." Shimon reported. "We did get two jonin serving as mid-level leadership, but they are both in critical condition and too weak to be properly interrogated."

Finishing the inspection of the dungeons, Ibiki and Shimon headed towards a much nicer part of the department. It was the last station on his inspection tour. There were still prisoners here, but they were treated differently. The cells were comfortably furnished; natural light was transmitted into the rooms by an arrangement of mirrors and life was generally much nicer.

After receiving a status report and taking care of all other business Ibiki entered a specific cell, leaving Shimon behind. "Hello Haku. How are you today?"

Haku looked up from a book, something in her eyes indicating that she wasn't completely there mentally. "Hello Ibiki-sama. I am well; I didn't have any bad thoughts for over a week. You didn't visit for a few days."

"I apologize; I was very busy. That is good to hear, though."

They continued talking for fifteen minutes before Ibiki left the cell, joining up with the waiting Shimon. "She has made progress. I think we will be able to reduce the dosage soon, but keep a close eye on her. If circumstances allow I will visit every day; it could be bad to change one of the primary attachment figures at this time."

"As you command, Ibiki-sama."

Haku was a special case; one he attended to personally. It required a fine touch. When she had been brought here more than two months ago she had been almost completely unresponsive; she would have simply wasted away if nothing had been done. Rehabilitating the young woman had proven far more difficult than anticipated. Without her master Zabuza Haku had no will to live. It was the worst psychological dependency Ibiki had ever seen.

'_I wonder if that happened by chance or if Zabuza caused it deliberately.'_

It was a question without an answer with Zabuza dead. They had perused the complete contents of Haku's mind, but memories could be misleading and there was no guarantee they had not been tampered with. Ibiki considered outright memory manipulation unlikely, but Zabuza had certainly acted in a way that fostered and reinforced a dependency. Well, on the other hand in the rather unlikely eventuality that he had actually cared about Haku normal behavior combined with Haku's past would lead to the same result. Whatever the precise reason, Haku saw herself as Zabuza's tool and nothing more. She had no dreams and goals of her own. It was quite depressing. Shinobi were tools, yes, but that wasn't the only thing they were – they were also persons.

In the end they had been forced to rely on drugs combined with slow, careful mental manipulation and psychological treatment. They didn't try to change any memories, just Haku's outlook on life and loyalty. Depending on one's perspective it could be seen as therapy or brainwashing. Considering that the young woman had been actively suicidal when she came out of her passive state Ibiki filed it under the header of therapy. Progress was rather slow and it would probably take a few more months until Haku was fully rehabilitated, but it was more reliable than faster, more brute-force methods. Haku's part in the Wave affair had been rather minor; she had gone out of her way to not seriously hurt the genin of Team 7. Considering the value of her bloodline it had been decided to integrate her into the village.

Recruiting Haku for the Leaf was a long-term investment; they could afford to take the time to do it properly. Haku's skills were not that important in the overall scheme of things; another genin on the verge to chunin made no great difference, rare bloodline notwithstanding. The real payoff would come if and when the young woman founded a family in Konoha. With some things you just had to take the long view and this was one of them. Counting from conception a child would need at least around a decade until it was old enough to enter the ranks of shinobi under optimal circumstances and probably almost as long again to become a notable force. In two decades there would hopefully be at least half a dozen new ice-users in Konoha, some of them starting families of their own. Another two decades later they might have enough to form an outright clan with several dozen members.

'_If Konoha is still standing in four decades, that is. Many things can go wrong and it isn't even certain we will survive this year.'_

Ibiki then left the Torture and Interrogation Department, heading back to his new workplace: The Intelligence Department. The scarred man had to suppress a sigh when he thought of it. It was a mess… a mess whose clean-up he was now responsible for.

In contrast to many others clan Morino had prospered in the wake of the invasion. They had lost only a single shinobi and no non-fighting members. Ibiki had been promoted to full jonin, snatched a place on the Konoha emergency council by virtue of being the senior surviving department head and succeeded the deceased Inoichi Yamanaka as the head of the Intelligence Department. His leadership performance during the invasion and his brother Idate's capture of the Kazekage's daughter had further improved his clan's standing. For a minor clan of thirty members (six of them shinobi, but the number would increase as soon as several cousins still at the academy became genin) they had done very well indeed.

Still, now he had to deal with rebuilding the Intelligence Department. They had lost a great deal of institutional knowledge. Many of the people who knew who their spies were and how to contact them had died, the same as analysts, cryptographers and countless other specialists. There were gaping holes all over the place in the department's organizational structure. Sure, they retained the records, but it was a time-consuming task for someone unfamiliar to work through the piles of paper and find the right information. In some cases knowledge had been completely lost.

The problem was aggravated by the structure of Konoha's intelligence network or rather networks. While the Intelligence Department maintained a sizable web of spies and informers it mainly collected and composed information from mission reports and looked out for possible clients and missions. ANBU had possessed a separate spy network, but with the organization effectively gone it had become unusable. Even most records had been destroyed by several buildings burning down or collapsing during the invasion. The third intelligence network belonged to Jiraiya, but with the man missing they had completely lost access. Even worse, there was no information in writing to be found. It appeared as if Jiraiya had only communicated directly with the Sandaime who had forwarded it to other people when needed. Neither had taken precautions for death or incapacitation.

'_And that isn't even taking in account that all networks failed. The attack on us should not have stayed undiscovered for so long.'_ Ibiki sighed mentally. _'We knew something was coming, but at least Suna's involvement should have been discovered ahead of time.'_

Ibiki had long-since argued that Konoha's forces were overextended and resources misallocated. The village had prioritized acquiring as many missions as possible in as many countries as possible over everything else. Granted, it had given Konoha the strongest economy of all villages along with the most wide-spread influence, but in the same turn it had weakened them in other aspects, home security chief among them.

Counterintelligence would have to be reworked from the ground up. It had become clear in the evaluation of the invasion that all their defensive arrangements had leaked out. There was no telling how many spies were still in place. Enemy agents in the ranks were an unavoidable fact of life, but Konoha had posed a far too easy target. Combined with the lack of real defenses and insufficient patrols this counterintelligence failure had made the invasion possible in the first place.

'_I wish I knew what the other villages are doing, but it will take time for information from the few agents we have to reach us. By now the other major villages should have received at least some details.'_

* * *

><p>Onoki, Sandaime Tsuchikage of Iwagakure, felt like cackling in glee. He suppressed the urge, of course. It wouldn't have been appropriate for his station. Instead he contented himself with a broad and decidedly nasty grin.<p>

"So, Konoha suffered massive losses?"

The head of Iwa's spy network nodded while displaying a similar grin. "Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. The Sandaime Hokage and several important figures are confirmed dead, including at least four clan heads. Exact numbers are hard to come by at this time, but the reports agree that casualties were enormous. My best estimate is that Konoha lost up to half of their shinobi, but that might be a bit optimistic. The losses among Suna's invasion force are probably of a similar magnitude; the Yondaime Kazekage is dead and their jinchuuriki missing. Oto's and Sora's losses were even heavier, but we don't have any idea of their overall available manpower."

In the following minutes Onoki was presented with a careful briefing regarding the current status of the rival villages and likely developments. Unfortunately they had apparently lost their best-placed Konoha spies in the wake of the invasion and information was slow to get back to Iwa in any case. They had known about the cooperation between Suna and Oto beforehand, but the continued existence and involvement of Sora had come as a surprise. The expectations of the analysts for the outcome of the invasion had been mixed, but these losses on Konoha's part were unexpectedly high. Suna had been Iwa's main point of interest considering their countries' proximity and clashing spheres of influence. That wasn't even talking about the weeping sore that was Ishigakure between them. Konoha was a bitter and hated rival, but the various minor villages buffering their spheres of influence served to temper things.

'_This would probably be a good opportunity to finish off Konoha or Suna. Should I command an attack?'_

He thought about it for a few moments. Then he discarded the idea. It was too risky. He had made the mistake of acting prematurely in the third shinobi war and his village had paid dearly for it. This time he would be more cautious. Even if an attack succeeded the losses incurred might be too much. Furthermore, amassing enough forces for a strike would take too long. A hasty, ill-prepared attack was never advisable and both villages' defenses would have solidified in the meantime. Still, it wouldn't do to do nothing about such an opportunity.

"See if our agents can get one or several of the minor villages to attack Suna or Konoha. Concentrate on Suna. Considering the mess their idiot Kage left behind the village will descend into chaos. There is no one left with the power and connections to take over; their council will squabble endlessly. An attack might soften them up enough for us to destroy them." the old, diminutive man instructed.

After the spymaster had left Onoki stood up and looked out of the window, malicious grin still plastered over his face. He would order a limited mobilization later. If an opportunity presented itself they would be ready. Things would be fine even if no such opening arose. With two of their major rivals severely damaged they would be able to increase their business and sphere of influence considerably even if it didn't come to more hostilities. It was a good day for Iwa.

* * *

><p>'<span>Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall<span>'

Ino felt the earth move under her hands as the technique took effect, creating a pit in front of the emerging wall. Investing more of her chakra, Ino extended the wall in both directions and increased its height until she was satisfied. Even skilled shinobi would be incapable of simply jumping over it. Since she used the already existing earth instead of manifesting it from her chakra the wall would remain until wind and weather slowly destroyed it.

Dusting her hands off, she stood up. "That should do it. Yakumo, your turn."

The blond Yamanaka busied herself with setting up wire traps and scattering caltrops in the pit as her friend began weaving her genjutsu. Soon she felt the genjutsu taking effect, hiding the wall and pit from the world. It took a bit of effort to keep it from affecting her, but it wasn't that difficult. She didn't break its hold completely, just enough that it didn't hinder her in her task.

A few minutes later Ino finished setting up the traps and left the pit. Joining Yakumo, she examined the scene. The genjutsu completely masked the wall and pit, making it look like as if there was a completely unobstructed stretch of grass. "It certainly looks convincing. I noticed you made it rather easy to resist."

Yakumo shrugged. "There's no need to invest more effort than necessary; I'm going for subtlety and chakra efficiency here. If the enemy notices the genjutsu the trap is already blown. As long as I stay nearby I can keep this illusion up all day without exhausting myself."

"That makes sense. We should have at least an hour until it starts, but maybe they don't even run in our direction."

The brunette looked thoughtful. "Do you think we should set more traps? I could conceal them with additional genjutsu."

Ino examined at the landscape again. Their wall was flanked by impassable, thick thorny brambles on both sides. Even further away there were steep, tree-covered hills. Open ground stretched toward the distant Sound base that would come under assault soon, slowly changing into woods. The formerly free patch of land the wall now occupied was a natural chokepoint.

"No, that might give them a hint that something is wrong. We want to ambush them. If we don't get them all at the beginning we will have to fight and too many traps on the battlefield will make things too dangerous. I don't want to accidentally trigger one of our own traps." Ino answered after a few moments of thought.

"You're right. Besides, we don't know if we really have an hour left. The attack might begin early and I don't want them to surprise us while we are still setting things up. Let's get under cover."

Yakumo turned towards the brambles, Ino following closely behind. The first thing they had done was creating a proper hiding place. The plants gave them enough cover against a casual observer after they had cleared a hollow. Everything was still rather wet from the rainy last days, but at least the cloud cover had opened up.

Plopping down on the driest place she could find, Ino removed a canteen and a ration from her backpack. Most likely they would have to fight soon, but a light meal wouldn't hinder her. They had left Konoha only yesterday. Almost the entire task force had stayed together to assault the nearest and largest of Orochimaru's bases. It was a sobering thought that such a large base existed not even a full day's travel from Konoha. Non-shinobi would have needed far longer to reach it, of course, but it was still worrying. Patrols should have found it long ago. Granted, this region was pretty much uninhabited forest and no travel routes led through it, but the area patrolled by Konoha's border guards had been far too small for Ino's (and her friends') liking. Apparently it had been used as the staging ground for the invasion and what forces had retreated had probably gathered there. The question was how many shinobi still remained and how many had already left for other bases. After all, almost a week had passed since the invasion. It would have been better to attack immediately, but Konoha had needed the time to reorganize.

Ino and Yakumo would not participate in the main attack; their squad was one of those responsible for blocking the escape routes. Kurenai-sensei had taken half the squad including Choji with her to a different location. Ebisu was in command of their group, but the special jonin was currently scouting ahead. The others were busy preparing several fall-back positions in case the number of escaping Sound shinobi was too large for them to handle and would return soon.

Suddenly Yakumo sighed. "I wish I were back in Konoha. I didn't even get to talk with Naruto properly before we had to leave."

Taking a bite, Ino considered her answer. There wasn't really anything she could say to make Yakumo feel better, but perhaps she could distract her a bit. Until now they didn't have the necessary privacy to talk about the events of the morning before they left Konoha. "Did you at least do it that morning?"

Yakumo blushed. "No, we didn't."

Ino blinked. She didn't expect that. "Really? You looked like you did have fun when I walked in on you."

Her friend blushed even deeper. "We did… but Naruto stopped things before… you know. We had to report to the mission office; he had an appointment at the Hokage's office. It just wasn't the right time." Then the girl's expression grew worried. "Naruto said he wanted to talk about things he should have spoken about long ago."

For a moment Ino was silent. "Do you think it has anything to do with what you saw during the invasion?"

"What? Why would you think that?"

The blond girl made a vague gesture with her hand. "You know, you saw a giant thing with the appearance of Hinata. Naruto is on the same team as her. If anyone knows something about that it would be him. He always seems to know about everything and some of his swallows might have seen what was going on."

"I… I didn't think about it that way." Yakumo sighed, hugging her own legs. "No, what I'm worried about is that he and Hinata have something going on behind my back. Hinata told us she loves Naruto and I'm pretty sure he reciprocates."

"They wouldn't have had a physical relationship. The Hyuuga have ways of detecting that." Ino answered immediately. It didn't seem to do anything to reassure Yakumo, though. "Look, you do love Naruto, don't you?"

Yakumo nodded.

"And you are sure that Naruto loves you, too, aren't you?"

Again Yakumo nodded.

"Then you should not worry. Just listen to what he has to say. It might be something completely different."

"But what if not?"

Ino looked at her friend earnestly. "If, and I mean if, there really is something going on you have to think long and hard what to do. Don't let anger get the better of you to do something you will regret later."

Yakumo was silent for several seconds. Then she started again. "What would you do in my position if there is something going on between them?"

It didn't seem as if Yakumo was ready to let it go. Frankly, it was beginning to annoy Ino. This speculation was worse than useless. They would soon fight a battle and couldn't afford such a distraction. Additionally, it was uncertain if Hinata would ever wake up again. "You mean if Hinata is doing Naruto? I would ask if I could join in."

That actually stopped Yakumo short and caused her to gape at Ino for a few moments. Then a smile appeared on Yakumo's face along with a blush. "Pervert."

Chuckling slightly, Ino repacked her supplies and stood up. "I'm going to check our escape routes again."

"Okay."

Once out of earshot, Ino let out a sigh. Sometimes she wished she had Yakumo's troubles. At least she had a boyfriend, complicated situation notwithstanding.

Part of the problem was the lack of eligible candidates. Aside from Naruto all of her male friends were either out for different reasons and/or belonged to a great clan – and the great clans of Konoha generally didn't intermarry. That meant only temporary relationships were possible and the heartache when they had to break up was something Ino could do without. Besides, there were other problems with her male peers. Shino just didn't click with her in that manner and there was already something lined up for him anyway. Kiba was as good as married considering how chummy he and Karin had become. When Ino had last interacted with Shikamaru in a meaningful manner he had been a sleeping pill. Shinji… well, despite his changes that would be too much like dating a living doormat. Besides, Ino had made it a personal rule not to get romantically involved with people she had mentally manipulated and Asuka had her claws in him anyway. Her erstwhile crush on Sasuke had died years ago and she now recognized he wasn't boyfriend material; he had far too many issues. She considered Choji more like a brother and judging from what she heard from Hinata he was more of a late bloomer anyway and not really interested in girls yet.

'_Come to think of it, when we began trying to get Naruto's attention during the academy it was more of a game. Neither Yakumo nor I were really ready for a serious relationship. It's a miracle she and Naruto stayed so long together and managed to develop it into what it is.'_

Banishing these thoughts for the time being, Ino made a sweep of the area they had been ordered to prepare. Everything seemed to be in order. The genjutsu over the wall and pit held, their avenues of escape were open and no enemy was in sight anywhere.

Ino was about to return to the shelter when she spotted several members of the squad approaching. Apparently they had finished their task of setting up fall-back positions. Bekko, Hayase and Tetsuya stayed together while Minoji was talking with Katsumi Inuzuka who was accompanied by her canine partner Chichio, a dog hardly larger than Kiba's partner Akamaru with dense, curly white fur.

"Look out, there's a trapped wall and pit here." Ino shouted in greeting.

Tetsuya let out a low whistle when he got closer. "Impressive. That thing is big."

The chunin Bekko gave Ino an appraising look. "How much chakra do you have left?"

Ino shrugged. "More than enough. Creating the wall made hardly a dent in my reserves. Yakumo can keep up this genjutsu for hours, too."

That earned her some barely hidden envious looks from the rest of her squad. Chakra was the primary limiting factor for shinobi. Despite years of training many shinobi never achieved more than genin-level reserves. They could use perhaps a few average C-rank techniques per day before their battle performance suffered if even that. Of course, their current squad was generally blessed with superior skills considering their task involved fighting other shinobi. Once again Ino was reminded how lucky she was to be born with the potential for a large chakra capacity and how much of a boon the chakra training techniques Naruto had shared with them had been. All members of the circle had more or less jonin-level reserves although their improvement had slowed down considerably. They didn't have to watch their chakra usage to the same degree as others and could afford to indulge from time to time.

'_Well, we are members of the elite teams. We are expected to be the best of our generation.'_

A short time later the squad had settled into their ambush positions, ready to attack any Sound shinobi that came their way. The planned time of the attack was still half an hour away when Ebisu returned from his scouting mission. After making sure that all members of the squad had done their part he found a few encouraging words. Then they settled in to wait.

Exactly on schedule a small red fireball shot into the air in the distance, signaling the start of the attack.

"It has started." Minoji remarked rather unnecessarily.

Bekko nodded. "It will probably take a while before some of them flee in this direction. We might even not see combat at all. Stay on alert."

"Remember, let the first wave run into the trap. Only attack on my signal. Go for kills. If you manage to incapacitate some that is fine, but don't take any risks." Ebisu reminded them.

The following time was spent with tense waiting. Several times faint noises could be heard, indicating heavy fighting in the distance. Finally a gaggle of figures emerged from the woods, running at a fast pace. None of them stood out as something special, but Ino activated her mind-sensing technique in case any tried to sneak by them.

Fortunately the Oto shinobi seemed to be in a state of wild panic and didn't pay any real attention to their surroundings. They ran headlong into the concealed trap, disappearing abruptly. Ino felt their thoughts screaming in pain as the traps did their work. Her technique didn't allow her to read specific thoughts, but she could sense general things. She could vaguely make out sounds, but Yakumo's genjutsu covered the sense of hearing as well.

"All six down; two dead, three dying and one heavily wounded." she whispered to Ebisu.

"Tetsuya, throw one of the sealing tags with knockout gas into the pit as soon as I give the signal." the special jonin instructed another member of the team. "There is more company coming and they might have seen something suspicious."

True to their leader's word a second group emerged from the woods. This one numbered twenty people and seemed far more organized. They kept in a loose formation, too tight to separate them easily but too spread out to get them with one area technique.

"Prepare for attack." Ebisu ordered.

Ino immediately began to make hand signs. As the most inexperienced members of the squad she and Yakumo would stay at a distance initially, making sure no enemies remained unengaged.

'Earth Release: Earth clone'

Three clones rose from the ground and assumed Ino's form, still hidden by their cover. Three was the most she could control under these circumstances; sending in clones without control would decrease their performance drastically. Fortunately earth clones were among the hardiest of the basic clone techniques, allowing them to suffer quite some damage before they dispelled.

"GENJUTSU AHEAD!" one of the enemies screamed when they were a medium distance from the trap. They were directly in front of the Konoha squad's hiding place.

"ATTACK!" Ebisu commanded before launching a fireball into the midst of the enemies. Several other members of the squad launched distance attacks of their own before engaging at close range. At least four of the enemies outright died in the initial assault; many more suffered injuries and were scattered.

Sending her clones in, Ino prepared the next technique.

'Mind Body Disturbance'

She had picked out four targets, but two of them managed to resist the technique. One other was hindered in his movements and promptly incinerated by a fireball courtesy of Yakumo while the last one succumbed to Ino's jutsu, giving her control over his body. Ino immediately sent him against his comrades, but a white-haired, grey-skinned Oto shinobi that had kept his distance killed him immediately with some sort of arm-mounted projectile launcher. A second projectile shattered one of Ino's earth clones.

In the next moment smoke emerged from the man, assuming the form of several dragons that headed in their direction. Obviously the man had detected them. Unfortunately he was out of throwing range.

"Incoming!" Ino shouted.

"I've got it." Yakumo replied, making hand seals with a look of intense concentration on her face.

Suddenly the dragons veered off course, overshooting their position and impacting in the brambles behind them. Ino noted that her second earth clone had been destroyed before doing much of note, but the third one had managed to kill one of the Oto kunoichi.

"He's breaking my genjutsu! I can't hold him." Yakumo shouted, sweat pouring from her face while she rapidly made strings of hand seals.

'Earth Release: Stone Shuriken'

Several lumps of earth rose from the ground before hardening into a stone-like substance and being launched at the short, grey-skinned man at high speed. Most went wide, but two grazed his body and one hit squarely his right leg, causing him to lose balance. Before the man could recover a snarling white blur jumped at him and attached himself to his throat or face. The man fell to the ground, desperately trying to dislodge the Inuzuka dog from his body. In that position neither Ino nor Yakumo could engage him any longer without risk to their allies.

Ino breathed deeply while surveying the battle. The number of Oto shinobi was falling fast. Ebisu was a whirling dervish of death, fighting in concert with several shadow clones and mowing their enemies down without much resistance. Most of the other Konoha shinobi had equal success; their enemies were probably already shaken from the main attack on their base. Only Hayase had trouble with his enemy. Ino barely managed to interpose her last earth clone between him and what would have been a fatal attack. A moment later Bekko bashed the Oto shinobi's head in from behind.

In that moment Ino noticed something strange. She felt a mind moving away from the battle, but she couldn't see anything in that area. Neither felt she any genjutsu influencing her. The presence was trying to sneak past them.

"Yakumo, burn that area! Someone is there!"

Her friend nodded. A moment later a wave of flames shot towards the indicated area… only to be harmlessly intercepted by some large, viscous mass. Where no one had been only moments before a slender man wearing a skintight bluish suit was now standing, the watery, viscous shield connected to his hands. Ino launched another barrage of stone shuriken that promptly punched through the shield, but the man's body contorted impossibly, evading all projectiles.

From the corner of her eye Ino saw that Yakumo was once again weaving genjutsu. The blond girl immediately moved to support her friend by using a Yamanaka technique that attacked the target's mind. Together they managed to overwhelm the man in the strange suit, plunging his mind into abject confusion. Tetsuya used the opportunity to toss a tag filled with knockout gas into the man's face, taking him out of the battle for good.

Ino looked around, but there were no more enemies to fight, only the unconscious, dead and dying. The battle had been short and brutal. That wasn't unusual. If shinobi fought to kill the first hit often decided the battle. Prolonged fights were rather rare. Several of the Konoha shinobi had sustained injuries. Minoji had to be supported by Hayase while Tetsuya hobbled behind, but nothing seemed life threatening. Ebisu, Bekko and Katsumi were going through the bodies of their enemies, either making sure they were dead, putting the dying out of their misery and tying up those likely to survive. Ino had seen scenes like this well enough during the invasion and even more in the memories of Izumi.

"Yuck, this one is all slimy." Katsumi said when she was about to tie up the slender man. "Could someone with a clone technique lend me a hand? I don't want to touch that slime, it could be poisonous."

"Sure." Ino made two more earth clones and sent them to help. Then she went to help the injured (and patch up the enemy wounded enough so they wouldn't die) while Yakumo and Ebisu went to retrieve the survivors from the pit. Idly she noticed the corpse of the grey-skinned man with the arm mounted projectile launcher; Katsumi's dog had torn out his throat and mangled his face beyond recognition. In the end they managed to secure four prisoners and put the others out of their misery.

Ebisu gave the group a careful appraisal after taking a status report. "Take the prisoners and fall back to position three. I will stay here to cover the retreat. During my absence Bekko is in command."

Ino had to agree with that decision. There had been more enemies than expected. They had won without losses, but they wouldn't be able to take another group. Most of her squad mates were low on chakra and the traps had been triggered.

Ten minutes later the group had reached their hideout, the unconscious prisoners safely stowed away. Only Yakumo had stayed with Ebisu to cover the battlefield with a concealing genjutsu. Ino busied herself with treating the others' injuries. Medics were in short supply since the invasion and only every third squad had been assigned a qualified medic nin. Unfortunately their squad was not among these lucky ones. Most shinobi learned at least basic first aid techniques sooner or later, but nothing more in-depth. Not that many people had the talent and chakra control necessary for advanced medical techniques. Ino was actually the most knowledgeable on their squad along with Kurenai, but their sensei wasn't here. She frowned slightly when she examined Minoji in more detail. The genin had suffered several deep puncture wounds and grown noticeably paler since the battle. Their retreat had probably made things worse.

"There might be some pieces of metal we didn't get out. I think there is some internal bleeding. That's beyond the normal first aid healing techniques."

Bekko, the old experienced chunin now in command of their detachment frowned worriedly. "Will he last long enough for one of the other squad medics to arrive or can we take him to the main camp?"

Ino shook her head. "That might take hours. By then he will be dead for sure. We can't move him either in this state. I could try to operate conventionally; I'm studying medicine and assisted several surgeries in the last week."

Minoji wearily raised his head. "Do it. I take my chances with you."

After a moment of thought Bekko nodded. "I agree. Do your best."

Much later, Ino and the rest of her squad were resting on a hillside outside the main encampment. She had managed to save Minoji's life; the genin was now in the care of the professional medics the task force had brought along. He would have to be transported back to Konoha for further treatment, though. All in all their squad had been lucky. Some squads had lost more than half their members; the battle inside the enemy base had been hard fought by all accounts. Thankfully no more Oto shinobi had fled their way. By now there were no more left. The base had been cleared and was now being combed through for information about Orochimaru's activities.

Most of her squad was relaxing in one way or another. Yakumo was drawing a sketch of the woods; Choji participated in a card game with several other members of their squad. Katsumi was playing with her dog some distance down the slope. Ino could faintly make out the words "Who's a good piranha poodle? You are, yes, you are.".

Yoshito, a sixteen year old genin and third youngest member of their squad, looked pretty shaken. If Ino remembered right the young man had not been in Konoha during the invasion, missing most of the carnage. This had probably been his first real large-scale battle. "I don't understand. Everyone says we won today, but so many are dead." he suddenly blurted out.

Bekko, who was puffing a pipe nearby, nodded in understanding. "Aye, we lost many good lads, but it was worth it. From what I heard we killed five of them for every one we lost. That's pretty good odds. The next battles should be easier; we will be dealing with smaller groups in the individual bases. Then we will have local superiority."

"But why didn't we wait until the enemy dispersed again? Why attacking them here?"

"Because then we might not catch all of them." Ino answered. "Additionally they might have mounted another attack. We couldn't simply leave them be."

"The lass has it right. There were several hundred of those Sound bastards there; it was their main remaining fighting force. They could have caused quite some damage if left alone. Luckily they didn't expect a counterattack so soon." the old chunin agreed. "You're too young to remember the last war, but this was one of the cleanest operations I've seen. Usually you get countless small groups going at it all over the country, trying to hit each other where they are weak. That's why the shinobi wars all lasted for years. Big, pitched battles like the invasion or this are the exception. Shinobi aren't soldiers that line up all nice at one place for battle."

That seemed to reassure Yoshito and they lapsed into silence once again. Tomorrow the task force would disperse, each squad going after their assigned bases. Kurenai-sensei had already informed them that they would be heading to the Land of Rice. Ino wondered where Orochimaru was. They had caught a good deal of his elite troops, but many more were still unaccounted for. Neither the four that had guarded him during the chunin exams, the bone-user who had reportedly killed Tsume Inuzuka nor Kabuto Yakushi had been in this base.

'_Well, I can only hope we don't encounter Orochimaru. That would probably be a fight we can't win on our own.'_

* * *

><p>"Where is Tsunade? You said she would be here!"<p>

"My apologies, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru turned away from Kabuto. The pain in his dead hand made him irritable. No technique seemed to be able to heal the injury and it had begun to affect the rest of his body. Tsunade was one of the few people who might have the knowledge to do something about it, but they just couldn't find her. They had followed her trail to this town. She and her apprentice had been here two days ago, but now there was no trace of them. They had been seen last when leaving a bar in the middle of the night. He had sent people into the surrounding towns, but as of yet they didn't find anything.

'_If Shinno had not gotten himself killed…"_

The late Sorakage had been on a level with Orochimaru's old teammate (although with a far darker orientation), but from what sparse information Orochimaru had gathered he had been killed during the invasion. Well, considering that the man had apparently planned to destroy them along with Konoha it was questionable if he would have been willing to help anyway. Orochimaru didn't like to admit it, but Sora's betrayal had surprised him. He had not known about their flying fortress.

It was still a damn shame. Shinno had been highly competent; without him Kimimaro, one of Oto's strongest shinobi, would have probably succumbed to a disease long ago. The cure had made him unsuitable as a host for Orochimaru, but the last Kaguya's abilities and unshakable loyalty made him a valuable asset.

'_Where is Tsunade? Whatever the old monkey did is slowly killing me. At least I can still use jutsu; the time spent to learn one-handed seals was a good investment.'_

* * *

><p>Koharu Utatane remained in a kneeling position after she finished her (somewhat sugar-coated) report to the Fire Daimyo and his court. Strictly speaking the man had no direct authority over Konoha and its inhabitants, but it was better to show the proper respect for their primary customer. The income and other benefits they received from the treaty with the Land of Fire were considerable. The court was whispering in agitation upon hearing the news, but the daimyo himself remained completely composed.<p>

'_Thank the gods he was the one to emerge victorious from the succession war. If his predecessor was still alive everything would have dissolved into chaos and shouting by this point. Now no one dares to raise his voice.'_

She remembered the old daimyo well. The man had been a weak-minded fool, indecisive and fickle. He had always made his advisors do all the work and had been easily swayed by whoever could talk more convincingly… until the next half-way convincing person spoke up. The current daimyo couldn't be more different. Hidekatsu Shibata was already past fifty, but still fit and muscular. His black hair didn't show the slightest trace of grey nor did his mustache. An eye patch hid his left eye. His slightly strange humor and tendency to occasionally act slightly odd for someone of his station (such as joking with subordinates or heading out into the capital city under a disguise) could be easily forgiven in light of his high intelligence and capabilities as a ruler.

Before the succession war he had been a minor noble among countless others, content with ruling his small, rather unimportant patch of land. The only noteworthy things about the man had been his involvement in the at the time extremely small imperial army and his proficiency as a sword fighter; while he didn't have the ability to mold chakra in quantities necessary to become a shinobi or samurai he had enough talent to become a minor chakra user in order to enhance his fighting performance.

When the old daimyo had died to a quail bonelet stuck in his throat the succession had been disputed. There had been about three dozen distantly related people who could claim about equal rights to the throne and even more with a not-so-justified claim. The current daimyo had belonged to the former group, but he had tried to stay out of the conflict at first. Combined with the economic difficulties the following period had been very chaotic and caused quite a lot of damage to the Land of Fire. It didn't escalate to a full-blown war, but countless minor conflicts had left their mark. Konoha had remained mostly neutral in the struggles – they had aided several sides to a degree, but they were still reeling from the Kyuubi attack and more concerned about the other shinobi villages interfering.

Normally it would have been only a footnote when one of the pretenders attacked Shibata's small keep and burned it down while he was away with a small contingent of guards, killing the man's whole family in the process. Miraculously he survived the ambush intended to kill him when he arrived at his destroyed keep, although that became only really clear much later and he did lose his left eye in it. For a while he had been believed dead. Then someone began covertly attacking different factions quite successfully. When Shibata finally revealed himself he had already made several alliances and gathered enough support to become one of the medium-tier players. Then he began an absolutely ruthless campaign for the throne. By the end of the year there were no other pretenders left. Becoming the undisputed ruler of the Land of Fire, the new daimyo had proceeded to clean up the mess the succession struggles and his weak predecessors had left. He wasn't an easy partner for Konoha, but a competent and reliable one.

Finally the daimyo spoke up. "I see. This is worrying news. I have to think about this. We will convene again in three hours."

Koharu waited until the daimyo had left the audience chamber until she stood up. The courtiers had begun to mingle, but there was no sign of a panic. Well, it wasn't as if they knew the true scale of the damage yet. Koharu knew better than announcing more than the bare bones in an open session. The announcement had to come quickly, but she would confer with the daimyo and the actually important ministers later. It would have been preferable to do it the other way round, but rumors had already reached the capital and they had to work quickly to put their spin on things.

One of the daimyo's personal servants approached her. "Utatane-sama, the daimyo wishes to speak with you in private immediately."

Nodding in acceptance, Koharu followed the man. On the way she noted that her choice of retinue had proven wise. Shinji was talking with his father, the chief of the secret imperial police, while Asuka spoke with her noble father. It was the same for most of the other shinobi she had brought along. Almost everyone had either family ties to a noble or official or an otherwise good relationship. They had been all carefully briefed on what slant they had to put on their accounts.

Two minutes later Koharu passed the guards at the entrance to the private wing of the daimyo. She idly noticed the two hidden shinobi bolstering the normal soldiers, recognizing one of them as a fellow Konoha kunoichi. Only part of the daimyo's shinobi guard was provided by Konoha; others were the pupils of independent shinobi masters or otherwise exceptional warriors. Thankfully the current daimyo refrained from hiring rival villages for that task; such a thing had led to some problems in the past. The revolt of part of the Twelve Guardian Ninja and the group's subsequent dissolution had occurred under the reign of the daimyo's predecessor, but it served still as a warning example.

Koharu was led into a medium-sized, comfortably furnished office and instructed to wait. She knew from past experience (and the reports of the guards) that this was where the daimyo did his actual work – there existed a far bigger and far more pompous office elsewhere that he used to impress people.

Childish laughter drew Koharu to one of the windows overlooking a small yard. The daimyo's young son and heir was playing there, a beautiful, richly clothed woman with dark auburn colored hair watching over him. Koharu recognized her as the daimyo's first wife. A few other attendants were keeping discreetly in the background. Four more shinobi guards were hiding close by; one of them apparently noticed her presence and shifted his position slightly to better cover his two charges.

'_Good, they are on their guard.'_

Another succession war would tear the Land of Fire apart – especially considering that none of the former claimants with a good claim were still alive. In light of the daimyo's relatively advanced age the existence of an heir was a great reassurance to everyone.

A moment later the daimyo himself and his second wife entered the yard. After exchanging a few words they talked with the young prince. Leaving him to his caretakers the three people headed back towards the building.

Koharu didn't have to wait long until the daimyo arrived with his two wives in tow. After a short greeting they took seats and immediately got to the matter at hand.

"How bad is the real situation? Some rumors already arrived and they paint a dark picture." the daimyo asked.

"The village is secure for now, but it was a close thing." Koharu answered before launching into a detailed explanation. Lying would be pointless; the daimyo would learn the full truth sooner or later and it was better to be upfront. "One major and two minor villages attacking in concert are a serious threat. We learned of a possible attack by one of the minor villages a month ago and made preparations, but they proved to be insufficient. The victory cost us much. We are still fully able to fulfill our contracts with the Land of Fire."

"What are the immediate consequences? Can we expect another attack?" the daimyo's first wife asked. The woman always had an aura of tranquility and benign indolence around her, but Koharu knew she had a very sharp mind behind her grey-blue eyes and did a lot to keep the government running smoothly.

"All attacking villages' forces suffered severe damage, making them unlikely to attack again in the near future. Sora has disappeared for now, but Konoha's forces are attacking Oto as we speak. Suna is an open question. Their location makes a retaliatory attack on our part difficult. For now we are waiting until we have more information."

The daimyo frowned. "Do I have to declare war against the Land of Wind and mobilize the army?"

"Putting them on alert would be advisable, Daimyo-sama, but we don't believe the Land of Wind's daimyo was involved in the invasion. Currently it is still purely between Suna and Konoha, but things might escalate. It is too early to tell."

They continued talking about different matters of state and how to proceed. The meeting was drawing to an end and she was almost ready to leave when the formerly silent second wife of the daimyo spoke up. "Excuse me, Utatane-san. There is another matter of interest. I have heard rumors of the involvement of demons in the invasion. How much truth do these rumors contain? It is a subject matter I have some scholarly interest in."

Koharu had to restrain herself from shifting uncomfortably under the intense gaze of blood-red, slitted eyes. Something in the woman's posture put her on alert even if the request was reasonable. The daimyo's second wife was one of the most beautiful women Koharu had ever seen and that was saying something. Voluptuous curves formed a perfectly proportioned figure, long, full and wavy night-black hair framed a face of surpassing loveliness and every movement radiated sheer sensuality. The woman was a walking seduction. If she had not been already married to the daimyo there would have been without a doubt endless hordes of suitors. Perhaps even more fearsome was the woman's mind. While the daimyo's first wife took care of the bureaucratic and administrative details his second wife played the game of court intrigue like no other. More than one noble who threatened the daimyo's rule with his schemes had found himself outmatched.

"I assume you are familiar with the concept of the tailed beasts and their human containers?" Koharu continued upon seeing the woman's nod. "They are true. Both Suna and Sora fielded jinchuuriki of their own. The Kyuubi's container is one of our promising young shinobi and was instrumental in repelling the invasion. Sora's jinchuuriki was killed, but the demon appeared again. It identified itself as Reibi."

The woman frowned. "There is no Reibi in the tales and legends of the tailed beasts born from the Juubi."

"Indeed, but that is all we know. It had the form of a black, amorphous leech with a white mask serving as its face. Suna's jinchuuriki tried to unleash the beast inside the village but was defeated. Later on the Ichibi reappeared outside the village. From the observational evidence we believe its jinchuuriki lost control. The Ichibi then assumed the form of an enormous sandstorm. In the end both the Reibi and the Ichibi disappeared while the village was under the effect of a powerful time-space technique. We assume they destroyed each other or were captured. Traces of an enormous battle remain. Several mountains were destroyed, forest has been turned into sand and in several places the ground was turned to glass. "

"Is that so? How very interesting. Thank you for indulging my curiosity, Utatane-san."

The daimyo gave Koharu a nod. "The court will resume session in two hours. A servant will lead you to your rooms if you wish to rest, Koharu-san."

Recognizing the dismissal, Koharu stood up, bowed and left the room. A few minutes later she was resting in the suite set aside for her use. The stress of the last week was getting to her; she appreciated every calm minute she could get. Thanks to the medical techniques available to shinobi her injuries had healed by now, but she was still a very old woman and didn't recover as easily from injuries or overexertion as in her youth. Letting her thoughts drift aimlessly she once again wondered about the daimyo's wives.

No one knew where the women had originally come from. There was no prior report about someone of their appearance ever be seen in the company of Shibata (or anywhere else for that matter) before the succession struggles. They had already been at Shibata's side when he revealed himself again and stayed with him ever since. Their marriage had caused some discontent in certain circles – many had hoped to bind their families to the new daimyo via a political marriage only to see their attempts thwarted by nobodies. The old kunoichi actually had no objections against them. Both were highly intelligent, capable women and with the birth of the young prince a few years ago their position had become unassailable (although Koharu would have preferred if there had been more children). They and the daimyo were a welcome contrast to the inept last four rulers of the Land of Fire.

'_We could have done something about that, but Hiruzen was always unwilling to interfere. Granted, it would have opened a very big can of worms, but we could have solved the succession crisis with a candidate of our choosing.'_

Still, sometimes Koharu's instincts gave her strange signals when in the vicinity of the daimyo and his wives. There wasn't anything openly suspicious (to her knowledge neither woman was a kunoichi; they didn't exhibit any of the subtle signs that indicated such training), but some very subtle feeling warned her that they could be very dangerous. In her long life Koharu had learned to listen to her instincts and she took that feeling very seriously. Homura had apparently a similar impression. Strictly speaking it wasn't her business, but she didn't like to leave riddles unsolved. Perhaps the future would give her an opportunity to sate her curiosity. Now she had to mentally prepare herself for another court session.

* * *

><p>Naruto was feeling a bit frustrated. He had tried to get hold of Shizune since yesterday to get her to take a look at Hinata, but the woman had been completely unavailable. She seemed to be performing surgeries nearly non-stop. If she wasn't doing that she was ordering the other medics around in concert with Hana Inuzuka and Ritsuko Aburame who had taken over joint leadership of Konoha's medical corps.<p>

Well, he could have asked Tsunade (who was unable to perform surgeries or even look closely at many wounded thanks to her hemophobia), but unfortunately there existed a tiny little problem: The story how they had gotten her back into the village had made its rounds thanks to Genma running his mouth in a bar. Tsunade was not impressed. Naruto had heard her shouting and he didn't want to risk getting decked by a woman possessing super strength. Besides, it was unlikely she would do him a favor.

Now though Shizune had apparently gone on a break and he was trying to find her in the halfway restored hospital building. This corridor was still completely deserted. Suddenly his sensitive ears picked up arguing voices. He carefully approached the room, but stopped at a distance were most people would still not be able to understand what was said. It wouldn't do to be identified as an eavesdropper, after all.

"Dammit, Shizune, what were you thinking? You let them simply take us."

"They had recall orders!"

"You know I didn't want to return!"

Both voices sounded angry, but Shizune's had a definitely tired undertone. Naruto doubted she had gotten any sleep in the last days aside from the nap on the flight the night before. Tsunade on her part sounded slightly inebriated. That didn't bode well for the confrontation.

"Would you have stayed away and let all those people suffer? They need our help."

"That isn't the point! You had no right to make such a decision for me! I have become a laughingstock!"

Something seemed to snap inside of Shizune. "Do you actually think you weren't a laughingstock before? How many people do you think laugh about the 'Legendary Sucker'?"

"Ungrateful child! Your uncle and parents would be turning in their graves if they knew."

"Don't bring my parents and Uncle Dan into this! Just because you lost people you shouldn't let that define the rest of your life! I lost my parents when I was young, fine. You don't see me drowning my sorrows in alcohol! How long are you planning on using that excuse? It has been decades since Uncle Dan died! Perhaps you should consider getting over it!"

"You dare? After all that I have done for you…!"

"What you have done for me? What did you actually do in the last years aside from drinking, gambling and running from the debts? You haven't taught me anything for ages. You didn't even let me sign the slug contract! I'm tired! Tired of watching you destroy yourself, tired of not knowing where we will sleep on the next night, tired of you wasting our lives!"

"If you think my company such a waste of time you are free to leave!"

"Fine! I quit! I can't stand it anymore! See if you can find another dumb idiot who pulls you from the gutter every night and cleans the vomit when you drink yourself into a stupor!"

This time Tsunade's voice was icy cold. "You are no longer an apprentice of mine!"

In the next moment the door flew open with a bang and an enraged Tsunade walked out. Fortunately she headed into the opposite direction. Naruto really didn't want to meet her just now. Holding his breath, he waited a few moments until she was out of sight before entering the room.

Shizune stood near a window, her back towards Naruto. Her shoulders were shaking, but no sound emerged. Naruto carefully approached her, making sure he caused enough noise to be noticed. Shizune didn't give any indication that she had noticed him.

Naruto carefully touched her arm. "Hey, are you alright?"

Upon contact Shizune whirled around to face him. She was crying. Recognition appeared on her face. Then she hugged Naruto, deep sobs shaking her body. Naruto was rather tall for his age, just a bit shorter than Shino in fact, so the height difference wasn't too awkward. He felt uncomfortable about the fact that a woman he barely knew let her guard down like this, but considering that Shizune had been out of the village for a very long time there were probably no or only a few people she was close to. Well, and he was there.

After a couple of minutes Shizune regained her composure. She let go of Naruto, looking very embarrassed. "Sorry, I lost control."

Naruto gave her an understanding smile. "It's alright. I won't tell anyone."

"Did you hear anything?"

"Well, everything shortly before the laughingstock. Sorry, you were rather loud and I have a good sense of hearing."

Now Shizune's expression was outright mortified. "I shouldn't have said those things. Once Tsunade calms down I will apologize."

Naruto had his doubts that it would be that easy; the argument had sounded rather nasty. Some things couldn't be unsaid once voiced out loud. He was unsure about his own stance on the issue. On the one hand Tsunade had taken Shizune in after the death of her parents and accepted her as her apprentice. On the other hand practically living on the road and watching her mentor slowly destroying herself for years on end had to be wearing even for the strongest of persons. It didn't seem as if Shizune had been able to pursue any goals of her own, caring for Tsunade had taken up all her time.

'_I don't think this is the right time to bring up Hinata.'_

Shizune had now completely regained her composure. "Is there any special reason you sought me out?"

"There is something I wanted to ask you, but that can wait." The blond boy shrugged. "I mainly wanted to see how you are doing. From what I heard you are very busy. At the moment I have nothing much to do besides training and decided to stop by."

The black-haired woman smiled at him. "Aw, that's awfully considerate. Since you brought us back to Konoha I have been performing surgeries almost without pause." Then she yawned. "Sorry, I'm very tired and I have almost no chakra left." Suddenly Shizune's stomach grumbled.

Naruto laughed. "And it doesn't look like you have eaten anything. For that matter, do you have a place to stay?"

Shizune blinked. "I completely forgot about that. I was planning to stay with Tsunade, but I don't think I would be very welcome there at the moment."

"You can stay with me if you want; at least until you find something of your own. The house I live in has an unused guest room."

"I'm not sure…" Shizune answered hesitantly.

"It's no bother. We can eat something on the way."

Shizune delayed a few more moments, but then she agreed. Naruto led her to Ichiraku's. Fortunately both Teuchi and Ayame had survived the invasion unscathed. Naruto was a regular; ramen was one of his favorite foods. He had visited the restaurant weekly for more than seven years since he had left the orphanage. Since he often brought his team and friends they too were well known to the owners. His last visit had been only yesterday, but he figured he could indulge from time to time.

Ayame greeted him immediately. "Hello Naruto, it's good to see you again so soon. How is Anko? You were about to visit her yesterday when you left."

"Irritable and bored. She's still bedridden for a few days. Ayame, this is Shizune, a friend of mine and medic nin. She has returned to the village from a long-term assignment."

"Welcome, it's nice to meet you. Now, what would you like to eat?"

Since Shizune was so tired it mostly fell to Naruto and Ayame to make conversation during the meal. Several times Shizune almost nodded off. The argument with Tsunade had probably drained her immensely. By the time they arrived at Yakumo's house she was practically asleep on her feet. She barely managed to wash herself and change out of her clothes; three seconds after Naruto had settled her in the guestroom she went out like a light.

Seeing no reason to stay in the house, Naruto left a message behind and ventured again into the village. There was still a place he wanted to visit.

Naruto let out an inaudible sigh of relief when the sounds of Konoha disappeared as he entered the path to the sanctuary. It had not been easy to find the opportunity to slip away to the small copse hidden behind several empty buildings in a corner of Konoha unobserved. He actually had to use his magic to make himself only a face in the crowd and change his appearance with a henge afterwards.

More than once people had approached him to thank him for his part in beating back the invasion or followed him around. It seemed he had become sort of a hero. He wasn't the only one, of course; an attack the size of the invasion offered ample opportunity for heroic deeds. The demon slayer Hayate Gekko, Ibiki Morino (who had rallied Konoha's forces for a counterattack after Sky's first attack) or the now deceased Maito Gai (who had ostensibly put the Sorakage to flight) were other examples. Just like Choji Naruto's actions had been widely visible, though. The news of him holding the swallow summoning contract was another factor.

It was funny in a way how many people treated him differently now, but he perfectly understood why. The main reason (besides irrational hatred and misplaced blame) many had shunned him during his childhood was the uncertainty if he could control the Kyuubi. In many ways a jinchuuriki was viewed as a massive exploding tag that could detonate at any time without warning. In the last decades the hosts of the tailed beasts in the different villages had lost control often enough for it to be common knowledge among shinobi and related civilians alike. It was completely understandable that people did everything they could to ignore the presence of a human weapon of mass destruction among them. Now that he had proven to be a valuable asset to the village many people obviously reconsidered their behavior even if they still feared him. Naruto didn't mind either way as long as they weren't actively malicious. He didn't care about the village in its own right, just by proxy due to his friends and how useful it was to him.

Leaving the path behind, Naruto entered the mist-filled haunted forest in the periphery of the sanctuary for the first time since before the invasion. The first thing he noticed was that the otherworldly nature of that place had increased considerably. It was really, really creepy. The defenses had never been tested, but whatever mortal intruder found his way here probably wouldn't enjoy his visit.

A short walk later the mists parted. Here no change was noticeable; the surroundings looked as beautiful and full of life as they always had. Finally Naruto arrived in the center of the sanctuary. He vaguely felt the presence of his parents. Sitting down at his favorite place under a massive oak with a good view of the field of flowers he waited for any sort of reaction. The last time he had been here he thought he had heard his parents' voices in the wind.

When nothing happened he spoke up. "Hey Mom, Dad. I guess you aren't in a condition to talk, huh? Well, I just wanted to say I'm fine. I left the village for a few days to retrieve Tsunade. It went off without a hitch. Oh, and I'm befriending her apprentice Shizune. Hinata still hasn't woken, but I suppose you know more about that than I do. Yakumo, Ino and Choji have left on a mission. Shino and Kiba are busy with their clans. Anko is hurt but healing. Shikamaru's dad is the current village leader; practically everyone expects that he will become the Godaime Hokage. Itachi and Kisame paid the village a visit on behalf of Akatsuki, but at that time I was already on the trail of Tsunade. They never caught me." He stopped for a second. "I miss you."

Suddenly a soft gust of wind hit him; it felt almost as if the warm breeze was ruffling his hair with invisible fingers. He closed his eyes and immersed himself in the sensation. Then it was gone again.

'_I guess that is all I'm going to get.'_

Deciding to check some other things, Naruto tapped into the magic of the sanctuary. In the next moment his eyes flew open. The spring was still generating new magic, but what had been an unfathomable big sea of readily accessible power was now a large but shallow lake. Oh, it was still far more than he could ever use. Still, it was far less than the last time he had checked.

'_I know it has gathered here since Dad created the spring around seven years ago. He and Mom occasionally used some of it, but not all that much. If I had to take a guess there is perhaps half a year's output left in storage.'_

Naruto gulped. The swallows had given him a description of what they had witnessed during the last part of the invasion when his father had used his body, but he had had no way of gauging how much power that had actually cost. Now he knew at least vaguely and it unsettled him greatly. Worse, it meant they couldn't repeat that anytime soon. If another great demon (or some other entity) came knocking they would have a big problem.

'_There's nothing I can do about it. Perhaps Mom and Dad will come up with something.'_

He could only wait what the future would bring.

* * *

><p>In a hidden place not visited by mere humans for centuries several animal-like figures gathered. Their forms and temperaments were as different as could be, but one purpose united them.<p>

"The Ichibi broke its bonds and is now free of the honored Sage's dominion. A cry echoed through the entire world. The Sanbi's container died, dispersing it for several years. Fortunately the Sage's dominion still holds over it. The honored Sage's plan is even more in jeopardy than before. This is a catastrophe. New powers have arisen and old powers are awakening. The Wicked Heart of Death and Slaughter was bad enough on its own. Soon they will undo all our work. It will be the age of strife all over again." one spoke.

"The plan might still succeed. Their awakening will take time; maybe time enough to orchestrate completion. The Ichibi is the least powerful. If enough of the others work together it might be subdued long enough. Once united with the proper vessel it will be outmatched. There are other ways we can use, too." another replied.

"What about the Kyuubi? Its container was there, too. Is he still usable? He should have been contracted to you by now." a third voice inquired, addressing a fourth figure.

The enormous, wrinkled Great Toad Sage didn't change his expression, but it was clear to everyone present that he wasn't happy. "The chosen receptacle is not bonded to us. He has somehow found, woken and contracted the swallows. I do not know if he survived. Our summoner was hurt badly when the Ichibi broke free and is still recovering in our realm as do my heirs. The portal was destroyed. We have no way of reaching Konoha quickly."

Sounds of dismay were heard. "The swallows are active again? That is bad news; I hoped their sleep would last longer. They cannot be allowed to learn of the Honored Sage's plan. Is the receptacle still suitable? Its creation was premature, after all." the first voice asked.

"Our deceased summoner did what he could to make the best out of a bad situation thirteen years ago. We still do not know who or what released the Kyuubi prematurely. If it had escaped it possibly would have thrown back the plan for decades." the Great Toad Sage replied. "The seal was not yet completely refined, but it will serve its purpose. The receptacle will become the new savior of this world. We did our part; our allies were responsible for the savior's upbringing."

"The savior's childhood didn't go entirely as hoped. He made more strong bonds with some of his peers than expected and has a somewhat sharper mind than we hoped, but it is still within our needs. Our summoner often talked with my children about him. The savior saw him as a grandfather. Unfortunately the choice of teacher was not what we hoped, but considering the restraints we operate under it couldn't be helped." The white-haired monkey sage who had spoken up let out an angry huff. "My summoner fell to his vile student and now we lack access. His son refused to take the test to contract with us years ago. I have sent some of my children to talk with him, but it will take them time to get there from the nearest gateway to our realm."

Suddenly one of the silent figures contorted slightly, causing the others to look at it. The massive slug seemed to be concentrating on something in her own realm. After a few moments she stilled again. "I have good news. Our summoner was recalled to Konoha. She summoned one of my children to help in her healing. My child overheard several conversations. The savior is still alive and unharmed. Despite high losses Konoha was not defeated."

The second voice spoke up. "That is good to know. At least that part of the plan is still on track. We will have to take his unfortunate bond with the swallows into account. The honored Sage of Six Path's wishes shall be fulfilled, the world shall be saved and peace shall reign eternally."

"Eternal peace!"

* * *

><p>At the same time another meeting was taking place in a large office in the Raikage's tower in Kumogakure. Mabui, the Yondaime Raikage's assistant, was standing in front of the assembled jonin.<p>

"… seems as if Konoha is stabilizing under the leadership of Shikaku of the Nara clan. They are weakened, but not fatally so. Meanwhile, Kirigakure is descending into civil war once again. The Yondaime Mizukage Yagura is most likely dead considering the destruction of his island retreat and left behind traces of demonic chakra. Until it reforms the Sanbi has become a non-factor. Without Yagura holding things together the clans and different factions are fighting for dominance. The outcome is too uncertain to make any predictions; the fighting will probably be very hard and last for months." Mabui informed the jonin gathered in the room. The Raikage A and Kumo's village council had already decided on a course of action in a secret session several hours ago. Now the people who would actually carry out the plans had to be briefed. "Suna will probably end up in a similar chaotic state, but we don't expect it to escalate into a true civil war. They have to fear a retaliatory attack from Konoha and a possible opportunistic attack from Iwa. None of the minor villages have yet decided on a course of action to our knowledge."

Once she had finished the Raikage spoke up. "We will make use of this opportunity. C, you will assemble a strike force. Its task will be to covertly enter the Land of Water. Get us as many bloodlines and secret knowledge as possible. Maintaining secrecy would be beneficial, but is ultimately dispensable if it gets in the way of the mission. Kiri is not in a position to threaten us and they will damage themselves enough without needing our help."

"Understood, Raikage-sama!"

"Darui, you and Yugito will put together a second strike force. I want you to be ready to invade the Land of Fire if the situation develops favorably. Currently it is still too risky, but I have a feeling that will change in the time you will need for this. Your primary task will be the same as C's. Get us examples of Konoha's bloodlines or rare techniques. The secondary task is to eliminate as many assets and detachments of Konoha as possible without attacking the village itself or sustaining excessive losses. If the opportunity presents itself take out the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. According to the reports he is dangerous and will become a real threat with more experience."

The two jonin accepted their mission without hesitation. What the Raikage didn't say was that he had already issued a specific order to help things along. The Land of Fire was stable, but only thanks to the current daimyo. Should the man and his heir die… well, the ensuing chaos would distract Konoha enough for Darui's raid to become feasible without much opposition. Even if the attempt failed the spreading news of Konoha's near defeat would probably create the necessary opportunity anyway.

An appropriate group for the assassination of the Fire Daimyo and his family was already in position near the Fire capital, thanks to some unobtrusive help and support. They weren't connected in any way to Kumogakure; they were the remnants of a small shinobi village in the Land of Woods that had been quietly and (mostly) secretly crushed by Konoha before the Land of Fire had annexed their home country. Their grudge would explain their actions. Even better, they didn't know themselves that Kumo had supported them aside from a loose end that would be taken care of. The only reason they had not yet attacked was that Kumo had stalled for the moment of greatest effect. Now, with Konoha severely weakened, that moment had come.

Several hours later a clerk stopped dead in his task of copying the orders of the Raikage for the archives. Re-reading the documents, he took a deep, calming breath before continuing his work. At the end of his shift he visited a particular carpenter, leaving an order for a new chair with very specific description. On the next morning the carpenter lodged a D-rank mission to deliver a long, boring letter describing all his current works in the most soporific language possible to his brother living in a town nearby. Since the carpenter had done the same thing two or three times every month for more than five years it didn't cause the slightest stir. Receiving the letter shortly after noon, said brother relayed the contents to his old neighbor during an idle afternoon chat. Said neighbor almost suffered a heart attack when he decoded the message (a feat the brothers had been incapable of due to not knowing the code) before sending his son to a nearby farm, newly re-coded message hidden inside an order for a few sausages. The message passed several more waypoints until it was finally entrusted to a messenger bird heading for Konoha. The agent who had used his only means of high-speed communication only hoped it would arrive in time.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Over a thousand reviews! Thank you all for taking the time to leave a comment. I might not answer due to time constraints, but be assured I read every review. To those who simply read, I hope you enjoy the story.

It has been far too long since the last update, but unfortunately life likes to throw problems my way. Additionally I made the mistake of reading up the manga to the current issue and it totally killed my inspiration to write for a time.

Mini-rant: Freaking Dragonball had more balance, reasonable power progression and logical integration of people with superpowers into the world. The Uchiha are now officially the clan of mental damage. The deus ex sharingan was already bad enough. Did Kishi have to make them all emos? Sigh. I long for the early days. It wasn't all daisies and sunshine, but I like it more than large parts of shippuden. Oh, there are some good ideas here and there, but it doesn't make up for the bad, especially all the crap in the shinobi world war arc. Incidentally I even like the earlier art style better.

Maito Gai putting the Sorakage to flight: That isn't how it happened, but it is the official story in Konoha.

Random observation: Off the top of my head I don't remember many stories that address Tsunade's crippling hemophobia. It's often ignored in favor of only convincing her to return, probably because without the specific chain of events that helped her get over it she would still suffering from it.

So long.


	41. Chapter 40: Awakenings

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 40: Awakenings**

It was the darkest part of the night just before dawn when the curse awoke. At least in a manner of speaking, the curse wasn't sentient or even a being in the strict sense of the word albeit it could look that way to an outside observer.

A true curse was a terrible and, at least according to some, beautiful thing. The particulars varied greatly, but at its most basic level a curse twisted the world to achieve its goal. Bad luck to varying degrees was perhaps the most common one, but they could get very complicated and oddly specific. Whatever the goal, a successfully placed curse would bend everything it could to fulfill its purpose. In general they were difficult to cast, even harder to break and surrounded by all sorts of auxiliary conditions and constraints.

This particular curse had been cast by the dark god Jashin with a single goal: Wipe out all descendants of a long-gone rival god. Unfortunately for them the Hyuuga were those descendants, the origin of their bloodline almost forgotten in the mists of time aside from a few vague legends. The heart's blood of a living Hyuuga had been spilled on the land they claimed as their own by a follower of Jashin with a weapon made out of a piece of the dark god itself to bring the curse into being. It had no longer any connection to the deity that had created it, making it completely independent and nearly undetectable even by those knowledgeable in these matters. Despite all this the curse was very weak at the current time. The supernatural upheaval during the invasion had interfered with its proper evolvement and temporarily weakened it. While it was growing more powerful over time it had hardly any means of directly influencing the world. Now though it was ready to claim its first victim.

Aeko was an unremarkable Hyuuga Branch House member in her late middle age. She had never been talented enough to become a kunoichi and spent most of her life as a servant. She had never married. She was neither especially loved nor hated by her peers and the rest of her clan; mostly she was just there, doing her mundane duties as she had done for all her life.

The woman was carrying a laundry basket down a stairway in the Hyuuga compound when out of nowhere icy fear gripped her heart. Stumbling back in confusion, her foot slipped on the narrow stairs. The following fall down the stairway woke several people in nearby rooms. By the time the first arrived to investigate the commotion it was far too late for Aeko: the poor woman had broken her neck in the fall. After a short investigation it was chalked up to a tragic accident.

The first pebble that in time would turn into an avalanche had begun its journey down the mountain.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru yawned sleepily when he left his bed. He hated getting up early, but there was no choice. At sunrise he would have to report to his new superior.<p>

'_I sure didn't expect being back to active service after only two months at the academy. I thought I would have more time.'_

The time since he had left Kakashi's team to go back to the academy had been filled with training, more training, some bullying from his new classmates and even more training. Shikamaru had improved considerably. Unfortunately he was still far below what he considered acceptable for a genin with his background. A lifetime of laziness and doing just enough to scrape by couldn't be undone by a measly two months.

That wasn't even speaking of some of his erstwhile classmates from the elite class. They were so far ahead of him it was ridiculous. Choji had managed to successfully go hand-to-hand with a jinchuuriki using the form of his tailed beast, for Kami's sake. Shikamaru had witnessed the opening stages of the invasion and seen the fight from afar. At least when he could spare the attention from fighting for his own life; he had killed for the first time then. He still felt uncomfortable about that, but at the time there had been no choice. Fortunately the nightmares about that and the other horrors of the invasion had become less frequent in the last couple of nights.

Later on he had been trapped in a collapsed section of Konoha's underground alongside a few other people. He was still there when the time stop hit. When everything but him stopped he had at first thought someone had trapped him in a genjutsu (or he had suffered a blow to the head), especially when all the shadows started behaving oddly shortly thereafter. Well, when the earthquakes started a brick had indeed fallen on his head without doing any damage, but apparently that wasn't the cause for the strange occurrence. Fortunately their tunnel had survived mostly intact and they had been dug out a few hours later. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had been unaffected by some large-scale space-time technique, but nobody could make any sense of what happened. The current prevailing theory was that several unknown S-rank shinobi had used the invasion to defeat and capture the Ichibi and/or its jinchuuriki. It fit with an S-rank water user attacking the Ichibi and Suna's forces beforehand. The assault by Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki a few days later certainly lent credence to that theory; the intervening time was just right to recover from minor wounds and such an exhausting fight. Kisame was one of the most powerful water-users in the Elemental Nations, so that was accounted for. Perhaps whoever had used the space-time technique had been more seriously wounded so that he couldn't participate in the second attack. Shikamaru wasn't supposed to know, but last night he had overheard a conversation between his parents that they belonged to an organization that meant to target their own jinchuuriki, Naruto.

'_And wasn't that a surprise? It explains so much.'_

Shikamaru wasn't sure what to make of that. All the adults had obviously known, meaning that half-way competent spies wouldn't miss the fact. It just didn't make sense to keep it secret. Well, at least the power of the Kyuubi was in responsible hands. During the academy time he had been on vaguely friendly terms with Naruto and he still owed him, Choji and Ino due to them slipping him the information about Kakashi's crackpot plan to enroll their team in the chunin exams. Unfortunately he just had not found the opportunity for more than a few short conversations in the months before the chunin exam finals.

Finishing his mourning routine, Shikamaru headed to the kitchen. His mother was already there, preparing breakfast. "Morning, mom."

"Good morning, Shikamaru. Please be quiet, your father is still sleeping."

Shikamaru nodded when he sat down at the table. It was the first time since the invasion that his father had actually spent the night in his own bed in the Nara clan compound. He had been back several times to take care of urgent clan business in the last days, but he always headed back to the Hokage's office immediately, leaving Shikamaru's mother to deal with things. Him being back for the night was a sign that things were slowly brought under control.

Yoshino placed a bowl of porridge before him. "Hurry up and eat. You don't want to be late."

He rolled his eyes as soon as his mother had turned her back. "Yes, mom."

A moment later the large wooden spoon his mother had been carrying hit him none too gently on the head. "Don't roll your eyes at me."

'_Troublesome woman. How did she know that?'_

"Just assume I know everything you think and do, son."

Shikamaru gulped nervously and began eating without further comment. Women were terrifying creatures, his mother especially. He wouldn't put it past her to be able to read his thoughts.

Finishing quickly, he returned the bowl. After getting his equipment (since the invasion he never went anywhere unarmed) he was about to leave the house when something caused him to stop at the doorstep. A small, sleeping red-haired child was curled up on the front porch.

"Troublesome." Carefully picking the boy up, Shikamaru turned around.

"Did you forget something, Shikamaru?" his mother asked from the kitchen when he re-entered the house.

"Shirou was outside again."

"Oh dear." His mother entered the hallway, a worried expression on her face. "The poor boy. Give him to me."

Handing over the sleeping boy, Shikamaru watched his mother's expression soften. He guessed that was how his father saw her instead of her normal, rather tyrannical self. Shirou was one of Shikamaru's cousins who had been orphaned in the invasion. He was now staying with them along with two other children and one of Shikamaru's old great-uncles. The house was rather full these days. Overall the Nara clan had made it through the invasion relatively intact. The clan compound had suffered only minor damage, but of course there had been many painful losses among the clan's members. Shirou was still too young to really understand that his parents wouldn't come back. He often snuck outside to wait for something that would never happen.

Seeing that his mother had the situation under control, Shikamaru gave her a nod and headed out again. This time no surprises awaited him when he made his way into the village. The sky was already growing noticeably brighter; sunrise wasn't far off anymore. Quite a lot of people were already underway, but Konoha never truly slept in the first place.

Shikamaru wondered what his new job would be. Since the invasion he had helped out wherever he could, but he had not been assigned anything. Well, he supposed there wasn't much need for someone with his track record; certainly no chunin or jonin who assembled a team would want him for anything other than just another body to make up numbers. During the invasion he didn't do anything special either. The best he could hope for was some boring and possibly shitty job with few if any opportunities for advancement. Even the increased importance of his father might not help with that.

Finally he arrived at the place he had been ordered to report to. It had originally been one of the bigger craters in a completely destroyed section of Konoha, but it had been converted into a place for briefings of a large number of people in the last days. Shikamaru had actually been present when the crater walls had been changed into rows upon rows of seats by prodigious use of earth jutsu. The wooden roof that kept the weather away was new to him, though.

Shikamaru entered and stopped for a moment to look around. The seats were already well-filled. At first glance all of the people already present were considerably older than him, in some cases extremely so. The number of disabled people was simply staggering, too. Missing limbs and other injuries seemed to be everywhere. He spotted quite a few of the teachers from the academy, too.

'_Was there a mistake? I don't belong in here.'_

Shrugging, he took a seat in one of the back rows and waited. As minutes passed by the room filled more and more. Some people gave him glances that indicated they wondered what he was doing here. To pass the time Shikamaru ran several mental exercises in his head.

Suddenly a voice startled him. "Sorry, is this seat taken?"

Startled, Shikamaru looked up. A girl about his age was standing there, her eyes hidden behind swirl-tinted glasses. Occasional strands were sticking out from her chin-length light blonde hair.

He gestured towards the seat. "Feel free to sit down."

"Thanks. I'm Shiho."

"My name is Shikamaru."

The girl looked around the now almost-full room. "We seem to be the only people our age here. I wonder why we were summoned."

Shikamaru shrugged. "I wondered the same thing."

Before they could exchange more words the sound of a small gong silenced the room. Several people had appeared on the stage at the center of the room. One man in particular was familiar to Shikamaru. It was Mizuki, the assistant instructor of Shikamaru's old academy class. Additionally, the man had given him help and some pointers during his second stint at the academy, but he had not seen him since before the invasion.

"Welcome, everyone. I am the new director of the academy and head of the education department, special jonin Mizuki. I was tasked by the village council to oversee the reorganization and rebuilding of our educational system. All of you have been selected to support that effort, either in a teaching role or as support staff. As of now you report to me and my assigned deputies."

Mizuki proceeded to introduce the other people composing the new top of the education department. Shikamaru recognized only a couple of the names. None of the former leadership of the academy was present. It was possible they had died during the invasion; there had been so many deaths that it was difficult to keep track.

"Our first priority is the re-establishment of an orderly education and training regime. For the time being we will use the existing syllabus because we have all the related written teaching materials in sufficient amounts, but we will switch to a wartime curriculum in the near future. Since most of the academy buildings have been destroyed we lack a centralized location with sufficient suitable rooms. You will have to hold lessons mostly in the open air if the weather permits and spread out to smaller buildings if not."

Upon hearing these news there was some whispering. Mizuki patiently waited until the whispers died down before he continued speaking.

"In light of our losses it has been decided that the sixth and seventh years will be integrated into the genin force as soon as practical. Unfortunately most of the reports of the students' abilities and grades were lost in the invasion. Due to heavy casualties and reassignments among the old faculty there is no quick and easy way to restore that knowledge. This means our second priority is organizing mass exams in the next few days. Depending on the results we might have to set up a crash course for the worst cases, but the majority of students will be promoted to genin to counteract the manpower shortage."

This time the whispers were louder and lasted longer, but finally the room quieted down again.

"It is very likely we will have to graduate the fifth years early as well, maybe even the fourth years, but fortunately not immediately. As soon as we have a system set up and running expect many new students. We will get several age groups at the same time to bolster the numbers. I know many of you have never taught children before. That means you will make mistakes. Do not be so proud to eschew asking for help. A known mistake is fixable, one brushed under the carpet is not… and those who try to do the latter will find themselves reassigned to the most miserable and dangerous job I can come up with. Do not disappoint me." Mizuki let a hard gaze wander over the audience before his expression returned to normal. "Now, with that out of the way let's get to work. Your names will be called for a more detailed briefing by your immediate supervisors. I'm looking forward to a good cooperation in the future."

Shikamaru watched as the room emptied more and more. Finally he, Shiho and few others were called by Mizuki himself. When the group left the hall the young Nara realized with a start that he, Shiho and Mizuki were the only able-bodied among them. The others displayed an assortment of crippling injuries ranging from multiple missing fingers to one woman who had lost both legs. She skillfully moved around on crutches, though.

After a short walk Mizuki led them to a large townhouse near the center of Konoha. It was conveniently located near one of the main traffic lanes, but far enough to reduce the noise to pleasant levels. The Hokage's office wasn't far away, either. Upon entering Shikamaru saw that it had been refurbished as an office building.

Mizuki turned around to face them. "Once again, welcome. All of you have been selected to work as my personal staff. This is our new office. I'll give you a short tour before you get started. There is much work to be done."

It wasn't anything spectacular. The cellar held the sadly very disorganized remains of the archives salvaged from the academy and even more empty space. Many of the existing files looked to be damaged and incomplete. The rest of the house was occupied by offices. There were even three meeting rooms squeezed into the building. One by one the group dispersed until only Shikamaru and Shiho were left facing their new superior.

"Shikamaru, Shiho, you two will act as my personal assistants. I expect you to give your best and stay out of trouble. You can prepare yourselves for long hours of hard work each day. Additionally, I will personally oversee your training. Don't think you can slack off."

Mizuki continued to explain their duties in detail. They would run all sorts of errands for their new superior, but they would also help in reorganizing the archives, do research on topics Mizuki required, participate in the development of the new academy curriculum and generally see to any task the special jonin ordered them to do.

One fact in particular caught Shikamaru's attention. They were only assigned to the academy by extension; their formal status was that of personal apprentices to Mizuki. In that moment Shikamaru understood. By claiming Shikamaru as his apprentice Mizuki was effectively salvaging his career after he had thrown it into the crapper to get away from Team 7. The special jonin had made a name for himself and garnered no small amount of prestige in the wake of the invasion. He didn't know what the deal with Shiho was, but it would jumpstart her career, too.

'_Political move. It puts my father in Mizuki's debt, especially because there was no former association between them. Possibly back payment for getting the position of department head. Mizuki has already cultivated me in the last month.'_

Well, it wasn't as if Shikamaru minded considering how Ino, Choji and the others had turned out under his tutelage. It certainly beat being assigned to some no-name chunin and it avoided the impression of blatant nepotism. A side-long glance showed Shikamaru that Shiho had realized what Mizuki had done for her, too. The girl seemed to be quite intelligent. It looked like an interesting time awaited them.

* * *

><p>Far to the west the inhabitants of a small castle were filled with fearful anticipation, many awake despite the nightly hour. The birth was going all wrong, Kaede knew. She was the most experienced midwife in all of the Six Sunset Kingdoms and she had helped to bring literally hundreds of children into the world. Even the doctor from faraway Kitami who had been sent for when the noble lady's pregnancy proved to be problematic looked desperate. If nothing changed they would lose mother and child both… and possibly their heads. The daimyo of the Land of Windmills was a good and just man, but there was no telling what grief over the loss of his beloved wife might do to him. She had heard tales of what happened to those who disappointed nobles.<p>

One of the fabled healers of the shinobi might be able to do something, but that was wishful thinking. It had been more than two decades years since the last shinobi had visited their small country and that had only been because their ship had been driven far off course by a storm. Shinobi healers were even rarer than normal shinobi. None of them had been encountered by anyone in the Sunset Kingdoms in living memory. Well, it wasn't as if they saw much traffic what with the endless ocean to the west, the treacherous Sea of Silence and uninhabited Ash Coast to the north and the volcanic wastelands to the east that isolated the Sunset Kingdoms from most other countries. To the south a series of small countries stretched between the Weeping Mountains and the sea as far as the great city of Kitami, the door to the rest of the Elemental Nations.

As time went by the woman grew weaker and weaker. Seeing no way to help, Kaede began to pray. The usual rituals like making offerings to the ancestors, warding off evil spirits and inviting benevolent ones had already been done, but she figured it wouldn't do any harm at this point. She was calling on someone, anyone to help.

Suddenly the atmosphere in the room changed, filled by a peaceful, otherworldly presence. Three new, unknown women had appeared from thin air.

One was clad in an orange gown, her long hair pure silver. Faint lines in her face denoted high age without taking away from the woman's unearthly beauty.

One was all in green, a motherly air surrounding her. Braided brown, sun-bleached hair was done in a style not unusual for working women.

One wore a dress in all colors of the rainbow, gleaming ribbons and flowers woven through her blond hair. She literally radiated youthful exuberance.

No one in the room could move a muscle when the three approached the woman giving birth. Gently touching the swollen belly, the three quietly talked in a language nobody could understand. Then they went to work while the spectators felt their bodies moving of their own accord, giving assistance when it seemed required.

Everything went very quickly then. Before long the cries of a newborn boy filled the chamber, but the three didn't pause in their work. Then a second child was drawn forth from the womb. Kaede felt a deep sadness when she saw the newborn boy's blue face and unmoving chest. Then the youngest pressed her lips to the child's and breathed life into him. A moment later the unhealthy color disappeared and a new voice joined the one of his older brother. A few minutes later the women handed the two cleaned and swaddled bundles to their mother with matching smiles.

"Who… Who are you?" someone finally managed to ask.

The three answered. They spoke of the sanctity of home, the value of family, of the art of healing and many other things. Finally they disappeared as abruptly as they had come, but they left a deep impression behind.

Kaede participated in the celebration following a successful birth as she always did, but her mind was on other matters. As soon as she got home she would erect a shrine to the three Peaceful Sisters. She had the feeling she wouldn't be the only one.

* * *

><p>Temari sighed. It was shaping up to be another boring day. Since Idate had left on a mission two days before yesterday she was missing a friendly face to talk to. The others behaved courteously but coolly towards her.<p>

'_At least they let me use the yard to train a bit. It could have ended far worse for me.'_

The two people watching her left no doubt that she was a prisoner, if a well-treated one. Idate had given her his word that she would be treated honorably and his clan had followed suit. Consequently she was under house arrest in the Morino clan compound and not in a cell somewhere.

Granted, she had been interrogated several times, but it was a far cry from torture. She had always answered truthfully and comprehensively; she thought it prudent not to antagonize her captors. It was made easier by the fact that she didn't actually have much knowledge dangerous to Suna. The Yondaime Kazekage had been her father, yes, but their relationship had always been cold and distant. He had kept her and her brothers as far away from true power as he could manage. They had been recipients of orders, nothing more. It was the primary reason why she had still been a genin in the first place. She had more insight into the workings of her village and politics than a typical kunoichi of her age and picked up things on her own, but nothing that would rate as an important village secret.

Sometimes Temari wondered if she would ever return to Suna and what would await her there. By now she had the time to consider things carefully. With her father dead (she hoped the bastard was burning in some hell) and her youngest brother presumably gone her political value and standing was questionable at best. With the failed invasion the erstwhile supporters of her father would take the fall. Suna was looking forward to a time of considerable political upheaval. Her father had made many enemies and some of them might well take out their anger on her. Their family would make a good scapegoat for the failed invasion, too. While she considered herself a good kunoichi her skills were not strong or unique enough to make her really valuable to anyone in Suna under the circumstances. Well, she was the current holder of the weasel contract she had inherited from her mother, but due to the weasels' peculiarities it wasn't that useful to Suna overall.

'_I wonder how Kankuro is doing.'_

She had no idea if he had even survived the invasion or the retreat. He was the only member of her family left to her. Maybe Baki would keep him around and alive. Their jonin-sensei was an intelligent, calculating man and had considerable foresight. Gaara was most likely dead considering the destruction in the village's vicinity Idate had told her about. It seemed the Ichibi had ultimately broken free of the seal and devoured her brother.

'_I can't bet on being ransomed back by Suna even if the hostilities are settled. That might take years anyway. I don't want to go against my village, but I don't think I have a future there anymore.'_

Temari would have to take her future into her own hands. Sticking with Idate seemed a good idea. It had worked out wonderfully so far and she didn't plan on staying a prisoner for the rest of her life. Besides, it was always nice when the logical course of action coincided with what she emotionally wanted.

* * *

><p>Deep in the heart of the Desert of Wind something woke. It gave its surroundings a glance before it settled back down. Disturbances were unlikely. Nobody ever entered this driest, most hostile to life part of the desert, not even the shinobi from Suna. Besides, even if a human strayed here he would only see empty desolation. While the entity touched the real world in this place nothing physical was present unless it specifically manifested a part of its being. The changes wrought upon it were still not finished, but it felt already better, more complete than it ever had. The being was no longer broken on a fundamental level. Well, perhaps it should begin thinking of itself as a she. For most beings of her kind gender was something optional and arbitrary, more part of the self-image than anything biological.<p>

At the same place and yet far, far away a woman with golden hair held a sleeping, red-headed boy in her arms and watched her changing surroundings with interest. Demonic and divine energies were flowing freely, reshaping her (and hence her inner world) into something different. Perhaps the biggest change was the new sun blazing brightly in the sky. Another was the existence of shadows. There weren't very many of them, but they existed. Most of the layers of her inner world were still extremely hostile to life, but not all.

Suddenly Gaara stirred. The former Ichibi began humming quietly until the boy settled back down. He was still mostly human, but he too was being changed, his mind and body mended. "Sleep well, my child. It is too early for you to awaken. Our time will come."

* * *

><p>Without any transition Shizune woke from deep, dreamless sleep. Her first, ingrained impulse was to check on her master. She was already halfway out of bed before she remembered the current state of affairs.<p>

'_Oh, right. We did have a falling out.'_

Letting herself fall back onto the bed, Shizune stared at the ceiling. Yesterday's confrontation played out in her head again. There was no taking back the things they had said to each other. She had been stressed and tired while Tsunade had been drunk as usual, but that was no excuse.

'_I shouldn't have lashed out at her. I should have apologized immediately.'_

It was what she had always done when they had argued, but this time something felt different; Shizune just couldn't tell exactly what it was. After several minutes of fruitless contemplation she shoved these thoughts to the side and got up. Judging by the position of the sun it was late morning. Since she wasn't expected back at the hospital until afternoon she could take it easy for now.

On the last day she had been too tired to pay much attention to the house. Her current location seemed to be some sort of guest room. The supplies she always carried with her had been laid out on a small table. After taking them back she left the guestroom.

'_Where was the bathroom again?'_

Shizune's first attempt yielded only another, larger bedroom. The next room had been set up as an artist's workshop. Several canvases and easels were neatly stored along with other painting supplies. A skylight combined with a normal window gave the room good lighting. Multiple charcoal drawings and half-finished paintings of landscapes and people occupied the rest of the space. In the center of the room sat an almost finished painting of a white-haired man and a purple-haired woman. It was obvious the two were a couple. They looked very happy together, but Shizune couldn't help but to suppress a sigh. She had always wanted to marry and to have children of her own, but caring for her master and practically living on the road had prevented that. Considering she was slowly getting past the marriageable age she feared that she would never get the opportunity.

'_Whoever painted these is very good.'_

Finally she found the bathroom. A few minutes and a short trip to the backyard containing a water barrel later she was ready to face the day. Still not knowing her way around the house, she entered a door at random. As luck would have it she had found the living room.

In the next moment Shizune stopped and blinked. There was a swallow with a head scarf and a blanket on her back sitting on the table and drinking tea. It was clear to her that this was a summon, but it still looked surreal. "Um, hello?"

The swallow looked up, not surprised in the slightest. "Hello dear, you must be Shizune Kato. Naruto said you are staying here and thought you would like some company. He is currently out training and won't be back until evening. I am Grandmother Tsubame. Take a seat. What would you like as breakfast?"

Sitting down, Shizune had barely expressed her wishes when several swallows she hadn't noticed before left their places atop shelves and cupboards to flutter out of the room.

'_I wonder how they work the doors.'_

A cup of tea being placed in front of Shizune interrupted her musings. At first it felt a bit strange to make conversation with a smallish, elderly bird, but Shizune found her to be a kind and skilled conversationalist. They kept the topics mostly lighthearted. Shizune told of her travels while the summon reciprocated with tales of the swallow tribe and ancient history. The kunoichi hardly noticed when other swallows carried a plate of food into the room, but her empty stomach made itself known soon. After finishing the meal there was a bit of silence. It was hard to tell for Shizune if the swallow had nodded off or simply didn't see the need to talk.

The lull in the conversation gave Shizune the opportunity to examine the room more closely. It was nicely furnished with quite a lot of paintings decorating the walls. Shizune took special note of a particularly large one depicting the white-haired man she had already seen in the workshop standing behind a group of three boys and three girls. The man was wearing the standard chunin uniform. One of the boys was a younger Naruto; one was obviously an Aburame while the last one looked to be an Akimichi. The white eyes of a black-haired girl identified her as a Hyuuga, but the blond and the brunette girls had no such identifying marks. Naruto and the brunette girl featured in several other pictures.

'_I think he told me yesterday that this house belonged to his girlfriend. That's probably her.'_

Another picture showed Naruto with the Akimichi and the Hyuuga with the purple-haired woman Shizune had seen in the picture with the white-haired man. She concluded that this was Naruto's genin team. One of identical size depicted the blond and brunette girls with a meek looking boy and a black-haired woman.

It was then that Shizune was forcefully reminded how little she knew about the current Konoha. It had been around fifteen years since she left the village with Tsunade almost immediately after the third shinobi war. None of the children in the pictures had even been conceived then. The famous and important people from her youth had aged and retired or died in the intervening years. Shizune knew the current crop only from the rumors she had managed to pick up on her travels and the rare occasions when she had made contact with Konoha shinobi. What friends and acquaintances she originally had had moved on with their lives, leaving her behind. She suddenly felt very alone and depressed.

The voice of the old swallow intruded into her thoughts. "Is something troubling you, child?"

Somehow that caused Shizune to bristle. "I'm not a child; I'm twenty-eight."

The swallow chuckled. "Dear, I hatched more than six centuries ago. To me you humans are all children." Then she grew serious. "I can tell there is something on your mind. If you want to tell me, I'm a very good listener. I might even be able to give you some advice and promise to keep your secrets."

Shizune considered for a moment. She really wanted, no needed to talk with someone about things, but there was no one in Konoha she was close enough to. Even better, it was extremely unlikely the swallow would use anything she learned against her in the future like fellow humans might do.

Coming to a decision, Shizune began to speak, at first haltingly, then ever more fluently. She told the swallow of her childhood, of the loss of her parents, of Tsunade taking her in due to her relationship with a dead uncle Shizune barely remembered. For a long time she had seen caring for Tsunade as her purpose in life, but as the years passed by it had left her feeling increasingly unfulfilled. Tsunade was slowly destroying herself and all she could do was watch in despair. The constant traveling had made her feel frayed and tired; her entire time was spent worrying about her master. She wished to settle somewhere and put down roots, but it had been impossible. The frequent arguments, the disregarding of her opinion; Shizune held nothing back. Even her frustration about Tsunade stopping teaching her and the refusal to let her sign the slug contract slipped out, although the swallow didn't seem to mind the mention of a rival summon tribe.

Finally there was nothing more to say and silence settled in. It felt so incredibly good to have gotten that off her chest.

The swallow seemed very contemplative. "Thank you for your trust, dear. I will have to think about this. Why don't you come back after you finish your work for the day? I'm sure Naruto won't mind if you stay here a while longer."

"I don't want to intrude."

"Nonsense. I'm sure he will appreciate the company now that most of his friends are away on missions."

Shizune nodded slowly. "Well, if you're sure…"

It wasn't as if she had anywhere to go other than renting an apartment. Sure, she had still friends from times past, but reconnecting with them would take time and she didn't want to impose on them either. Naruto seemed to be a nice boy and she didn't mind his company. For a few days at least she could use his hospitality. When Shizune left the house to head back to the hospital she already felt considerably better.

* * *

><p>The sharks were drawing closer. They couldn't get to him on his makeshift raft, but that was apparently no reason for them to leave him alone. A shudder running through the raft and the screaming of breaking wood made him reconsider. If they managed to damage his raft enough they might get their meal after all.<p>

'_I knew I should never have signed up on that floating coffin.'_

Well, it wasn't as if he had much choice after he had killed these people in a tavern brawl. He had had to get out of the town immediately and it had been the only ship leaving. It wasn't the first time something like that happened, either. His uncontrollable, violent temper had made him a restless wanderer, traveling across the entire world, never staying long anywhere. His enormous strength and fearlessness always made finding work easy, but sooner or later someone or something always triggered another bout of berserk rage against the wrong target. By now he had changed his name so often he didn't even remember his real one anymore. On his last, ill-fated ride they had simply called him the Brute. Well, until the storm smashed the ship asunder, leaving him as the only survivor.

He had spent all his life on or near the sea. He could read the stars and currents better than most. The storm had driven them far off course into the open ocean. There was no land anywhere in reach. If he didn't end as shark food he would die of thirst.

Suddenly a madness seized him. No, he wouldn't die a wretched, thirsty death or wait until the blasted sharks had reduced his raft to splinters. If he had to die he would go down fighting. Pulling himself to his feet, he stepped to the edge, splintered shaft of a paddle in hand.

"Come here and get me, you oversized mackerels! I'll make shark-fin soup out of you!"

For a moment nothing happened. Then a large shark shot out of the water directly at him, maw opened wide, rows of teeth glistening wetly. He managed to get partly out of the way and ram the makeshift spear into the beast, but he was dragged along into the sea. Pain lanced through his body. Then the red rage once again descended on him and he knew no more.

When he regained his senses he was underwater, the mangled corpses of several sharks and wreckage from the raft drifting around him weightlessly. He tried to swim upwards, but he was tangled in ropes and lacked the strength to resist the pull of the depths. Only then did he notice that he was bleeding and his left leg was missing from underneath the knee. A stream of bubbles escaped his mouth as he laughed madly. He had won the fight, but he would drown nonetheless. His eyesight was already failing when he spotted an immense shadow approaching. Then darkness claimed him.

The awakening came entirely unexpected. One moment he was blissfully unconscious, in the next he was coughing water from his lungs. When he finally could breathe again he was completely exhausted. He was in complete darkness, but one fact stood out.

"What is this stench?"

As if the answer his questions a dull glow appeared. A blue-green glowing stone was drifting on a piece of plank, enabling him to see his surroundings somewhat. He was lying on a bed of driftwood and sea grass surrounded by water. His wounds had been wrapped with some sort of plants. Where his stump had been there seemed to be a new appendage, but he couldn't make out details in the gloom.

Struggling to his feet, he found out that the water was strangely warm and rather shallow. "Where the hell am I?"

**You are inside me, human.**

The deep not-voice reverberated throughout his entire being, forcing him to his knees. Then the light grew brighter and he could see more. The wrecks of countless ships were surrounding him to all sides interspersed with the remains of all sorts of sea monsters. The faraway roof looked strangely organic. Suddenly the man laughed. Some enormous beast had swallowed him whole. This was growing more absurd by the minute. It was as if he had entered one of the old sagas of his people.

Falling back on his swimming bed, he tried to make sense of the situation. He wasn't having much success. His head hurt and he needed a drink. Well, it couldn't hurt to ask. "Can a man get something to drink here?"

In the next moment a flask surfaced in the water directly by his right hand. For a moment he stared at it. Then he shrugged, picked it up, uncorked it and drank deeply. It was first-class rum.

When the flask was empty he belched loudly. "Damn, that… that hit the spot. You are a good man… monster… fish… whatever." Before he could say any more the alcohol and exhaustion of the last days took its toll and he sank into an uneasy sleep. Strange visions of strength and valor, of seafaring and adventure, of battles against the dangers of the sea and the forces of nature filled his dreams.

The White Whale smiled as his primary avatar swam through the depths of the sea. He liked the human already. It seemed as if he had found his first chosen prophet.

* * *

><p><span>'Wind Release: Shield of the Four Winds'<span>

The air around Naruto whirled wildly, the wind currents forming a protective cocoon. For a few moments it seemed as if the technique would stay stable. Then the jutsu collapsed, sending waves of wind chakra and small pressure blasts in random directions and kicking up a lot of dust.

Coughing slightly, Naruto waited until the dust settled back down. He was now standing in a shallow depression in the ground dug by the technique. Outward from that the fluctuating wind chakra had dug lines into the ground. He bent down to examine them more closely. The shallow spiraling patterns that had been carved into the earth looked interesting. It was certainly better than the rather harmless wave of air pressure that had been the standard result before the latest round of improvements thanks to Asuma Sarutobi's tutoring in the use of wind chakra.

'_At least there is some progress.'_

He was getting slowly closer to a useful jutsu, but there was still much work to be done. The problem was that Asuma mostly used his wind nature to enhance his weapons. He knew a number of relatively high-rank wind jutsu, yes, but he had no deep insight into them. His knowledge was concentrated on the use and properties of wind elemental chakra flow. Considering the rarity of wind users in Konoha there was nobody else in Naruto's acquaintance he could ask for help.

'_Well, I shouldn't complain. Asuma helped me enormously in that field. Solving everything immediately would be too much to ask for.'_

Channeling wind chakra certainly lent far more lethality to his knives. Perhaps he should look into learning to do the same with lightning. He already knew the theory behind that, but he had just not found the time to properly train that skill. Channeling chakra of a different elemental nature was different enough that he had to treat is as a completely separate skill. Unfortunately there were always far too many things he wanted to train in. Even with the quite unfair advantage the different flow of time in the world of his parents offered there just wasn't time for everything.

A light growl of his stomach and a look to the sun reminded him that it was time for a break. He had left the house early to train, leaving a still sleeping Shizune behind. Noon was fast approaching and he was feeling hungry. Besides, he had to get to a meeting with one of his friends.

'_I guess I should tidy up after me._ Earth Release: Slippery Mud Field.'

The earth under Naruto's hands turned immediately into mud. It didn't take long to fill up the hole and the lines, just the application of a bit more chakra than usual. The jutsu was one of the D-rank techniques Mizuki had taught him during the academy. This wasn't really the purpose of the jutsu, but it could be used that way if you knew how. Naruto found it interesting how much easier wind and lightning techniques came to him in contrast. Elemental affinity and training really made a big difference.

"Hey guys, I'm heading back into the village." Naruto shouted towards the swallows who had stayed at a safe distance while he trained. They gave him a few acknowledging shouts before taking to the air. Since his return to Konoha he kept some of them around him at all times. While he didn't expect an attack it was better to be prepared.

Leaving the field behind, Naruto quickly crossed the belt of training grounds surrounding Konoha. Many had been damaged during the invasion, but enough had been restored for the people using them not to disturb each other.

Once Naruto reached the nearest village gate he stopped for a moment. Several groups of shinobi were forming up while apparently waiting for missing members and he spotted several familiar faces. He approached them for a short chat.

"Hey, Kiba, Karin, Akamaru. Are you heading out?"

"Hello Naruto." the young Inuzuka answered immediately. Akamaru woofed in greeting while Karin gave him a shy nod. The girl was always acting shy and slightly intimidated around him. Naruto supposed it had something to do with his chakra. He knew Karin was incapable of shutting off her sensor ability completely. Or maybe it was his status as a jinchuuriki and what he had done during the invasion; that intimidated many people. "Yeah, we're going on a scouting mission. We shouldn't be gone longer than two weeks at most."

"Oh, where to? Do you have to travel far?"

Kiba shook his head. "Actually no, we will be staying relatively close to Konoha the entire time. From what the briefing said we won't be farther away than one or two days' journey at any time. They want us to search for any hostile or unusual trails. It's still a lot of territory to cover."

Naruto nodded. "That makes sense. I guess the leadership wants to make sure there aren't any enemy troops or secret hideouts left."

In that moment one of the older shinobi called for assembly. "Sorry, it seems we have to leave now. See you soon."

"Well, good luck. Don't get in any trouble you aren't able to get out of."

Naruto waited until the group was out of sight until he entered the village. It did take him a while, but finally he reached his destination: one of Konoha's better restaurants. Since it was located in a small park the atmosphere was much calmer than in more busy parts of the village. Shino was already waiting for him there. He had not seen much of the Aburame in the last days due to his absence. Yesterday Naruto had visited him at the Aburame compound, but at the time he had been too busy for more than a short chat and setting this meeting up.

After a short greeting they both ordered their meals. Naruto soon noticed that Shino was more subdued than usual. It was subtle, but they knew each other for years by now. "Is everything alright?"

Shino seemed to immediately recognize what Naruto was talking about. "I am dealing with the loss of my father. It is nothing to worry about. Thank you for your concern."

Naruto supposed that was as good an answer as he was going to get. Shino had never been one for displaying much emotion or openly speaking about such things. Deliberately changing the subject, Naruto speculated about their future. Their normal teams had been suspended for the time being and there was no telling when and if they would be reinstated. Shino had recently been promoted to chunin as well for leading a group during the invasion, but he had yet to be assigned any task. With Yakumo, Choji and Naruto himself four members of the circle had now reached the rank of chunin.

"Do you have time to train later? I could use a sparring partner." Naruto asked when their meals arrived.

Shino nodded. "Certainly. We cannot allow our skills to become rusty."

They spent the rest of the meal in pleasant conversation. Even after they finished they kept their seats just to relax for a while. There were enough free tables that this didn't interfere with the running of the restaurant.

It was a few minutes later that a white-haired woman approached them. "Excuse me, Uzumaki-san, Aburame-san. I'm sorry to disturb you. May name is Yuri Haruno. I'm Sakura's mother. Would you be willing to answer some questions regarding my daughter for me?"

* * *

><p>Fourteen year old Chihiro had only a moment to regret her attempt to retrieve her lost shoe from the river. Then the current pulled her underwater.<p>

'_I guess that was pretty stupid of me.' _was her main thought when the last bubbles of air escaped her mouth and blackness claimed her.

Suddenly the water was forcefully driven from her lungs and replaced with air. When her eyes flew open she looked directly into the unearthly deep green eyes of a boy about her age. Another fact she noticed immediately was that their lips were locked. A blush spread across her face. Even when the kiss ended she continued staring silently into those fascinating eyes.

"Chihiro!"

The shout broke the spell. Turning her head, Chihiro saw the other villagers running towards her. She had been swept away quite a distance. When she turned back towards her savior she gasped. The boy had been replaced by a wingless dragon with a long, slender serpentine body covered by silvery scales. Sea green fur formed a flowing mane along his body, stopping in a tuft on his tail. He had a long snout and pointed horns atop his head. Four wiry legs resembling those of a rooster kept the body aloft while long white whiskers swayed weightlessly in the breeze.

'_The eyes… they are the same.'_

When the villagers drew closer the dragon backed off further while maintaining eye contact the entire time. Then he soared high into the air before plunging back into the river. Strangely there was no splash; the dragon simply seemed to become one with the water.

Chihiro still stared after him when her friends and relatives surrounded her, hustling her back to the village. She didn't pay much attention to the people talking to her. Worried inquiries if she was alright, scolding for being so reckless, everything simply flowed by. Before long she was back in the village, her companions spreading the tale.

Then the voice of Daisuke, the oldest person living in their village penetrated the haze. "That was the spirit of the swift amber river, no doubt about it. According to the legend he gave our ancestors leave to settle on his banks. No one has seen him since my great-great-grandfather's time. This has to be some sort of sign."

'_A spirit, huh?' _Chihiro had always thought that they existed only in old stories. She really hoped she would see the dragon boy again, though.

* * *

><p>Safely hidden behind a spyhole, Yuri Haruno watched her daughter peeling an apple and cutting it into mouth-sized pieces for her hospitalized teammate. Ever since his escapade during the attack of Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki Sasuke had been kept under constant observation. He had been unresponsive to the world around him thanks to whatever his traitor brother did to him, but Shikaku didn't want to take any risks. Tsunade had healed the boy this morning and he could now move again. Unfortunately the other man affected by Itachi's genjutsu had died before Tsunade could treat him.<p>

"Sasuke-kun, do you want some apples?"

For a moment the boy just looked at her daughter with an expression that made Yuri decidedly uncomfortable. Then he slapped the plate away, scattering the apple pieces across the floor.

"Sasuke-kun?"

The boy simply continued staring at Sakura with a frightening expression. Finally he turned away, looking out of the window instead. Yuri sighed. She had seen enough. "Thank you for allowing me in here, Saito-san."

The man nodded. "It was no bother at all. You should get your daughter away from that boy as soon as possible. He's bad news. My own daughter is only a year younger and I wouldn't want her anywhere near him."

Giving the man a nod in return, Yuri left the room and then the building. Since it was noon anyway she headed to a quiet restaurant. She needed time to think. It was all over the village how Sasuke had disregarded orders in his headlong attack on his traitorous brother Itachi, messing up the defending forces' plan and causing several deaths in the process. Most people understood his reasons for seeking Itachi out, but that didn't excuse his actions. A shinobi should have more self-control… and the brains to recognize when he was hopelessly outclassed. The behavior towards her daughter she had just observed was another strike against the boy. It might be aftereffects from what Itachi did to him, but that didn't make it acceptable.

'_The boy seems to be obsessed with revenge. Understandable perhaps, but it says bad things about his mental health. The way he acted towards Sakura has all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship. Orochimaru targeted him during the Chunin Exams. That isn't even talking about Itachi. Judging from what he did he doesn't want Sasuke dead; he wants him to suffer. Even if Sasuke restores the clan Itachi might try to kill the children and whoever he marries just to hurt his brother. This isn't worth the Uchiha money and prestige of becoming the wife of the Uchiha clan head, especially considering that Sasuke doesn't even seem to like Sakura.'_

The Uchiha were a strange case anyway. Not that many people had liked them as a clan before the massacre; they had been respected and feared, yes, but not liked. There were even rumors that they had somehow been involved in the Kyuubi attack. After the massacre there had been a surge of sympathy for the lone survivor, offsetting the formerly negative sentiment completely. Others saw the boy more as a means to an end. While Yuri wasn't completely heartless she counted herself in the latter group. Sasuke's powerful bloodline along with all the combined money, possessions and ancestral rights of the Uchiha concentrated in his person made him the most desirable bachelor of his generation. It had led Yuri to encourage Sakura's crush for him. Unfortunately it seemed as if she had miscalculated the drawbacks, even assuming her daughter somehow managed to marry the boy which was uncertain in itself.

Until very recently Sasuke had been seen as one of the rising stars of the young generation. There was still some of that, but his ill-thought out attack on Itachi had influenced public opinion massively. Yuri had even heard the occasional whisper of mental instability. What she had seen in the hospital certainly lend credence to that. The boy was obviously no longer trusted by the majority of people. With time and depending on his future actions he could still turn that around again, but Yuri didn't think it likely. Further insubordinations seemed more probable. Maybe he would even try to defect to hunt down his brother. Worse, infatuated as Sakura was it was likely she would help him with that.

Her daughter's relationship to the last Uchiha was now officially a liability. It was toxic and bad for Sakura both in a personal and a general sense. Yuri wasn't an emotional woman, but she wanted to see her daughter happy if possible. The question was what she could do about it. Logical arguments would obviously not work. Yuri understood enough of young girls to see that Sakura was a hopeless romantic fixated on the Uchiha. Additionally she was very stubborn. Any direct attempts on her part to pry her daughter away were doomed to failure.

'_It would probably best if I find someone who will apprentice her. Getting her away from Sasuke is the most important step. Hopefully her infatuation will decrease with time and distance.'_

Yuri could easily call in enough favors from several people to make that happen. The question was who would be best suited to her daughter. She didn't really understand the particulars of shinobi life and had no idea what her daughter would be good at or what her current capabilities were. Kakashi had dodged her questions when she managed to track him down, but considering the rumors about his conduct everything he said about his work as a sensei was unreliable at best. Idate Morino would probably be able to give her detailed information, but he was away on a mission. She had asked Asuma Sarutobi, the sensei of Team 10. Unfortunately he knew almost nothing about Sakura, but he had admitted that her display in the preliminaries of the chunin exams had been pathetic. Shikaku would know more thanks to his son, but Yuri didn't want to disturb him with such a matter at the current time. She had been too busy with getting the village back on its feet to find Shikamaru. One thing was clear: Kakashi had been an absolute failure in properly training her daughter. Maybe Sakura shared some of the blame, but she was young and naïve.

Letting her eyes idly wander, Yuri suddenly spotted the jinchuuriki sitting at a table together with the Aburame clan heir.

'_Why couldn't Sakura fall for him instead?'_ Yuri thought. Then she shook her head. No, thinking that was unfair. Jichuuriki were extremely dangerous and she would probably have forbidden all closer contact. Horror stories of berserk demon containers had been ever-present before the Sandaime's law. The events of the last weeks had shown that Naruto Uzumaki was sane, in control of his beast and one of the up and coming elite. He still made her uncomfortable, but she could deal with that.

Besides, now it was far too late even if she did manage to redirect Sakura's interest. It was public knowledge that the jinchuuriki was in a relationship with the last Kurama. Many had doubted Unkai Kurama's sanity to allow them to get close when they were small children, but it seemed as if the gamble had paid off. Unfortunately Yuri knew that Yakumo Kurama and her daughter intensely disliked each other since their time at the academy. Even if Naruto and Yakumo broke up it was unlikely the boy would consider her daughter as a potential girlfriend. He was close to Inoichi's daughter, too, and she would be the most likely candidate to set his eyes upon. Yuri didn't think she had any hope that any clan heads would agree to a marriage of their heirs to her daughter; she simply didn't have anything valuable enough to offer.

Upon further consideration, maybe she could ask the two about her daughter. It was an opportunity and she might be able to learn something valuable. Coming to a decision, Yuri stood up from her table and approached the two boys.

"Excuse me, Uzumaki-san, Aburame-san. I'm sorry to disturb you. My name is Yuri Haruno. I'm Sakura's mother. Would you be willing to answer some questions regarding my daughter for me?"

"Haruno-san." Both greeted her. It seemed they recognized her from when she had occasionally fetched Sakura from the academy. "What exactly do you want to know? We haven't seen much of Sakura since our graduation."

"I want an honest assessment of my daughter's skills. What is she capable of, what is she good at, that sort of thing. Please do not worry about insulting her or me. I realize you are not the right people to ask, but I need this information and you have known her for years."

The two boys shared a long look before Naruto answered. "Sakura has certainly the potential to be a good kunoichi."

Yuri narrowed her eyes. "The potential? Does that mean she isn't a good kunoichi at the current time?"

Again the boys looked at each other. This time it was the Aburame who answered. "Frankly, no. Please excuse the bluntness, Haruno-san. Sakura does have a lot of theoretical knowledge, but she lacks the ability to use it properly in practice. The largest problem is her mindset. At the current time I would be hesitant to take her into a potentially dangerous situation."

Naruto gave her a searching look. "I don't think Kakashi gave her the instruction she needed. When I encountered your daughter's team in Wave Country it became obvious that there were problems in that team. Another teacher might be more suitable. I don't think the proximity to Sasuke helped, either."

Yuri sighed. She had expected something like this. "Does she have any talents?"

The Aburame adjusted his glasses. "Haruno-san, please accept that we can't give you much detailed information. We know nothing about Sakura's skills as a taijutsu fighter, techniques or chakra reserves. The one fight we saw her participating in ended very quickly. She does have talent with traps, but she needs a skilled and dedicated teacher. I had the opportunity to examine her work during the chunin exams. Her traps were almost perfect replicas of textbook examples. I feel she could make great strides in that field with proper instruction."

"I see. Thank you for your time."

'_Traps, huh?' _Yuri thought when she left the park. That sounded at least somewhat promising. Well, she knew the right person for the job and he even owed her a big favor. He could probably be persuaded to take her as an apprentice. A few other favors would see her transferred out of Team 7 immediately. Kakashi's team was out of action anyway. That would prevent her daughter from spending any more time with the Uchiha, too.

* * *

><p>"AGAIN!"<p>

Once more the improvised battering ram smashed against the gate. By now deep cracks were spreading through the stone, almost obscuring the symbol on it. Not that it mattered, the same symbol was everywhere in this enormous underground complex, albeit with slight variations: A series of concentric rings combined with several magatama. The number of rings varied from three to six while the magatama were more varied, both in their number and placement. This gate sported nine of them distributed across the three innermost of six circles, making it the highest number they had seen yet. They were close now.

"Again, you lazy sods!" the warlord shouted. They needed to get that door open. He could almost smell the power behind it. For years he had searched for ancient artifacts as did some of the other warlords in this war-torn world. Like that zealot Haido and his quest for Gelel. For all the man's public professions of wanting to create a utopia his knights were certainly nasty enough.

The warlord himself had another goal. He followed traces of the so-called Demon King. Accounts were sketchy due to the time passed, but some things were certain. Over the course of history he had appeared several times all across the continent, making demands of various natures. If these demands were fulfilled everything was fine, but if not… well, not many humans remained to give witness of what happened. Storms, earthquakes, uncontrollable fires and hordes of monsters simply obliterated everything.

It was this power that the warlord wanted. The last sighting had been more than a thousand years ago, but the he wasn't discouraged. He had found some trinkets of times long past, but the great prize had eluded him for years. This had now changed. Little more than a week ago he had suddenly dreamt of the location where the Demon King had been defeated and sealed.

He had immediately stopped his campaign and force marched his army to the new destination. Some had objected, but a few crushed skulls later no one dared to cross him. He didn't care if his men thought him mad as long as they obeyed. Well, and he had ordered to raze every village on the way to keep morale up.

His dream had proven true when the prisoners they had kept had unearthed the entrance to a great underground complex. It was… strange. The corridors and halls somehow twisted on itself. A man might only go up and arrive at his starting point from below. They had lost a lot of people exploring it in the last two days, but now they had finally reached the heart of the complex.

"Again!"

With a sudden crack the seal broke and the wings of the stone door swung open. The warlord immediately strode into the now accessible hall, his minions following closely behind.

The first thing that caught his gaze was a massive sarcophagus. It stood on a dais in the center of another seal covering the large room. Circling it at a distance, the warlord noted that this seal had seven circles and ten magatama. Ten smaller seals of identical design were attached directly to the sarcophagus amidst other indecipherable inscriptions.

"Smash those seals!"

"But my lord, we don't know -urk"

Crushing the man's windpipe, the warlord waited until the light had left the man's eyes before he threw him to the side. "No more delays! Absolute power lies before me! Now get to work!"

Suitably cowed, the prisoner and soldiers obeyed immediately. Some began hammering at the big seal on the ground while others attacked the seals at the sarcophagus. Iridescent light began to fill the inscriptions as more and more seals were smashed to pieces. Finally the last seal was destroyed and the men carefully backed away. Light was now blazing through countless cracks forming all over the object.

Suddenly the lid of the sarcophagus was thrown violently away only to shatter against the roof far above them. A shaft of light spilled out of the breached container while debris rained down around them, injuring some of the workers. A multitude of forms appeared and disappeared too quickly for the warlord to make them out against the unearthly glare. Then the light coalesced into human-looking, muscular man with wild, long blond hair. His clothing wouldn't have been out of a place for a prince at court. Tight black trousers and shirt under a crimson tunic were rounded off by a blood-red cloak with traces of black and gold. Adornments of gold, bronze and iron embellished his arms and legs. He seemed to be looking into the distance without acknowledging their presence.

The warlord recognized the form. The Demon King had worn it when he deigned to speak with humans. "HAHAHA! With this… with this the world shall be mine! Now, Demon King, grant me your power!"

That caught the beings attention. For a seemingly endless moment it simply looked at him expressionlessly. The warlord had the uncomfortable feeling his counterpart considered him worth less than a bug squashed under his feet.

"**Foolish human…"**

A bright flash of light blinded the warlord. The last he ever felt was a wave of intensive heat before he was reduced to flocks of ash dancing in the sudden firestorm. Stone melted and began to flow like water under the hellish blaze, turning the room into an inferno. The earth began to shake violently as more and more seals broke, causing the entire complex to collapse on itself as a higher being broke the shackles holding it, shackles that were now insufficient with the linchpin destroyed.

The army camping on the surface had only a few seconds warning as the ground began to tremble, not that it would have mattered if the time had been longer. Raging flames broke through abruptly yawning chasms in the quaking earth, the wind turned from a slight breeze to hurricane strength, formerly placid rivers and streams burst their banks as they swelled to enormous size under a rapidly darkening sky while lightning scoured the land.

Only a few dozen humans of the thousands present lived through these first few moments. These few were the only witnesses as a massive column of iridescent light emerged from the collapsing underground complex. Even fewer lived through that experience with their sanity intact, namely those who avoided looking into the heart of the emerging entity. Those few lucky ones all felt an unfathomably great presence observing them for a moment before dismissing them as unimportant.

The devastation intensified as the world buckled under the being's might while it shook off the last of the bindings holding it. Then the maelstrom of destruction ended as quickly as it had begun, but the calm lasted only for an instant before plants began to grow rapidly. Trees sprang up from bare ground, grass and weeds sprouted everywhere, bushes and moss overgrew the last remnants. Before the handful of survivors knew what was happening they were standing in a wild forest that looked as if no human had ever set foot in it; even if it had been cultivated land from time immemorial.

Finally the presence of the entity faded as it took its customary place in realms separate from the usual reality humans dealt with during their mortal life, but its passing would forever mark the land. Despite the name of Demon King it was a god that had awakened, albeit one uncaring of human affairs. Many questions were on the deity's inhuman mind.

Why had he gone to sleep so unexpectedly more than a millennium ago? Who had bound him to prevent his reawakening and why? Who had the power to do that to him in the first place and didn't see the need to finish him off as soon as he was vulnerable? Who had so foully defiled his world in his absence? What had finally broken the spell of sleep?

The reawakened Lord of the Wild Forces of Nature had many questions indeed, but first he would have to see to another matter of utmost urgency.

* * *

><p>Kosuke, messenger and young member of the Toad Tribe, watched in confusion when the Great Toad Sage stopped mid-sentence. The normally squinting eyes opened wide and the giant toad's mouth fell open. Then Kosuke noticed something spreading through the pool of water the Great Toad Sage used as his seat.<p>

'_Great, as if it wasn't enough that the old geezer is senile. Now he is getting incontinent as well.'_

The Great Toad Sage remained in that state for several seconds. Then he snapped out of it, looking far more alert and worried than Kosuke had ever seen him. The ever-present smile was gone from his face. "The calamity from the sky has returned. Time grows short. I have to see Jiraiya." The Great Toad was almost out of the door when he seemed to remember something. "Somebody clean up my basin while I'm gone."

Not wanting to be the one conscripted for that task, Kosuke immediately followed the Great Toad Sage. Being one of the largest toads of Mount Myoboku and moving uncharacteristically fast, the old sage outpaced them easily. By the time Kosuke caught up he was already at Jiraiya's sickbed. Physically everything was fine with Jiraiya, but he was still in a coma. Kosuke knew that there had been an invasion of Konoha (Jiraiya had summoned multiple toads to help), but what happened at the end was very mysterious. Shima and Fukasaku had been very weak when they returned, but fortunately they had completely recovered over the last days. Whispers of the Ichibi being far more dangerous than normal had made their rounds. Kosuke still didn't know what exactly had happened.

"… isn't that very risky? His soul is still not properly re-aligned; it will take about two weeks for him to wake naturally."

"We have no choice. I had a vision. The child of prophecy must be properly guided or all will be lost. We need Jiraiya back on his feet immediately."

Kosuke and the other toads present watched with interest as the old sage and his two heirs took position around Jiraiya. He wasn't a sage by any means, but even he noticed the change of flow in the surrounding nature chakra. It built up to an incredible level before relaxing again, all without any visible effect.

Suddenly Jiraiya twitched as if someone had shocked him with a lightning technique. Then he coughed and sat up groggily. "Ma? Pa? Great Honorable Geezer? What happened?"

* * *

><p>"Sarutobi-san, Nara-sama requires your presence immediately."<p>

Asuma Sarutobi bit back a curse at the interruption. He had just been about to breach the security seals of his father's personal study in hopes of finding some information. The old man had left a mess behind. Their clan had more or less disintegrated into individual families decades ago. They still shared a common heritage, but they could be barely considered a clan anymore. His role as new clan head was purely ceremonial. One the one hand he was alright with that. He could do without the effort of managing a clan. On the other hand he felt as if they were losing something important.

'_I never understood you, father. Even after I came back to Konoha and we tried to get along there was always such a large distance between us. You never told me the reasons for your actions. Mother supported you, but even she never really understood.'_

He was just standing up when he noticed his mistake. If he had continued as planned he would have set off the security measures and reduced the contents of the study to ash. Well, at least the interruption had brought some good.

Hurrying to the Hokage's office, Asuma noticed that the moon was rising from behind the mountains. It was well past midnight. He had been longer at his task than he thought. When he arrived at his destination he saw hectic activity. Whatever had happened must be important.

'_Are there news of another village attacking us?'_

Asuma was immediately led to a briefing room. Shikaku wasn't present, but several jonin had already arrived. Naruto was there as well. Before he could ask anyone what was happening Shikaku and Homura entered the room.

"You have been called here because of an emergency. We just received information from a spy that Kumo is planning an attack on the Fire Daimyo. They are using surviving shinobi from the destroyed Village hidden in the Woods as cat's paws. Their forces are large enough that it is very likely for the attempt to be successful. In fact, the assassination might be already underway. The message was sent last evening with one of the fastest birds Konoha has available, but the assassination order was given at least a day earlier, possibly more. I don't have to tell you that the consequences of the daimyo's death would be catastrophic. Get to the capital as quickly as possible and protect the daimyo at all costs. Asuma Sarutobi will have command over the operation. Any questions?"

For a moment Asuma wondered how they would get to the capital in time. Even at top speed they would need several days. Then he remembered Naruto's swallow summons.

'_Dang, those are really useful.'_

"Are we sure this isn't a feint to draw troops away from Konoha?" one jonin asked.

Shikaku shrugged. "It might be a false alarm, but the code is legitimate. We simply can't take the chance. No enemy should be able to approach us quickly enough to take advantage, but it is a risk, yes. Any more questions? No? Good. Due to the urgency of this operation we will do things a little differently. I want everyone to name people they want to take along. We will then check if they are available and summon them immediately. You will leave no later than in half an hour."

At the end the number of shinobi under Asuma's command exceeded one hundred, most of them at least chunin-level combat specialists with a significant fraction of jonin. It was probably overkill, but they couldn't take any risks with the daimyo's safety. On the other hand they couldn't strip Konoha of troops either.

Everyone was scrambling to get ready and not even a quarter hour later they were in the air on swallowback. Asuma ended up sitting next to Naruto and Shino on the leading swallow. He would keep them close when it came to fighting. The Aburame boy was the only available member of his team, but he knew Naruto well enough to be comfortable with his fighting style and strength.

Asuma watched the dark land fly by underneath them. The swallows were giving them their best speed. He could only hope they would make it in time.

* * *

><p>In the Land of Demons a disembodied entity grew ever more worried. Its ability to perceive the outside world was rather limited considering that it was unable to leave the cavern it had been sealed into and had been separated from its body, but it saw and felt enough to realize it was in deep, deep trouble. It had originally entered this world because there seemed to be a relative lack of rival entities, making it an ideal place for it to recover and grow. Unfortunately its choice of mortal allies had proven unwise and a priestess with divine blood flowing in her veins had sealed its mind and body in different locations after their defeat. Even now, centuries after that event, the priestess' lineage kept watch. The entity had been content to simply wait things out; sooner or later either the priestesses would grow lax in their watch or the descendants of its allies would free it. It was an inhuman being of law and darkness, but above all it was patient.<p>

Now though the situation was changing. Gods, demons and spirits were awakening everywhere after something had echoed throughout the entire world. Most were too insignificant or too far away for it to notice. If any of the more powerful ones were willing to expend the necessary effort they would easily be able to track the entity down and absorb it. It was only a question of time since it was nearly helpless in this prison. As if that wasn't bad enough it had felt the awakening of a greater deity just a few hours ago. This called for desperate measures. The entity had considered doing this before, but until now the price had always seemed too high when it could just wait a few more decades or even centuries.

The Demon Lord Moryo reached out with what pitiful power remained to it towards the only being in reach that might be able to change its situation.

'_**Shion. Shion. Hear my call, child.'**_

* * *

><p>'<em>I need to get home. Someone is waiting for me.'<em>

The thoughts repeated over and over in her head while she followed the path that was surrounded by everything and nothing. She couldn't tell how long she had been traveling or how distant her destination was. Each step brought her closer to her goal… and suddenly there was no path to follow anymore.

A dark, empty void was surrounding her. Turning around, she saw a featureless gate ponderously closing behind her. It was still open, but she was unable to tell what she beheld there. It was if she simply couldn't perceive anything beyond the threshold. Only when it was almost closed did she glimpse a single giant eye surrounded by a shadowy void overlaid with the silhouette of a man behind a shimmering veil. Then the moment passed and it was gone, the gate shutting completely. When she blinked there wasn't even the gate there anymore.

For an eternal moment nothing seemed to happen. Then she noticed it. The void was full of stars. Countless constellations of multi-colored light and nebulae were arrayed before velvety blackness. It was breathtakingly, magnificently beautiful. For a while she just drifted amidst the sea of celestial splendor, listening to the whispers from beyond the stars.

She didn't know what caused it, but suddenly her perspective changed. Each star was an eye, staring into the depths of her being. The blackness was flowing amorphous, protoplasmic flesh, sending ethereal hands ghosting across her. Strangely she felt no fear or unease; she calmly returned the gaze. Somehow she knew that this was one abyss she didn't need to fear.

As the abyss looked into her she looked into the abyss. The gate was always there, flittering at the edge of her perception, but it wasn't the only thing that was there. It was the All-in-one and One-in-all of limitless being and self, the ultimate animating essence of existence's whole unbounded sweep – the last, utter sweep which had no confines and which outreached life and imagination alike.

Great globes of light massed around her, a congeries of iridescent orbs masking the blackness. Then there was the sensation of movement. It felt like she was rising from a great depth. An unimaginable weight was slowly being removed from her soul. Layers of she-knew-not-what passed by her, their contents and nature concealed by the spheres surrounding her. Only by its absence did she notice the immense, unfathomable pressure that had kept her reduced to a basic state of being. Compressed memories and thoughts expanded slowly, still far too muddled to make sense of.

Suddenly she broke through the surface of a dark lake from underneath, leaving the iridescent spheres behind. Still floating, she saw a land of eternal night stretching around her. A big yellowish-white moon surrounded by thirteen bright stars dominated the star-speckled firmament. Crystal trees and other plants in white, blue, silver, purple and black swayed in a gentle breeze, glittering in the soothing moonlight. Higher and higher she soared while a deep peace filled her.

Then her surroundings changed several times in quick succession, too fast for her to register them. Finally she felt as if some immense creature was spitting her out. In the next moment she found herself flying over a familiar landscape of grey mountains, green woods and lush meadows. Two unfathomably great but familiar presences were surrounding her. It was like being caressed by the sun and the moon. A stone archway with a mirror inside was the last thing she consciously perceived.

A moment of existential uncertainty followed. Then everything snapped back into place and Hinata Hyuuga opened her eyes. It was very dark, but moonlight was falling through a window.

'_This is my room.'_ she concluded after a while. It was difficult to form thoughts and correctly place memories. So many of them just felt like a surreal dream. She felt drowsy and disoriented like after waking too quickly from a deep sleep.

'_Shouldn't I have ceased to exist?'_

Hinata slowly raised her hands before her eyes and worked her fingers. Everything seemed to be in order, but she felt too wobbly to risk using chakra to look around with her byakugan. It took her a few more moments to notice the small body cuddled up to her.

'_Hanabi.'_

Hinata gently put her arms around the sleeping body of her little sister. She didn't really understand what had happened to her, but she was sure she would in time. For now she needed rest. Before she slipped back into sleep she voiced the most important thought on her mind.

"I'm back."

* * *

><p>Hidekatsu Shibata, daimyo of the Land of Fire, watched in dismay as his guards fell one by one. It was a well-planned assassination; he had to give that to the enemy. Two hours ago several fires had broken out in the city and spread quickly. The sabotage had been obvious, but they still had to react if they didn't want to risk the fires getting out of control and destroying large parts of the capital. It had completely occupied the troops stationed in the city, preventing them from sending reinforcements to the palace. He had considered leaving the city since the palace was situated at the edge of it, but the danger of an ambush was just too high.<p>

The situation was still not under control when the palace came under attack. The first assault had been a feint, but they had to honor the threat. Hidekatsu and his family had retreated into their personal area under heavy guard. In the confusion a second attack had started. It had looked strong enough that he thought it wise to retreat while doubles of his family tried to escape into a different direction. It was when they crossed the park on the palace grounds towards a secret exit that the last prong of the attack hit. Most of their forces had been drawn away by the feint, the second attack or were guarding the doubles when suddenly a barrier sprang up around them. Then the carnage had begun. There had to be dozens of attacking shinobi and his remaining guards had melted away like snow under the midsummer sun.

He looked at his family. His son was obviously frightened, not letting go of his mother's and the governess' hand. He was far too young to face something like this. His wives were returning his gaze calmly but seriously while the young woman acting as the child's attendant was shaking with terror.

'_Not again, I will not let it happen again to my family.'_

Hidekatsu still regretted that he had been absent on that dark day. Only bones and ashes had remained of his family by the time he had returned to his destroyed stronghold. Then the trap had been sprung, forcing him to flee. He had been well into pathless wilderness by the time when they confronted him. They killed him bit by bit, making a game out of it, but his desire for life and revenge had been unbroken. The pain of losing his eye had been insignificant against the desperation he felt. Slowly dying, he had stumbled upon a secret from the ancient past. What followed… well, that was something he would never regret. He only had to look at his son and wives to be sure of that.

"Get the prince inside that storage building and stay quiet. I don't want him to see this. We will sell our lives dearly."

"Yes, Daimyo-sama." the servant woman answered before obeying. Thankfully his son didn't make a fuss.

The guards were now down to the last few members. "It is almost time. Do you think we can win?"

Yoshino and Kikoku had already begun to remove the outermost layers of their clothes to gain more mobility. Kikoku, his intelligent, beautiful, inhuman wife bared her perfect teeth. A move of her suddenly changing hand sheared clean through a decorative stone statue. "We will certainly make them bleed."

Hidekatsu acknowledged the implied message with a nod. Even his wives were not certain of victory against these odds. Discarding his formal robe, the daimyo readied his swords. Over the years his body had changed from what he had been born with. He was no longer sure if he was human. His wives were certainly not.

Finally he removed the eye patch, revealing the eye that was not his. Immediately his vision changed. He could see in the dark garden as if it was day, the darting shadowy silhouettes resolving into discernible humans, their blurry movements becoming clear and predictable. As if sensing his need, more power flowed from the eye through his body, strengthening it further. He and his family might fall today, but first those who dared attack them would face his wrath.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> It has been a really long time since the last update. Unfortunately it doesn't look like as if the things keeping me from writing will get better in the foreseeable future. Updates will remain sporadic.

Regarding the gods, spirits, demons: Some of them will only add to the background, others will be encountered by Naruto or his friends at some point. Mostly I will take elements from different characters, change their context and mash them together. The majority will not be especially powerful (spirits from folklore and the like, works of Studio Ghibli and Inuyasha are very useful in that regard), but they will appear a little later. I am open to suggestions, so if you want to see someone/something specific don't hesitate to name it in a review or PM.

So long.


	42. Chapter 41: Meeting a nightmare

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Author's note:** Massive chapter and violent battle incoming

**Chapter 41: Meeting a nightmare**

It was a clear and cold night. Naruto shivered and pulled his coat more closely around him. The icy wind howled fiercely, threatening to rip any not sufficiently secured object away. His eyes were watering and the wind seemed to go right through his clothes. The air was freezing at this altitude. It seemed colder weather was moving in from the north, too, making things worse. At least there were hardly any clouds. If they had to deal with being wet on top of the cold… well, they would probably have to interrupt the journey, at least until daybreak. Considering that the plot to kill the Fire Daimyo and his family was probably already underway the delay would have been bad, possibly fatally so.

All in all the journey was thoroughly uncomfortable. More than one hundred shinobi mounted on a dozen large swallow summons had left Konoha about an hour ago. They still had several hours to go until they arrived at their destination, the capital of the Land of Fire. By now all attempts at conversation had died down and been replaced by tense silence. The majority of the group probably tried to get some sleep while they could, not that the conditions made that easy. Despite being roused in the middle of the night by a messenger Naruto wasn't tired. He didn't need as much sleep as other people.

'_Well, it isn't as if I was sleeping back home anyway.'_

Last evening Naruto had felt… something. He didn't know exactly what it was and couldn't really describe the feeling. There were three things he could say with absolute certainty: It had been supernatural, distant and very, very big. It was probably something very important. He wished he could talk with his parents about it, but they remained silent. The last time he had spoken with his father had been immediately after the invasion and that conversation had been very short. Even a mental visit to the inside of the seal had been fruitless. It was frustrating. Well, and if he was honest with himself it frightened him. His parents wouldn't eschew contact without an important reason. _Something_ powerful had awoken and he had no idea how to deal with that… or if there was anything he could do in the first place.

From earlier conversations with his parents Naruto knew that the overwhelming majority of supernatural beings in the world were either sleeping or otherwise bound. They didn't know the reason why things were that way, though. It was virtually certain the lack of freely accessible magic was related in some way. His father surmised that it made the world a rather hostile place for many lesser spirits and demons. Not immediately fatal, no, but they would be forced into hibernation until either conditions changed or they finally faded away. More powerful entities would be able to sustain intermittent activity, but they would be restricted in their activity to varying degrees. The examples of Jashin, the Reibi, the tailed beasts and his parents had certainly shown that sufficiently powerful gods and demons were not hampered significantly or at all. In fact, they might profit from this situation.

It remained an unanswered question what exactly had led to this state of things. Youko's earliest memories from when she had emerged as the Kyuubi a little more than a millennium ago already showed the same lack of magic. According to her she had not even been aware that something was amiss. She didn't encounter any traces of divine activity either during that millennium. In contrast, she was sure that when she had existed as the Juubi during the long-gone age of gods free magic had been abundant. The problem was that the memories of the Juubi had been badly fractured when it was split apart. Youko possessed only vague, vastly incomplete recollections. She remembered being created, but not by whom. She remembered being imprisoned in a tomb for eons at the end of the age of gods when most of those beings left this world, but not why. She remembered being freed, but not by whose hand. The time between the Juubi's release and split was mostly a gaping hole.

'_Or at least that is what Mom told me.'_

Naruto trusted his parents to tell him what he needed to know, but that didn't preclude the possibility of them keeping things to themselves. For example, he wondered if they had made some deal with the swallows. From what he had read and heard about summons the swallows were unusually accommodating to his wishes, especially considering the relatively short time since he had signed the contract. Each summon tribe was different, granted, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more going on aside from them being glad to have a summoner again after more than a century of inactivity. In the time before the chunin exam finals his parents had spoken directly with the swallows using his body and Hinata's. The swallows as well as his parents had been a bit vague about the precise contents of that conversation. Naruto had been too busy with other preparations to pay it much attention at the time, but in retrospect he probably should investigate further.

Anyway, the event of the last evening had him questioning every strange feeling of the last week. What else might have awakened without him noticing or him misinterpreting the signs? Jashin alone had been bad enough, but if even more such beings were running around… He just couldn't deal with threats on such a level.

Enemy shinobi Naruto could deal with. They were a threat he understood. They might be stronger than him or have strange and powerful techniques, but they were mostly in viewing distance. Jonin like Anko, Kurenai or Asuma could kick his ass under most circumstances, but with time and training he would catch up and in all likelihood surpass them thanks to his advantages. Heck, counting the two tails of demonic chakra he could safely control he could match a jonin from a purely physical point of view. Depending on a number of factors like the skill set of the jonin in question and who had surprise on his side the fight might go either way, but Naruto would probably hold the advantage. Unfortunately he lost access to his techniques and had to rely on the properties of the Kyuubi cloak to fight, making its use situation-dependent. The regeneration and damage resistence of the cloak were enormous advantages, but the loss of stealth and versatility were equally serious disadvantages.

Disregarding that factor he was solidly at chunin level with some notable positive exceptions, like his enormous chakra capacity and mastery of two elements. Judging from the tales prodigies like Kakashi or Itachi Uchiha had been stronger at his age, but they had not suffered under the same constraints on their training like a suboptimal academy education or the necessity to live on their own. Even the additional time in the realm of his parents could not make up for that, especially considering that he had needed the time for learning a completely different skill set. Still, he and his circle of friends were far more advanced than the vast majority of shinobi at their age.

Kage-level enemies were a slightly different matter. There were probably less than a hundred shinobi deserving that designation alive in the Elemental Nations and they were a very diverse lot. Some, like the late Hiruzen Sarutobi, were generalists whose skill in several fields was heads and shoulders above jonin level. They were the true kage-level combatants and the measuring stick for that level of power and skill. Others had one narrow, specific area of expertise that made them disproportionally powerful despite most of their skills being only jonin-level or less. Most experienced jinchuuriki fell into that category. Deidara of Iwa (whose defection and following string of freelance bombings had been the talk of the village about one and a half years ago) was another example. Of course, given the right circumstances the latter type could become the former, making for extremely dangerous people.

Oh, they were not invincible. Even kage-level shinobi were mortal in the end. For all the skills a shinobi learned, much of a basic human's squishiness remained. Even a measly kunai or D-rank jutsu could kill a kage under the right circumstances. More than three quarters of all kage-level shinobi to die in combat had fallen to relatively small groups of jonin (with the support of assorted chunin and genin, of course) despite all their power.

Naruto was confident he would reach kage-level one day. The problem was surviving long enough. Thanks to his actions during the invasion he was now well-known in shinobi circles (or would be as soon as the news spread enough). Enemies of Konoha would not miss the threat he represented and factor him into their plans. His association with Konoha meant that the village's enemies were his, unfortunately.

Something Shikaku Nara had told him was weighing heavily on his mind. Akatsuki was now targeting him. Thanks to the visions of his father he had known about the existence of the organization for years, but knowing that he was now actively hunted by several kage-level shinobi (and probably assorted less skilled forces) made for uneasy sleep. If not for his use of the swallows it was all too likely that Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha would have caught up with him on his trip to find Tsunade. In a confrontation with them without several squads of Konoha shinobi backing him up he could only hope for their overconfidence or massive luck on his side to allow him either to flee or land a crippling hit. Neither option looked especially likely to him, but there wasn't much he could do against people like them on his current skill level.

'_Well, I suppose I could always try to summon more swallows, take the battle to the sky and simply throw as many jutsu as possible at them in the hope that something sticks. That relies on them giving me the time and not having any long-range jutsu. That's… rather unlikely.'_

In the event of such a confrontation Naruto would probably have to call on the power of his parents to have any reasonable chance of coming out of it with his hide intact. Still, he could at least fight against kage-level shinobi even if his prospects of victory were rather negligible. Against beings like his parents… he didn't even know where to begin. Physically striking against their corporeal forms was pretty much futile. Even if he could hurt their avatar bodies it would do nothing against their true selves. Well, perhaps it would inconvenience them somewhat, but they could easily escalate to levels of force he simply couldn't match. That didn't even touch all the unconventional ways they could use to effortlessly swat him like a fly without him ever seeing it coming, like outright reality warping via magic. If a powerful god or demon really wanted a mortal dead there was precious little the mortal could do without supernatural allies of his own.

Naruto still remembered the times when the mental shielding between him and his father had been breached during a possession. The sheer insanity-inducing grandiose otherness was unforgettable. Both his parents were just so much greater than him. How did one hurt beings like that?

The Ichibi in sand storm form was a case in point. He didn't know how exactly it stacked up against his parents. Most likely it had been far weaker than them if they had been free. To him it had still been an incomprehensible, invincible behemoth. The sand storm had clearly only been the visible part of the demon. The magical weapon his parents had created for him had visibly struck at something not in this world. Despite its ultimate ineffectiveness it had at least hurt the Ichibi, indicating that the answer to fighting powerful supernatural opponents lay in the use of magic. His mother's chakra would probably be likewise effective, but he couldn't really use it to its full effect. The seal and his body limited the ways he could access it. It made him powerful, no question, but it was still something foreign grafted into his chakra system. A hypothetical demon with the same amount of power would be able to use it much more efficiently and to greater and more varied effects.

Unfortunately Naruto had no magical means of attack. His few spells were pretty much support skills not suited for combat. Heck, he couldn't even use them outside of Konoha's vicinity and even then not often. Despite all his studies of magic and years of first-hand experience with his parents he still had only the vaguest understanding of how they truly worked. Human biology – even including the very complicated chakra system – was a piece of cake against that. Stick a knife somewhere and you knew you were damaging something.

Naruto had always been somewhat prone to paranoia, not the least because he knew with absolute certainty that there were many people out to get him. Now that he had proof that the situation deteriorated he half expected several S-rank shinobi or hostile gods/demons/spirits/whatever to pop up any moment. The tension was like a spring that was tightly coiled inside of him. The fact that the visions of his alternative lives were quickly becoming useless only added to it. He had not completely worked through the emotional baggage from the invasion either, and it was beginning to affect his ability to rest and recover.

For now he could deal with the stress, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so. He was very good at mental compartmentalization and the swallows made him feel somewhat safer, but it would not be enough in the long term. Sooner or later he needed a completely safe place to rest. The only place that qualified was the world of his parents even though his body technically never entered that world.

The departure of Yakumo and Ino had made him truly realize the problematic consequences of his increased paranoia. Objectively their presence made no difference to his safety. Emotionally it made a big one. Not only was he deprived of their company, now he had to worry that something might happen to them. Yes, they were competent, but a campaign against Otogakure was still far more dangerous than normal missions. Then there was his continued worry about Hinata…

Naruto sighed. This brooding didn't do him any good, but there was nothing else to do. If he had things to distract himself like training he managed, but calm periods like this brought it to the forefront of his mind.

Once again he shivered. The cold wind was really unpleasant. They had to fly at this altitude because of several rather high mountain ridges on their way. Descending and ascending again would prolong their journey unacceptably as would taking a detour. As much as he liked flying under normal circumstances he began to really hate this journey.

Adjusting his seat on the swallow to use Asuma's back as cover, Naruto began to meditate and tried to get some rest. At least he hoped Akatsuki would look for easier targets now that their first capture attempt had failed.

* * *

><p>The atmosphere in the large meeting hall in Amegakure was thick with tension. Akatsuki, the organization calling this place their headquarters, had experienced a severe setback to their plans. One of the people present, the blond shinobi named Deidara, had to suppress the urge to wipe the sweat of his brow. The stare of their leader had been beyond uncomfortable. Thankfully his report was already over and done with, but it seemed his own failure wasn't the only one. Not all of the primary members of Akatsuki were physically present at this meeting; some attended only via a projection technique.<p>

Akatsuki's leader Pain was flanked by a blue-haired woman named Konan. Deidara didn't know much about them. Konan had displayed some nifty paper techniques, but Pain was a complete unknown. They held Amegakure in their grasp while the world at large still thought the deceased Hanzo the Salamander in charge.

Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha only attended via projection as did the creepy plant-like man Zetsu and his equally creepy pale partner.

The famous bounty hunter Kakuzu stood alone. His partner had allegedly died in combat during their last mission (not related to the capture of a jinchuuriki), but Deidara suspected the man had simply been slain by Kakuzu in a fit of rage and his corpse turned in for a bounty. The ancient shinobi had a really nasty temper. In the relatively short time of Deidara's Akatsuki membership Kakuzu had already gone through three partners.

Deidara stood alone as well. His partner Sasori had perished only a few days ago in their futile attempt to capture the Yondaime Mizukage.

Several trusted associated members were present but keeping to the background.

Finally Pain spoke. "You mean to tell us that you missed the invasion of Konoha, the best opportunity to capture both the Ichibi and Kyuubi jinchuuriki ... because of a cold?"

For a few seconds silence reigned while the gathered members of Akatsuki waited for an answer. Then Itachi nodded. "Yes."

Deidara couldn't help but goggle at that. A pair of S-rank shinobi stopped by a common cold? It sounded completely ludicrous.

Seconds ticked by while Pain kept his gaze on the projections of Itachi and Kisame. Finally he seemed satisfied. "I see. And what did you do after this... unfortunate turn of events?"

"We judged it best to infiltrate Konoha to gather more information about our targets. Unfortunately the organization of the guards had been changed due to the invasion and we were spotted on our approach. I extracted information about the Kyuubi container from one of the attacking shinobi before we retreated and took up pursuit of the target."

Deidara couldn't help but grin inwardly while he listened to Itachi's and Kisame's account of their futile chase. He didn't have anything against Kisame, but an arrogant bastard like Itachi deserved all the discomfort that went his way.

The blond ex-Iwa shinobi had wondered what had gone wrong when Kisame and Itachi missed both meeting points with him on his way back from the Land of Water. The original plan had called for him and Sasori to capture the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura, the jinchuuriki of the Sanbi, while Kisame and Itachi took care of both the Ichibi and Kyuubi jinchuuriki at the same time. Since Deidara was able to create flying clay constructs he was frequently called for the purpose of transportation. If everything had gone to plan he and Sasori along with their captured target would have picked up Kisame and Itachi (complete with their two victims) and brought them to Akatsuki's headquarters in Amegakure. There they could take all the necessary time to extract the tailed beasts from their hosts.

Unfortunately the plan had gone to pieces. Yagura had been located on an isolated island with only minimal guard, making it an ideal time to strike. Under the combined assault of Sasori's puppets and Deidara's exploding clay constructs the Mizukage had soon faltered. In a last display of resistance the man had blown himself up instead of allowing himself to be captured. Deidara's partner Sasori had died then. It was a shame despite the beauty of the explosion. Deidara had genuinely liked and respected the man; he had been a fellow artist.

"I found traces of a big bird summon in a clearing near where the group had last been seen. We broke off the pursuit then. There's no way we can catch a target with such a mobility advantage. By then it was already too late for us to reach one of the meeting points." Kisame concluded the report.

A deep, rumbling voice spoke up. "The boy holds the swallow contract. Hundreds of them were summoned in defense of Konoha. Then he used the power of the Kyuubi to shoot down the flying fortress of Soragakure." Kakuzu said. "The news is spreading everywhere like wildfire."

All attention focused on the tall man, but he didn't say anything else. A few moments later Konan posed a question. "I never heard of the swallow summons before. Does anyone have details about their capabilities?"

Before anyone could answer someone from the back ranks spoke up. "I know! I know!" A black-clad man with a one-eyed orange mask jumped into the circle formed by Akatsuki's primary members. Then he cleared his throat and began speaking in a lecturing voice. "The swallow contract belonged to the Yamaguchi clan. They were a large clan during the era of the clan wars. No bloodline, but their summoning contract gave them a comparable edge. After their defeat about 120 years ago they simply disappeared. Everyone assumes they either disbanded because of too many losses, were wiped out by someone who kept it secret or died to the great plague."

"Anything else?"

The man put a finger to where his mouth would be behind his mask in a thinking pose. "I still wonder what exact sort of swallows they really are. There are reported sightings of coconuts and not every swallow can carry them. An Elemental swallow maybe, but not an Island swallow. But then coconuts don't grow here and the Elemental swallow is not migratory…"

Kisame chuckled, but Deidara felt annoyance at Tobi's antics. He barely knew anything about the man, one of Akatsuki's associated members. What he did know was that the man got on his nerves with his behavior. They were an organization bent on making a dangerous power play and undermining the power of the established shinobi villages. They should behave seriously, not capering around like fools. Kisame always found the man amusing, though.

Pain ignored the fool and turned back to Itachi and Kisame. "What about your second target?"

"The status and whereabouts of the Ichibi container are unknown. Konoha assumes the demon broke free before it and a demon fielded by Soragakure referred to as the Reibi annihilated each other. Judging from the destruction on the battlefield that opinion seems well-founded." Itachi answered.

That led to a discussion of their future strategy. Deidara mostly zoned out during it. He didn't care overly much about Akatsuki's plans. It wasn't as if he was here of his own free will. He had been on a wonderful spree of displaying his artistic talents by causing wanton destruction (paid for by various unscrupulous clients, of course) when Kisame, Sasori and Itachi tracked him down a little less than a year ago. When he refused joining them they had goaded him into a challenge: If he fought and won against Itachi they would leave him be.

The damnable Uchiha won that confrontation handily thanks to his sharingan. That thing amplified Itachi's already massive genjutsu capabilities to an unbelievable degree. Now, as a shinobi Deidara didn't believe in the concept of 'fairness' in a fight, but those damned eyes were as unfair as it could get. He still had no idea how to properly counter them. Modifying one of his eyes to negate genjutsu seemed like a promising idea (a procedure for that was among the stuff he had taken with him when deserting from Iwa), but he had yet to make any progress on that front. He would need a technique to quickly create a really big explosion, too, to make evasion impossible. Developing that would probably take years.

Anyway, after his loss he joined Akatsuki's inner circle and was partnered with the puppeteer Sasori. Surprisingly, he had grown to like and respect the older man. While a decidedly different direction from Deidara's Art of a Single Moment, Sasori did consider his human puppetry art as well and pursued it with great dedication. Deidara respected that. Despite Sasori never outright teaching him anything Deidara had learned much over the months simply by the power of observation. Sasori had been a missing nin for about twenty years and knew all the tricks. Not only had he successfully evaded or defeated all the people wanting to capture him, no, he had outright flourished. Sasori's spy network spanning the Elemental Nations was probably one of the best in existence.

'_Come to think of it, our access to it is now gone.' _Deidara mused while watching Pain, Kisame and Zetsu argue about something. Sasori had taken extreme care that his resources remained exclusively his. He had often disappeared for days on end. Akatsuki in general and Deidara in particular knew only a handful of contacts. They had used the results of his work, but they had never been allowed to learn the details. Each member who had brought resources of his own into the organization did pretty much the same. Akatsuki was less of a unified organization and more a collection of different, separate factions. As far as Deidara knew out of the primary members only him, Itachi and Zetsu had no followers to call their own.

'_Sometimes I wonder why I stay at all. I could simply fly away. What is another broken word to me?'_

Well, the fact that the rest of Akatsuki would mercilessly hunt him down was probably one of the two main reasons. He knew very well that he stood no chance against most of the other members, less alone all of them combined. Unlike Orochimaru (who had broken ties with Akatsuki around four years ago; Sasori had been very vocal about that) Deidara had no army of followers that made taking him down too costly. He could evade them for a while, but in the medium term they would catch up with him without a doubt.

Deidara suppressed a sigh. The other reason why he had stayed with Akatsuki was now gone. It would simply not be the same without Sasori. He gave the associated members a glance. Hopefully his new partner would be someone he could get along with. He shuddered at the thought of being paired with someone like Tobi.

Suddenly the projected images of the four absent shinobi winked out and most of the others made to leave. Deidara realized he had missed most of the meeting. Trying to recall the past minutes, he remembered that Pain had wanted words with him and Kakuzu.

Soon the hall emptied, leaving Deidara alone with Pain and the famous bounty hunter.

Pain held out a hand. "The ring."

Reluctantly Deidara approached Pain and handed over Sasori's Akatsuki ring he had recovered from the man's remains. There were ten rings in existence, one for each primary member. The projection technique used for these meetings was somehow tied to them and they probably had other powers Deidara was not privy to. Unfortunately Orchimaru had taken his ring with him when he defected, leaving Deidara without one. Well, there was another ring without bearer since Kakuzu tended to kill his partners too quickly for them to considered trustworthy enough. Originally Deidara had been supposed to receive the free ring after successfully capturing the Mizukage, but after the failure of that mission his hopes had been dashed. It still stung. Which was funny considering there was very little tying him to Akatsuki in the first place.

'_That's dangerous. I'm becoming far too attached to goals that aren't really mine. I was too comfortable in Master Sasori's company.'_ Deidara suddenly realized. He needed time to think about this.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had stepped up. Pain addressed them both with his next sentence. "I expect you to work together for the time being. Fulfill your tasks as discussed. We will reorganize as soon as this phase of our operation is over."

'_Wait, what?' _

Pain wouldn't pair him with Kakuzu, would he? How could he have missed that? Kakuzu was the bogeyman. Every shinobi knew about the merciless bounty hunter. Mothers frightened their children with tales of him. Even among experienced shinobi there was the saying that you might as well slit your own throat and save you the trouble of trying to escape when Kakuzu targeted you. No one knew how Kakuzu had managed to live this long (he had to be in his late eighties or early nineties), but by all accounts he was as deadly as ever.

Deidara gulped when he looked into the cold green eyes of the man towering above him. There was no way this would end well.

* * *

><p><em>Short dark blue hair fluttered in the wind… a gentle smile... pale lavender eyes full of joy… laughter in the air when the two chased each other in a field of flowers… the smell of lemon trees… <em>

_The sun set over the village, the blue of the sky giving way to stars… a head lying on his shoulder, hands entwined… light brown eyes twinkling mischievously… whispered words of love in the darkness..._

Suddenly the swallow rocked slightly and Naruto jerked awake. He was disoriented for a few moments before he remembered his current circumstances.

'_I guess I did fall asleep after all.'_

Judging from the position of the moon he couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour at most. Still, that meant that they had already traveled a good part of their journey. A look at the moonlit landscape far below showed Naruto that the swallows were now following a river. Occasional pinpricks of light marked the lone wanderer or house awake at this late hour while clusters of lights heralded richer settlements that could sustain some sort of nightlife. Lighting like candles wasn't cheap.

Naruto tried to get back to rest, but this time sleep eluded him. He simply busied himself with observing the landscape. The wind wasn't as cutting as before and the moonlight in combination with his night vision meant that it might well be daylight as far as he was concerned. Time passed by. Slowly a dull orange glow became visible at the horizon.

A sinking feeling spread through Naruto's stomach. The capital was one of the biggest cities in the country, but the stray light shouldn't be visible this soon if he guessed their position correctly. Turning his head left and right, he tried to ascertain his suspicion. He had never been near the capital, but he had made a point to study all the available maps. Anko always emphasized the importance of knowing the terrain. Recognizing all the features from the air was a bit difficult, but after the search for Tsunade Naruto had enough practice to make do.

'_There's the Lake of Fire Lilies with the coronation site of the rulers of the Land of Fire. The form is unmistakable. We just passed Nomiga town with its large river port. Over there are the foothills of the Green Mountains and these should be the cities of… Uh-Oh.'_

Reaching forward, Naruto gave Asuma's shoulder a pat. The jonin immediately turned around, a questioning expression on his face. Naruto pointed towards the orange glow. By now it should be visible even to people without special night vision. "There's something wrong in the capital. Looks like a really big fire to me. It could be a coincidence."

Asuma cursed. "Not likely. Good work spotting it."

Then he turned to his neighbor and started a hurried conversation. Before long the woman took Asuma's head in both hands, both shinobi wearing a look of concentration. Naruto vaguely recognized the woman as one of Ino's more distant relatives named Masuya, but he had no further knowledge of the middle-aged Yamanaka. There were just too many shinobi in Konoha to have detailed information on all of them and the hurried departure had left no time for more detailed introductions.

It took them far too long to reach the city. The swallows were fast, but at night even small fires could be seen from a large distance. When they finally got close enough to make out details Naruto's bad feeling proved completely justified. In fact, the situation reminded Naruto of the burning Konoha. Fortunately there were at least no invading armies in sight.

Circling over the city while steadily reducing altitude, the shinobi got a good look at what had to be the result of enemy action. There were several large fires in different districts, but by the looks of it the larger part of the city was still untouched. Frantic but organized firefighting efforts were ongoing. Soldiers were busy creating firebreaks. Several bucket chains had formed. All in all the fires would probably be brought under control in the next few hours, although some were rather close to the daimyo's palace. As bad as the fire was, it wasn't the worst thing for their mission. The dome of yellow light on the palace grounds was far more ominous. The trails of smoke covering the area made it difficult to see, but the palace seemed to be damaged, too.

Suddenly a voice echoed in Naruto's head. "_This is Asuma Sarutobi. It seems our worries were well-founded. I know the situation looks bad, but keep calm. Squad Two will land first. Our sensors have detected Councilor Utatane's chakra signature outside the dome and will use her as a beacon. As soon as the landing zone is secured Squad One and Three will follow. Squads Four and Six, you are to assist the firefighting efforts. Keep the flames away from the palace at any cost. Squad Five, follow your leader; he already has his orders. Squads Seven to Twelve will remain in the air until we have a better grip on the situation."_

'_He's addressing us by Yamanaka telepathy.'_ Naruto realized. That answered the question why the woman was here. It was Naruto first encounter with that specific part of a Yamanaka's skill spectrum, but of course he knew about it in the abstract. Even aside from it being part of general knowledge Ino had given them a reasonable amount of details on any Yamanaka clan techniques they were likely to encounter. Telepathic battlefield communication was a useful utility skill, but Ino had not expected to really need it anytime soon. It was mainly used for coordination when several teams worked together or on outright military expeditions, not when there were only three or four people like on the usual elite genin teams. A useful skill to have even then, sure, but not critical. Ino had concentrated on learning other fields that she considered to be of greater immediate usefulness.

Naruto watched in silence while the formation broke up. The swallows had agreed to follow the orders of the individual squad leaders for the time being, but they were purely for transport anyway. Most of the combat-capable swallows had not yet recovered from the injuries sustained during the invasion of Konoha. Some of them might even be out of action for several months. There had been a not inconsiderable number of deaths, too.

The leading swallow spiraled downwards towards the palace until it was obscured by a cloud of smoke. It didn't take long before the Yamanaka woman nodded towards Asuma.

"Set us down, please. After that return to the air. We will call you if we need you again." Asuma commanded the swallow. He gave more detailed directions the lower they got.

Naruto closed his eyes when they entered the cloud of smoke and tried to breathe shallowly. It still stung in his lungs. Fortunately they soon left it behind. The air smelled of smoke, but it wasn't a dense cloud. Naruto could now spot their likely destination. It looked to be a small corner of a far larger park belonging to the palace, but most of it was cut off by the opaque yellow barrier. The thing seemed to cut right through buildings.

Some members of Squad Two had formed a perimeter around their swallow. Others were out of sight, apparently inside the surrounding buildings.

The first shinobi began jumping off as soon as the distance to the ground became manageable. Naruto waited until they had landed before he left his seat. Aside from keeping to Asuma's side he had no specific orders. The moment all of the shinobi had dismounted the swallow took off again, followed by the second one. They probably didn't want to stay in this vulnerable position any longer than strictly necessary.

Koharu Utatane was waiting under a roof nearby. The councilor looked worse for wear, but no obvious injuries were apparent. She seemed very worried but somewhat relieved at their arrival. Asuma immediately approached her. Shino and another shinobi went to examine the barrier and began discussing something in hushed tones. Several small groups left towards other areas of the palace. The third squad arrived a moment later.

Naruto listened in on Asuma and Koharu while keeping to the background, Masuya Yamanaka at his side. The woman seemed intent on ignoring him, occasionally closing her eyes and forming hand seals. She probably contacted the other squads during these moments. He wondered idly why there didn't seem to be more of a sense of urgency. Then again, Asuma had probably already spoken telepathically with Koharu and given orders to the other members of their group.

"… received information about an impending attack by remnants of the Village hidden in the Woods supported by Kumo. We came here as quickly as possible."

Koharu nodded wearily. "I'm glad you are here. The information was correct, but it might be too late already. The Prajna Group took us head on and they were only one of the splinter groups that formed after their village's destruction. If my delegation had not been here they would have overwhelmed the normal shinobi guard. We killed most of them and drove the rest off, but it was a very close thing. There might be survivors around. I'm sure they were only part of the attacking forces. The daimyo and his family tried to escape through the garden while we stalled the attackers. Then this barrier cut them off. I don't think they had enough time to escape."

"I know about the secret exit and sent a squad to the other end. Can we break through with pure force or circumvent the barrier?"

Koharu shook her head. "We tried that. The barrier extends underground and took an A-rank jutsu from me without problems. Most of the forces with me are low on chakra and aren't frontline fighters anyway."

"The barrier's resilience isn't surprising." the shinobi who had examined the barrier cut in. "That thing is an advanced space-time barrier. It holds more chakra than what should be possible. It would take more chakra than our entire group has to match it. Even then it would kill everyone inside if we tried to breach it with brute force. There is some trick involved. Fascinating, really. I can bring it down safely on my own, but that will take up to half an hour."

Asuma frowned. "That is too late."

"We can try to make a hole. Young Shino is already setting things up."

"Do it."

Naruto watched while they got ready. It didn't take more than half a minute of hurried preparations until Shino and the unknown barrier specialist began making hand seals. Naruto could actually feel the spike of chakra they drove into the barrier when they finished. That was saying something considering that Naruto wasn't especially good at sensing chakra, especially with the barrier outshining everything else.

'_Shino must have almost emptied his reserves.'_ he mused.

For a second nothing seemed to happen, but then the formerly sharply defined surface of the barrier rippled. A moment later a roughly man-sized section caved inwards, revealing a roiling mass of shapeless chakra. It was yellow, too.

The man sagged to the ground, immediately exhausted. Shino looked to be in the same condition. "This is all we can do. We can't bring the barrier down immediately, but the hole will stay open. It should be safe to enter, but I have no idea if it is enough to break through."

After a short exchange of glances one of the kunoichi entered. Three seconds later the barrier spat her back out, unharmed. She seemed disoriented for a moment but gathered her wits quickly. "There is no getting through, Sarutobi-sama. The barrier's chakra pushed me out. It's like walking against the current of a river. I tried setting my own chakra against it, but it wasn't enough."

"Damnation." Asuma cursed. "Is there anything more we can do?"

The barrier specialist made a helpless gesture. "I am sorry, Sarutobi-sama. There is nothing more I can do aside from bringing the barrier down the slow way. I really hoped this would work."

"What about the Kyuubi's power?" Koharu suddenly asked, her eyes on Naruto.

The idea had obviously not occurred to the barrier specialist. "That might work." he said after a moment of thought and a sidelong glance at Naruto. "A tailed beast has nearly limitless and very potent chakra. It might counteract the barrier's pressure. I don't know enough about jinchuuriki and the barrier to say for sure."

Shino adjusted his glasses. "Naruto should be able to simply walk through the barrier. The corrosive effect of the Kyuubi's chakra should be enough to overwhelm anything else and enable him to break through to the other side. I have read reports of such interactions between jinchuuriki and barriers in the archives of my clan. Beware, my kikaichu report the barrier is bigger on the inside than on the outside."

"He will be on his own in there, probably going against several teams of enemy shinobi." Masuya remarked without looking at him.

Asuma was silent for a few seconds, exchanging a long look with Koharu. Then he turned to Naruto, his face a mask of utter seriousness. "We have to keep the daimyo alive at any cost or the Land of Fire will descend into chaos. We simply cannot let that happen, not with Konoha's situation as it is. This seems to be our best bet. Naruto, do everything in your power to keep the daimyo and his family safe. If worst comes to worst, prioritize the daimyo and his heir over everything else." _Including your own survival _went unsaid, but the meaning was clear.

'_Crap.'_

This had all the markings of a suicide mission. Considering the importance of the daimyo for keeping the Land of Fire stable, the tacit approval of one of the village's councilors and Asuma's position of authority a loyal shinobi of Konoha wouldn't even think of refusing… which unfortunately meant that Naruto had to act the same. Under the circumstances he saw no way out of this.

"Of course, Asuma-sensei. Please, give me some space."

Concentrating hard, Naruto called up the Kyuubi's chakra. As always it felt as if liquid fire was burning his body from the inside when the usual trickle swelled to a flood. Rage at everyone and everything filled him while a red haze partially obscured his vision. A moment later a cloak of malevolent red chakra formed around him. Soon the feeling of incredible power shoved the pain into the background, ever present but no longer really hampering him. The ground beneath him sizzled slightly as the grass withered under the demonic aura. His body transformed, growing more feral as two tails rose behind him.

Naruto took a moment to make sure of his control. From the corner of his eyes he noticed that Masuya was looking away, her trembling hands balled into fists. Some of the other shinobi showed similar reactions.

'_Probably bad memories from the Kyuubi attack. This is the first time I used the Kyuubi's power with shinobi other than my teammates around.'_

Naruto nodded towards Asuma. **"I'm ready."** It came out more like an oddly rumbling growl. The fangs his teeth had turned into made speech somewhat difficult.

Asuma returned the nod. "Then go. Good luck."

Taking one last breath, Naruto entered the hole. In the next moment yellow energy engulfed him, surging against his demonic chakra cloak. After a few moments of interaction it disintegrated into nothing, but there was more than enough to fill any gaps created in that way. Movement was difficult. It was like wading through a swamp that surrounded him on all sides. A glance back showed him the entry, but it was soon obscured by swirls of yellow chakra. The interior of the barrier seemed to stretch on and on. Slowly the light shifted away from yellow, but that wasn't especially helpful. All Naruto could see were swirling colors in all shades of the rainbow. Even the ground wasn't solid.

'_This is just strange. I only hope Shino and that other guy knew what they were talking about.'_

Naruto thought he was still moving in his original direction, but he had no way to be sure. There were just no points of reference anywhere. Even his sense of time felt somehow screwed up.

It gave him the time to consider his next steps, although the rage clouding his mind made that difficult. He was going to fight against a force of a dozen shinobi, possibly more. The attack on the daimyo seemed well planned. It was virtually certain that there were several jonin-level combatants awaiting him. Even channeling the power of the Kyuubi he was probably fucked. Things weren't made easier by his task of protecting four civilians.

'_At least I know their faces from when Shikamaru's dad used a henge during the briefing.'_

Naruto seriously considered simply sittings things out inside the barrier. Nobody would be the wiser. He could always say he didn't find a way through the barrier. His reputation would probably take a hit and the repercussions for Konoha might be nearly catastrophic in the long term, but it wasn't as if his personal survival, his parents or any of his friends was at stake. He was perfectly willing to risk his life for Konoha in the normal line of duty (an inevitability considering the dangers of being a shinobi), but outright suicide like this was not something he would normally consider. Heck, the daimyo might be dead by now.

His intrinsic loyalty to Konoha was effectively zero. There was no positive emotional connection to the village. He didn't outright hate Konoha, but his less than stellar treatment during his childhood had left him with a pretty thorough dislike. Acting loyal and ensuring the village's continued existence was a matter of practicalities, nothing more. Well, there was some indirect loyalty due to his friends and a few other people, but that was all. Failing here wouldn't immediately hurt them. There would be ways to deal with the consequences.

On the other hand, Naruto didn't know what the collapse of the barrier would do to him if he remained inside. He had only a very basic theoretic understanding of barrier jutsu. Saving the Fire Daimyo would be enormously useful, too. If the man became beholden to him it would open all sorts of interesting possibilities for the future. Besides, if the daimyo died the Land of Fire would descend into a new succession war or break apart. Naruto didn't consider himself especially moral, but preventing such an event would save many innocent lives.

'_What to do, what to do?'_

An indeterminate amount of time passed by until Naruto came to a decision. It was best to see this as an opportunity, not a suicide mission. The danger was immense, but so was the possible reward.

That left the question of how to go about things. The tactical situation Naruto faced was pretty much as bad as it could get. He was going up solo against superior forces without backup. At least he didn't think many of the daimyo's guards would be left by now. Much depended on the composition of the enemy forces. Unfortunately he had no way of learning that before he faced them. The Kyuubi cloak made him a beacon of chakra, ensuring that he would be noticed immediately. Another problem was that while he used the Kyuubi's power he lost access to his normal jutsu. Such a high amount of demonic chakra simply didn't mix with normal human techniques; it was far too potent and alien. That meant he could pretty much only fight head-on. He could drop the cloak and proceed stealthily, but the enemy would be aware of his presence once he left the barrier.

Naruto was still mulling over tactics when the swirling colors changed again to yellow light. A short time later the yellow in front of him slowly faded and gave way to an image of the palace grounds inside the barrier: A large park surrounded by various buildings. The dense vegetation and multiple buildings made spotting details rather problematic, but several fires and other signs of destruction indicated a hard-fought battle. Another problem was that his viewpoint seemed to be over a dozen meters in the air and far from the point where he should have entered the park normally.

Before Naruto could consider the implications a battle taking place drew his attention. Several people were fighting a lone woman. Her formerly rich clothing was in tatters and she frantically dodged while giving ground, the multiple attacks leaving her no opportunity to fight back. For now the attackers mainly limited themselves to thrown weapons.

'_Perhaps she's one of the disguised kunoichi of the daimyo's guard?'_

Redoubling his efforts, Naruto tried to break through the barrier, but he didn't seem to make any progress. He might not be moving at all for the park remained as distant as before. The battle moved towards his position, though.

Suddenly the woman's head was thrown back when one projectile found its target in her forehead and Naruto got a good look at her face for the first time. It was the daimyo's second wife, Kikuko.

'_Damn it!'_

Just when the woman hit the ground Naruto encountered some form of resistance. It felt like some sort of flexible membrane. Apparently he had finally reached the end of the barrier. He immediately began clawing at it.

One of the attackers approached the still body of the woman. Then there was a blur of movement. A moment later the figure disintegrated into pieces, revealing it to be an earth clone. The daimyo's wife had sprung to her feet and ran at the nearest enemy.

'_Wait, what?'_

That didn't make sense. The daimyo was known as a minor chakra user, but to Naruto's knowledge neither of his wives had any sort of chakra-related abilities. The speed she was now showing was at least lower jonin-level, considerably faster than what Naruto could manage in his natural state.

The woman's charge was cut short when an earthen fist emerged from the ground and hit her with bone-crushing force. He could hear no sounds, but he could easily imagine the wet snapping noise that would accompany it.

What Naruto didn't expect was the woman suddenly righting herself, performing a somersault in mid-air and landing on her feet… only for two slabs of ground to rise and crush her between them. Then they exploded in a cloud of dust and debris, partially obscuring Naruto's vision.

When he could see again one of the attackers was on the ground in a puddle of blood, puncture wounds riddling his body. A second man was fighting Kikuko at close range.

'_How is she still alive after that?'_

Naruto squinted. Something about Kikuko's hands was wrong. Then she performed a swipe. The attacker raised both his metal-clad arms for a block. He lost them along with his head.

'_Is she using wind chakra flow?'_

The effect certainly resembled what Naruto could achieve with his knives, but it didn't make sense. These displayed skilled were rare. They should know if one of the daimyo's wives was such a powerful chakra user.

Meanwhile, the combat had moved on. This time Naruto had a clear view. Kikuko's fingers transformed into blades. Then they elongated rapidly. They were about to skewer another attacker when a fiery inferno engulfed the woman.

When the fire went out Kikuko was still standing. Most of her body was a charred ruin, blackened bone clearly visible. Then red lightning crept along her limbs and her flesh regrew. Before she was fully healed another column of fire ignited around her.

'_What the hell is going on here? This level of regeneration is simply unreal. Some medic-nin can manage battle-regeneration, but this is ridiculous. Did she replace the real Kikuko?'_

Most of the attackers were now directly beneath him with their backs turned. Fortunately none of them looked up. He had no idea if they could spot him in the current situation, but he was glad it wasn't put to the test. The distance was low enough to make out more details.

Naruto couldn't identify most of them, but he was pretty sure an old man with a peg leg and a drooping mustache was the rather infamous Tadashi 'Silver Blade', a kenjutsu master who kept a multitude of blades sealed in tattoos all over his body. A black-haired man was steadily making hand seals to create the unending stream of fire jutsu. His appearance and apparent skill made his identity clear. He had been nicknamed the 'Flame Horse' in the stories, although his birth name was Shinichiro. Both were famous jonin originating from the destroyed Village hidden in the Woods. The others (a short blond man, a man in heavy armor, a blond kunoichi with many scrolls, kunai and other instruments of ranged battle, two other people he couldn't see clearly) he had no idea about, but it was a sure bet they shared the same origin. Naruto had never paid special attention to that destroyed minor village; he just kept up on the general gossip and bounties of famous shinobi.

'_They probably want to go out with a bang by killing the daimyo and his family. They Land of Fire did annex their country a few years ago after the shinobi village was conveniently destroyed by 'natural causes'. The survivors either joined other villages or were hounded by bounty hunters.'_

Continuing his struggles to break through, Naruto wondered how Kikuko could stand against this unrelenting assault. Each time the fire abated he could see her still standing and regenerating. Even his Kyuubi-boosted regeneration wouldn't be able to keep up with something like that. Or where the man found so much chakra to keep going; those fire jutsu looked rather chakra-intensive. Then the fire cut off, revealing a blackened Kikuko kneeling on the ground.

Unexpectedly Naruto's head pierced the barrier and he could hear things, just in time to hear Shinichiro speaking. "Looks likes I can get you on your knees after all. You told me I couldn't kill you, but I like to try and prove you wrong!" Once again fire engulfed the woman. "So let's see. How many times is it going to take?"

Once again the woman was enveloped in flames. This time Naruto heard the agonized screaming. He redoubled his efforts to free his entire body, but it seemed to make hardly any difference.

When the fires went out Kikuko fell backwards against a chunk of debris. This time there was none of the red lightning that apparently signified major regeneration taking place. Her only partially healed body was visibly disintegrating into dust. "You killed me. I hate losing, but there are worse ways to die than at the hands of a man like you. I love how cold and focused your eyes are. I look forward to the day when those eyes will be wide with agony. It's coming… it's coming…"

Naruto realized Kikuko was looking directly at him. Then her eyes, skin and flesh dissolved. Hair thinned and disappeared into nothingness, leaving only a skull and bones lying on the ground.

'_Damn it. I'm too late.'_

One of his charges was already dead. He had to hurry if he wanted to salvage anything. Thankfully none of the attackers had spotted him yet and he could feel the barrier yielding slowly. A frontal assault from surprise with his full powers should bring the numbers down enough for him to deal with the rest of the group without undue danger. Suddenly his arms came free, followed by his legs a moment later. In the next second he was falling towards the ignorant shinobi, chakra arms emerging from his cloak to shred them limb from limb.

Then things went wrong. Shinichiro turned towards him, hands already making seals. Naruto immediately reevaluated the timing and changed tactics.

In the end it came down to a split-second. Naruto had a chakra arm emerge sideways and clamp onto a nearby building, pulling him away while the shinobi below successfully dodged his attacking arms. At the same moment a dragon-shaped inferno leaped from Shinichiro's hands towards him.

Strangely Naruto barely felt any pain when half of his field of vision went dark and he lost control over his left arm. Then he collided with the building, bringing it down on top of him. It took him a moment to realize that he was actually on fire.

'_If that jutsu had hit fully I would have been reduced to ash. The cloak protected me.' _Naruto absentmindedly thought while chakra arms began to dig him out of the rubble.

Then the searing pain hit his consciousness and he gritted his teeth. For a moment his control over the Kyuubi's power threatened to slip, but he managed to hold on. The pain increased his rage, making it difficult not to draw more chakra. He would quickly lose control if he accidentally drew three tails' worth. Considering that he would inadvertently draw more chakra and trying to use five tails would knock him out of Kyuubi mode that was bad, worse than letting the cloak dissipate.

A quick glance showed Naruto that the chakra cloak had extinguished the fire. His left arm had been reduced to a charred husk with most of the flesh burned away, the shuriken he kept in an arm holster and three kunai only deformed hot chunks of metal sticking in the blackened flesh. Most of the clothing on his left side was severely singed and the left side of his face consisted only of pain.

Bubbling, chakra-filled blood raced down his arm, regenerating what he had lost and pushing the red-hot pieces of metal out of his flesh. The feeling was just _weird, _not considering the pain. Not ten heartbeats later the vision in his left eye returned, even if it was still blurry.

Instead of emerging from the ruins of the building Naruto wrapped as many chakra arms as he could create around himself in a tight spiral. Then he threw them outwards, adding a chakra-infused roar to increase the damage. The ruined building came apart in a storm of debris, hopefully forcing the enemies to dodge and giving him a precious moment to act unimpeded.

Naruto immediately jumped into a random direction, just in time to avoid being crushed by a wave of earth that must have been building up while he was trapped inside. With the walls gone he could see his enemies again, but they could see him too.

Picking the nearest target, Naruto wasted no time in attacking. The short blond man's eyes widened, but he still managed to perform a jutsu. The earth wall that sprung up from the ground proved insufficient to stop Naruto, but it slowed him down enough for Tadashi to close the distance.

The old man moved with a speed belying his age, his silvery blades cutting apart the chakra arms threatening the blond man. In the next moment a hail of missiles from the blond kunoichi hit Naruto. Some were deflected by his cloak and chakra arms, but more than half slipped through his defenses. Naruto felt his body pierced in multiple locations… all of them vital under normal circumstances. He immediately changed his trajectory, trying to escape the bombardment. Unfortunately the kunoichi kept her missiles on target without apparent effort, unsealing new weapons as she went.

'_Crap, she is what Tenten might be with a decade of experience.'_

Naruto was about to reposition himself when he noticed something red approaching from the corner of his eyes. He had barely time to close his eyes before an explosion threw him away and hungry flames licked at his face.

Just when Naruto hit the ground a hail of sharp stone projectiles originating from the armored man peppered his body, making him scream in pain. The enemies immediately capitalized on the opening and Naruto was hit with another fireball. A kunai scraped across his face, gouging his good eye out. With an effort of will he used his chakra arms to catapult himself backwards into another building, giving him a moment of reprieve.

'_Fire user, two earth users, mid-range specialist, close combat fighter, two unknowns working flawlessly together. I'm losing here. Badly.'_

Naruto broke through another wall, putting more distance between him and his enemies. The weapons in his flesh were pushed out while he healed and his vision returned. Never before had he needed to rely on his boosted regeneration to this degree. The undead Jashinists several months ago had been nearly helpless against his power. During the invasion he had only performed a long-range attack with the Kyuubi's chakra, not fought in the thick of things. All other threats he had been able to handle with his own power.

A blast from an exploding tag cut his introspection short. Taking a shortcut through a wooden shed gave him another breather, the building erupting in flames behind him. A way to the side was cut off by an earth construct.

'_I'm being herded towards the barrier.'_ Naruto realized when he was hit by several missiles before he could dive behind another building.

That didn't leave him many options. Once backed up against the barrier he wouldn't be able to dodge the attacks any longer. Despite his boosted regeneration he would die if he took enough damage at once. Or perhaps damage to his brain would be enough. It wasn't something he wanted to test. Despite his efforts at dodging he already received damage faster than he could heal it, making a direct confrontation without concentrating on dodging a losing proposition. Outlasting the enemies' chakra seemed impossible, especially considering that he couldn't maintain Kyuubi mode indefinitely. At some point the corrosive effect would increasingly outweigh the regeneration. Then he would either die from overuse or be forced to drop the cloak and die to the enemy attacks. The Kyuubi's power was the only thing that had allowed him to survive this long. He didn't know how long he had left, but he felt the end drawing closer.

'_I have to finish this quickly.'_ he thought while formulating a plan. If this didn't work he would have to call for direct assistance by his parents, something he was hesitant to do for a variety of reasons, his ignorance about their status not the least among them. He wasn't sure if they _could_ help him currently. Another reason was that he wasn't sure he could manage it while being under attack and holding up the Kyuubi cloak.

Naruto opened the floodgates a little wider. Immediately the regeneration increased, the rage intensified and the chakra cloak grew more solid, the demonic energy bubbling like a liquid. Then he felt the beginnings of a third tail emerging and clamped down hard, keeping it from fully forming. This was a dance on the razor's edge. One mistake and he would lose control.

Wasting no time, Naruto emptied his weapon pouches. Only a part of his supplies had survived to this point, but it was still enough for his purpose. Any knife, kunai and shuriken he could find were suspended in his chakra cloak. Unfortunately his hands had already transformed too far into claws and lost the ability to handle tools and weapons with the necessary precision.

Coming to a sudden stop, Naruto used his chakra claws to destroy as much of his surroundings as possible. It made him into a sitting target as several projectiles proved, but it also removed most of the available cover. As soon as he spotted the two shinobi with unknown skills he launched all his weapons with a swipe of a chakra claw. Then he ran towards the fire user while sending chakra claws at the armored earth user. A gurgling scream of pain indicated that his hail of weapons had drawn blood.

As expected Naruto's attack run was intercepted by a fireball. His skin cracked and blistered under the heat, but this time the flames didn't penetrate the reinforced cloak. The second earth user erected a spiky barrier between Naruto and the fire user, but that was fine, too. From the corner of his eye he saw that the swordsman had moved to prevent his chakra claws from reaching the earth user.

'_Just as planned.'_

Instead of continuing the assault Naruto dug the chakra claws into the ground and used them to reel himself in, abruptly changing his trajectory. Using this much demonic power markedly loosened the hold the normal rules of the world had on him. Things like conservation of momentum affected him less than they should.

The swordsman Tadashi was caught flatfooted by the development, but he still raised his blades in defense. Naruto gasped in pain as cold steel penetrated his cloak, flesh and heart, but his purpose had been achieved. He was close enough that Tadashi couldn't dodge properly. Then a new series of chakra claws closed around his victim.

To his credit Tadashi managed to dodge most of them. Unfortunately for him it was not enough. Three claws found their target, digging deep into the swordsman's body. The flesh in contact with the demonic chakra immediately mortified. Tadashi screamed in agony as his body was burned by the demonic blight.

Then the thing happened that was the reason why tattooing storage seals onto a living body was usually considered a suicidally stupid idea: The combination of physical damage and foreign chakra caused the seals to malfunction and release their deformed contents in a completely uncontrolled fashion. Tadashi instantly transformed from a living albeit severely injured human being into dead flesh fused with twisted metal.

'_Heh, I guess his body is now made of blades. One jonin down.'_

The joy was short-lived. Before Naruto could disengage properly a veritable storm of white-hot fire erupted around him. He had been staying still for too long. This time the chakra cloak proved barely any protection. His vision cut out almost immediately. His hair caught fire and he felt his flesh sloughing off, body fat liquefying under the intense heat.

'_**The pain the pain the pain the pain…'**_

Naruto did the only thing he could: He screamed in agony.

The firestorm ceased abruptly as his pain and rage manifested themselves as a wave of blood-red winds, blowing everything away as the third tail emerged fully. The sword still lodged in his heart simply shattered, the pieces launched outwards with the force of arrows. Naruto couldn't see, but he felt the enemies' emotions. Six sources, one of them dying.

**KILL! MAIM! DESTROY!**

Unfathomable rage held Naruto in its grip. They had hurt him. They would suffer.

His tails speared out at unbelievable speed. The second unknown shinobi had only a brief instant to scream before he was ripped apart. Chakra arms attacked the other five. The dying one was immediately crushed, but the others managed to dodge.

The sudden, unexpected return of his vision shook Naruto out of his pain-induced rage for a moment.

'_Have to regain control… Have to regain control… Have to regain control…'_

He couldn't afford to lose control. It might save him for the moment, but there would be more enemies than this group. Forcing back the mindless rage with an effort of will, Naruto managed to restrain the flow of demonic chakra. The chakra arms stopped and dispersed. A moment later the third tail receded.

Unfortunately Naruto's inward focus gave his enemies time to recover. A suddenly emerging giant earthen fist caved in his chest and sent him flying. Trying to suck in air and not being able to breathe felt terrible. In a way it was worse than the pierced heart. With a sudden jerk Naruto's bones righted themselves as his regeneration did its work.

Still in the air, Naruto took note of the position of the enemy. The fire user and the kunoichi were out of sight. The short earth user had attacked him, but the armored one was just pulling himself together, his armor sporting deep gouges. Naruto extended a chakra arm, latching on the foundations of a nearby ruined building. Swinging around, he set himself on a collision course with the armored earth user.

Apparently the man (or was it a woman?) was still dazed from the earlier eruption of power and made no effort to get out of the way. Whatever reason Naruto's enemy had for wearing such uncharacteristically heavy armor, the metal proved to be of absolutely no hindrance to his chakra-wreathed fingers-turned-claws.

"Oh." The man said in a surprised, very young-sounding voice, looking down at the arms sticking in his body. Then Naruto pulled with all his strength and the figure came apart in shreds of metal, flesh and blood.

"BROTHER!"

Naruto turned towards the voice. He barely managed to dodge a sharp stone blade that would have taken his head off.

"You killed him!" the short blond shinobi yelled, pressing his heedless attack. Somehow he had created a stone sleeve with a blade around his right arm. "You killed my brother, Konoha scum!"

"**I certainly hope so. I generally don't stick my claws in other people's bodies to improve their health.**" Naruto growled in answer, hoping to provoke the man further.

The taunt had the intended effect: The man attacked with an incoherent scream of rage. It was almost painfully easy to make him one head shorter with a swipe of his chakra-covered claws.

'_Two left.'_

Naruto had barely finished the thought before a series of small fireballs impacted on him, perforating his body in several places. Coughing wetly, he managed to dive out of the way to avoid a second barrage. Then he was set on fire. Again.

Still burning, Naruto used a chakra arm to throw some debris in the probable direction of his enemy. He didn't know if he hit anything, but for a few seconds no other jutsu hit him. It was enough for his cloak to extinguish the fire and for him to find cover behind a tree trunk some distance from his original position. He needed to heal up before he attacked again.

Suddenly a bout of weakness hit. Then the demonic rage-fuelled feeling of strength kicked back in. Naruto was confused for a moment before he realized what was happening. The regeneration was slowing down and the demonic chakra was beginning to do semi-permanent damage to his body. He was hitting his limit.

'_I have to change tactics. I can no longer rely on the boosted regeneration to see me through. At least most enemies are dead.'_

Naruto was still severely wounded, but there was no time to spare. He reduced his draw on the Kyuubi's chakra to the bare minimum, just a little bit above the normal trickle, dispelling the cloak in the process. It would keep him going despite his injuries, but hopefully not interfere with his ability to use jutsu.

'Earth Release: Underground Move'

The technique was far less stable than what Naruto would have wished for. Fortunately it still fulfilled its purpose and Naruto sank into the ground, moving away from his position before emerging again in the cover of a half-destroyed wall.

When Naruto leant against it for support he had to suppress a gasp of pain. Most of his skin was still badly burned and the deep holes in his body weren't making things easier. In fact, he was in steady danger of losing consciousness due to shock, blood loss or pain. He would have to use more of the Kyuubi's power again to heal up as soon as possible, but that would make stealth impossible.

'_Okay, first things first._ Summoning Technique'

Naruto felt the technique form correctly, but then it simply collapsed without a swallow appearing. Apparently the surrounding barrier interfered with summoning techniques. He had feared the possibility, but it had been worth the try.

'_Calling help would have made this much easier. I'm really on my own.'_

Ever so carefully Naruto peered through a gap in the broken masonry, searching the flame-lit surroundings for the remaining enemies. The stump he had originally been hiding behind had been incinerated. The fire user was standing in full view, his left side drenched in blood. Apparently his earlier roar or the chakra claws had done more damage than he had thought and scored a lucky hit. The blond kunoichi was still nowhere in sight.

It was an obvious trap. No shinobi of the fire user's skill would remain in the open under these circumstances. Since Naruto felt no genjutsu affecting him that was in all likelihood a clone or illusionary technique.

Scanning the area with even more care, Naruto discovered Shinichiro hiding behind a low wall. It was actually rather close to his position. He wasn't quite in the man's back, but the angle was advantageous enough that he wouldn't see an attack coming in time. Something still felt wrong, although Naruto couldn't tell what exactly it was at first.

Then realization hit. At this range he should hear the man's breathing. His hearing was good enough for that. Closing his eyes, Naruto concentrated on what his ears told him. All the crackling fires and occasional noisy settling of debris made the task very difficult. There were too many possible hiding places, too.

'_Something is over there, a sound that doesn't belong.'_

It was very faint and he couldn't make out details, but it was a hint. Once again Naruto used the Underground Move technique to change his position to one with a better view. His hunch proved correct and he spotted the real Shinichiro. The fire user was indeed injured, but far less severely than the bunshin had led him to believe. The blond kunoichi was there, too, at a distance where she could easily come to the man's support, but far enough away that an attack to hit them simultaneously would be impossible. They were exchanging signals in a sign language. Judging from the body language the man was ordering the woman to leave, but she objected.

'_I can't allow her to get away and summon reinforcements or warn others. The fire user has to die first, though. He is the most dangerous.'_

The problem was how to go about it. Getting the drop on them was impossible due to their positioning. One of them would see him coming and warn the other. Even Kyuubi-cloaked Naruto couldn't take the fire-user head-on and the ramp-up would be noticed anyway. Sneaking up underground was risky at best; he was pretty sure they would feel the chakra expenditure before he got close enough. All his equipment had been destroyed; the fire had left him nothing, not even clothing. Lastly, he doubted he could hit the broad side of a barn with one of his mid-range techniques at the moment. The heightened level of Kyuubi-chakra in his system made his techniques very unstable and the injuries reduced his natural aim to practically nothing. Every little movement hurt. No, he would have to get close and personal. Two little used techniques of his arsenal would give him a shot at victory.

Concentrating, he readied himself for a desperate dash. The timing would be critical. Then he formed the single hand seal necessary for the technique and began molding chakra.

Naruto had not used this technique for years despite its unquestionable usefulness. He wasn't even supposed to know of its existence due to its banned nature. The circumstances made it an ideal choice, although his concentration was too frayed to risk targeting more than one enemy. It wasn't as if he planned to leave any survivors who could go tattling; trying to take one of the enemies prisoner was far too dangerous under the circumstances.

'Bringer of Darkness'

The reaction was immediate. "My eyes! I can't see! Fumiko, cover me!"

Naruto was already running, trying to keep the man between him and the now identified Fumiko while he formed the hand seals for his second jutsu.

"He's coming at you! To your right! Sixty degrees!"

Despite his blindness Shinichiro was still dangerous. He turned in Naruto's direction and let loose another of these massive fire jutsu. This one seemed to be an area technique that burned everything in a cone. Fortunately for Naruto the aim was slightly off, enabling him to dive under it. He felt new burn wounds erupting on his back, dangerous and painful, but not immediately incapacitating. Lurching to his feet, Naruto continued his charge.

"He's still there! Get out of the way!"

The fire user threw himself to the side. Naruto raised his arm to cover his head. Two throwing knives, a kunai and at least five senbon hit him. New pain shot through his body. The only reason he didn't collapse was the demonic chakra still coursing through his body. It kept him going despite all injuries. Fortunately the kunoichi couldn't hit his legs; there were too many obstacles obscuring his lower body.

The pain was still enough to strain his concentration and the Bringer of Darkness technique broke, but it had fulfilled its purpose in allowing him to get close without being incinerated.

Then he was upon his enemy. The man raised his arms in a deflecting motion, already setting up a counter attack. Another knife penetrated Naruto's shoulder and scraped across the bone just when he made contact and completed his second technique.

'Lightning Release: Shocking Grasp'

Under normal circumstances the technique was used to incapacitate people. With enough chakra it could even kill. Naruto's chakra control was not the best under the circumstances, meaning he simply used as much as the technique would take.

Shinichiro's mouth opened in a silent scream, bright actinic light shining from it while the jutsu wreaked destruction within. Arcs of lightning broke through the man's skin, changing to a bloody red when Naruto drew again upon the Kyuubi's chakra.

Once again the Kyuubi cloak flared to life around him and the human technique fizzled out. A tail rose, soon joined by the second. After a second he rose from the ground, the corpse of Shinichiro in one hand. A short swipe with a chakra claw made absolutely sure of the man's death by disemboweling him. Then Naruto turned to his sole remaining enemy.

Fumiko simply stood there wide-eyed, tears running down her cheeks. When Naruto took the first step towards her she woke from her stupor. "YOU BASTARD!"

A hail of weapons followed, but the attacks lacked finesse. Naruto simply interposed several chakra arms between himself and the woman. Exploding tags detonated and chakra-charged projectiles ripped into his cloak, but now that he could concentrate on a single enemy the injuries he suffered were not enough to stop him. For all her skill the woman had the wrong skill set to defeat him on her own while he drew on the Kyuubi's power.

"Die! Die! Die! Why won't you die, monster?" she shouted while she jumped backwards, trying to put distance between herself and the approaching Naruto. She was fast, but as he was now Naruto was faster.

Finally Naruto closed the distance enough to land a solid hit with a chakra arm. Fumiko didn't even try to dodge. She simply stopped moving when she realized what was happening, still crying. The unnatural limb easily pierced the woman's chest, closing around her heart. A yank and it was over.

Naruto panted heavily. A glance to his surroundings showed him that he had ended up where everything had begun: the site of the daimyo's wife's death. There were no other enemies in sight, but he could hear fighting in the distance.

He reduced the chakra draw to one tail, making it easier for him to control while still keeping the regeneration going. It was now markedly slower than at the beginning of the battle. His burns still had not healed completely and there were still pits in his flesh where the small fireballs had pierced him.

Then Naruto collapsed, curled into a ball and started whimpering. Too much. It was simply too much. Too much pain. Too much everything.

After a few seconds Naruto got himself under control. Employing a mental exercise he locked everything away, clearing his mind. He would deal with it later. There was still a battle to fight and people to rescue.

'_I need to get clothing and equipment. Time to loot the bodies, I suppose.' _he thought when he stood up_._ He really needed new pants. Regeneration was well and good, but it didn't do anything for his wardrobe or the lack thereof.

The feeling of being watched sent a spike of adrenaline through his body. Looking around wildly, Naruto tried to pinpoint the origin of the feeling. A pair of luminescent green eyes was watching from the darkness of a building.

Naruto was about to send a chakra arm at the eyes when the creature emerged. It was grey and rather large.

'_A cat? Still, better to make sure it isn't some kind of disguised threat.'_

As if reading his mind the cat immediately turned around and ran away, disappearing beneath the rubble. Naruto sighed. He didn't have the time to track it down. He could only hope it was what it appeared to be.

Suddenly he frowned and turned towards Kikuko's remains. There was _something_ still there. Naruto was reminded of the Ichibi or of his mother's demonic power, but it was weak, so very, very weak, a presence barely distinguishable from the background.

When Naruto approached he noticed that the bones were still in the process of decomposing. There was just a glint of red on the collarbone, barely visible in the darkness and against the red light of his chakra cloak.

'_Is something left of her?'_

One thing was clear; the woman had not been human. Even the best regeneration technique couldn't keep up with that amount of raw damage. Heck, she had displayed better regeneration than two tails of Kyuubi chakra granted him. From how her leftover presence felt she was probably some sort of demon. The most important question was if she had replaced the daimyo's wife at some point or if she was the wife. Or if the other members of the Land of Fire's ruling family had been replaced, too. Naruto needed that answer. If they had been replaced recently he might as well not bother with getting into more fights for their sake.

'_Now, how can I get these answers? Demons and spirits are only safely dead when no trace of their presence remains. It should be able to regenerate even from this in light of its displayed capability. If the demon lacks energy for regeneration I have to give it that energy.'_

Demons usually fed on some combination of souls, chakra, blood or emotion. Naruto had no way to feed the demon souls nor did he want to. His chakra would probably do more harm than good considering how saturated with the Kyuubi's power it was. It was unlikely for the two different brands of demonic energy to be easily compatible. The same was true of his blood. Naruto doubted the demon was in a position to devour any emotions.

Then he thought of something. One of his chakra hands was still holding the ripped out heart of the kunoichi. The demonic corrosion had damaged it somewhat, but it was still largely intact.

'_I might as well try.' _he thought, shrugging mentally. It wasn't as if the dead kunoichi had any further use for the organ. Moving it over the disintegrating bones, he let the chakra hand slowly crush the heart.

Blood splattered onto the bones. Aside from that nothing happened.

'_Oh well… wait.'_

It was barely visible, but drops of blood were slowly sucked into the red glow. The more drops disappeared the stronger the glow and the suction effect became.

Naruto took several steps back. There was no sense in being caught off guard. The bones stopped disintegrating as tiny arcs of red lightning began creeping over the remains. Flesh grew from nothingness, covering the bones. Muscle and fat appeared. It looked disgusting, but Naruto's attention was on something different. The glow had coalesced into a blazing red symbol: A snake eating its own tail, encircling a series of concentric rings. The latter was clearly a stylized Rinnegan, the fabled eyes of the Sage of the Six Paths. The world at large had lost the knowledge how exactly it looked, but Youko remembered its appearance well.

'_What is the symbol doing on a demon more than a thousand years after the Sage's death?'_

He was still looking at the mark when the regeneration finished, leaving a completely healthy looking Kikuko-lookalike standing on the burned ground. Then the mark slowly faded away into invisibility. To his senses the creature before him appeared as a completely human civilian with no trace of demonic energy or chakra usage.

"Quit staring. It is not very polite." she said after a few seconds of silence, her breasts bouncing slightly as she crossed her arms. Only then did Naruto realize that his stare could be misinterpreted due to the location of the mark. The demon didn't wear a stitch of clothing and displayed the shape of one of the most beautiful woman Naruto had ever seen, almost unsurpassable in its perfection. In some way this perfection reminded him of the human shape his mother liked to wear.

Still, Naruto refused to become flustered. The woman virtually oozed carnality, but his mental discipline was better than that. It was more prudent to ignore their nakedness. Instead he shifted his gaze to the slitted, blood-red eyes of the woman.

"You are a demon."

"Indeed. How very astute of you. And you are Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi." She looked around. "It seems I owe you a debt of gratitude for my continued existence."

"I was the only one able to get through the barrier. Just two questions. Firstly, did you replace the daimyo's wife or were you together with him since the succession war?"

If the woman was surprised at the question she didn't show it. "There has never been another Kikuko. It was always me."

"What about the rest of the family?"

"Yoshino, my… sister is similar to me. Prince Yuko is a child of her body and human as far as we can tell. Lord Hidekatsu was born a human. Since he agreed to a certain offer when he met us the matter is not as clear-cut anymore. You are taking this rather well."

Naruto closely watched Kikuko's expression. The woman told the truth, at least as far as he was able to tell. Of course, she could be more skilled at lying than he was at reading people. If what she said was true he could proceed as if they were completely mundane humans. Naruto didn't really care who ruled the Land of Fire. By all accounts Hidekatsu was a better daimyo than his four predecessors taken together. So what if his wives were demons? As long as they didn't get up to crap like trying to sacrifice/devour entire provinces or the country as a whole it wasn't really a problem for anyone. Most people would freak out if they learned the truth and start a rebellion, of course, but Naruto wasn't among them. Considering what his parents were he had little hesitation to treat with non-humans if the situation called for it.

"Good enough for me. My orders are to protect the royal family. I don't care if you are a demon, spirit, human or something else. What is the situation?"

"That is a rather unusual mindset, but very well." She sighed. "Our guards were completely wiped out. My husband and sister wife should be able to hold their own for the time being and protect the prince. Like me they are very hard to kill. I drew the most dangerous group of attackers away. They thought I had the prince with me."

Naruto nodded. "Okay. I have to get some new gear from one of the corpses. Then we can go and help them. You should find some clothing, too."

"Agreed." Kikuko approached the body of the blond kunoichi to examine it. Then she lifted it with one hand. "I suppose it will have to do. You will have to protect me. I will not be able to regenerate a major wound again anytime soon."

"Can't you drink more blood?" Naruto asked curiously while making his way to the place of the earlier battle.

"Unfortunately it has to be very fresh to be of any use to me. I do not gain much power from it, either, but under the circumstances I will take what I can get. Please try to incapacitate any enemies we might encounter if the situation allows for it."

Naruto suppressed a shudder and nodded. By the time they came upon the bodies Naruto had healed enough to dispel the Kyuubi cloak. He was now again in top physical condition and his own immense chakra reserves had barely been touched, but there was a sort of lingering weariness that reminded him that he had taken damage on a level not easily healed. It would be better if he could avoid using the Kyuubi's chakra again for the near future.

A short time later Naruto was provisionally reequipped. The short blonde shinobi proved to be the closest fit clothing-wise even if the blood stains were rather extensive. Additionally he managed to scrounge up an assortment of shuriken, kunai and a few senbon. The sealing scrolls, other containers and sealing tags he found he left alone. There was no telling what was inside and he had no time for tests or checking for booby traps.

Kikuko was barely decent. The blond kunoichi had possessed a smaller frame. The large hole Naruto's chakra claw attack had left in the front of the garment wasn't helping matters. Neither was the fact that everything was liberally drenched in blood. Naruto chose not to mention it.

"Okay, before we proceed, can you tell what you can do in combat?"

The woman looked at him silently for a second. "Very well. You saw me fighting before, but I will summarize. I believe I am about as fast as one of your special jonin, maybe a little faster. I am several times stronger than a human and somewhat more durable. My main weapons are my hands and fingers. I can turn them into spears or blades that slice through practically everything."

"Jutsu or fighting skills?" Naruto asked.

She shook her head. "Unfortunately I am unable to use human chakra techniques and posses none of my own. I believe you are familiar with the incompatibility. In hand-to-hand combat I can leverage my superior physical skills, but I have no real formal training."

"Thank you. That makes planning easier." Naruto said. Then they departed towards the center of the park. Most of the trees were still intact, but occasionally they came upon the scars of battle. Then there were the corpses. Some belonged to the Wood shinobi. Others had probably been the guards tasked with protecting the royal family.

"How many attackers were there originally?" Naruto asked.

"Quite a lot. We were accompanied by twenty guards, more than half of them shinobi. I think there were about two or three dozen enemies left by the time all of them were dead. The group I led away consisted of ten people."

Naruto fell silent again as he tried to guess the overall strength of the enemy force. The fires in the city could have been prepared days in advance. They could easily be triggered by traps, different kinds of time fuses or civilians brainwashed with genjutsu. Around fifty shinobi here, at least as many for the other attack Koharu had spoken about. More groups with different tasks would be running around, too. All in all the final number was probably around two hundred.

That was a rather large group. In fact, that seemed to be almost all surviving shinobi from the Village hidden in the Woods who didn't join one of the other villages. They had been a mid-sized minor village with a shinobi population of one or two thousand if he remembered the gossip right. Since the village had been deliberately founded by the daimyo of the Land of Woods forty years ago they had gone with that rather unimaginative name. More than half of the shinobi and practically all civilians had died when the village was destroyed, but the shinobi in the field had survived.

It wasn't clear who was responsible (no one really believed the official story of 'natural causes'), but the Land of Fire had used the opportunity to annex the Land of Woods. There was a history there, but Naruto had not paid it much attention at the time and couldn't remember the details.

What was clear was that a hard core of survivors blamed the Land of Fire for the destruction of their village. This attack was an act of revenge. Kumo was using them as a probably unknowing proxy to fissure the Land of Fire, indirectly attacking Konoha.

Suddenly a noise caught Naruto's attention and he held up a hand. Carefully sneaking forward, he spotted two injured shinobi treating their wounds. One of them seemed to nurse a broken arm. The other had a stomach wound judging from the bandages.

'Lightning Release: Thunder Disc'

The slight hum accompanying the jutsu alerted the two to Naruto's presence, but by that time the disc was already streaking towards them.

'Wind Release: Gale Palm'

Both shinobi jumped to the side in time to evade the Thunder Disc, but that brought both of them directly into the path of the pressure wave of Naruto's second technique. The tree they had been leaning against exploded in a hail of splinters from the lightning technique while the two shinobi were thrown to the ground.

'Earth Release: Sticky Mud Trap'

… the very ground that now consisted of rather sticky mud. Another Thunder Disc reduced one man to a shredded corpse.

Naruto was about to create another Thunder Disc to kill the second man when Kikuko interrupted him. "I would prefer if you left him to me."

He nodded after a moment of hesitation. Kikuko had asked him to catch enemies alive. "Be careful." he cautioned while keeping an eye on the trapped man. The mud was only created by a D-rank version of the technique and might not hold stronger opponents.

Kikuko simply pointed her hands at her victim. A moment later her fingers elongated rapidly, easily piercing the struggling man in multiple locations, effectively crippling him. Then she repeated the procedure, ignoring the screams. "That should suffice."

Naruto looked away when she began draining the man of blood. He knew that any attack on the royal family was punishable by death. Heck, he had been about to kill the man himself. Seeing him used as food (you couldn't really call it cannibalism considering that Kikuko wasn't human) still unsettled him greatly. Unfortunately letting the demon woman do as she liked was the most rational decision under the circumstances.

It took Kikuko less than half a minute to finish. Then she tossed the body at the other corpse, a swipe of her claws reducing it to pieces. "Delicious." She licked her lips. "I rarely get the opportunity to indulge."

Naruto refrained from commenting. It felt wrong, but if they had taken the man prisoner he would have suffered quite a bit of torture until he would have been allowed to die. As twisted as it sounded, this was probably a more merciful end despite everything.

The sounds of battle soon grew louder when they continued on their way. Part of Naruto wanted to hurry forward to make sure the daimyo and his heir were safe, but it was just too risky. If they stumbled upon another group of enemies and were caught flat-footed he might die. Currently he was as vulnerable as any human shinobi. Everything would have been for nothing.

Carefully edging forward, they encountered no further enemies until they came upon the battlefield. The beautiful park had been completely ruined. Holes cratered the ground and there were hardly any intact trees left. Some sort of storage building was still standing if somewhat damaged. Hiding between the splintered trunk of a tree and a decorative stone ornament, Naruto and his companion tried to get a good look at the fighting parties.

A man Naruto recognized as the Fire Daimyo Hidekatsu Shibata was fighting multiple enemies. Several large tears in his clothing indicated earlier hits, but Naruto couldn't see any blood. He was moving really fast, at least low jonin-level fast. His swords were flashes of silvery grey as he skillfully deflected projectiles while simultaneously engaging three people in close combat. A wizened old man throwing knives and exploding tags and two younger men were the most remarkable of his enemies, although Naruto could identify none of them. One had a large scar marring his face and lightning playing around his tattooed arms while the other seemed to have changed much of his skin into a dark substance that produced sparks whenever the daimyo's swords scored a hit.

An extremely large blond man with bulging muscles was trapped inside a water sprout, futilely trying to escape. The naked upper body of a woman with dark auburn hair protruded from a point near the top, her arms whips of water. She bore the same mark as Kikuko, but it was located above her left breast. Her face was that of the daimyo's other wife, Yoshino. If Naruto didn't know better he would have guessed she belonged to the Hozuki clan from the Land of Water. They possessed a bloodline that allowed them to turn their bodies into water. She was engaging half a dozen shinobi, moving rapidly across the battlefield. Whenever something hit her seemingly human body it went right through.

The two were supporting each other, trying to whittle the enemy down and preventing them from pinning one of them down. The battlefield was littered with corpses or parts thereof. A group of about a dozen shinobi kept their distance from the battle, but after a few seconds one blond kunoichi headed over to the group fighting the daimyo to relieve a wounded shinobi. Another blond woman seemed to be in command. There were quite a lot of blondes among them, Naruto mused.

"Prince Yuko is hidden in the building. One servant is with him." Kikuko whispered into Naruto's ear. "Don't draw any attention to it."

Naruto considered his options on how to best help his charges. A good wide-area technique would be best to take out the reserves. Unfortunately he didn't really know any. Normally he would use exploding tags for that purpose, but he didn't have any on him, not anymore. Using the Kyuubi's power again might overstrain his body. Collapsing in mid-battle would be fatal.

Suddenly the man inside the water sprout began glowing. Not even a second later he vanished in an explosion, scattering the water in a great cloud. Even if Yoshino could regenerate from that her loss would shift the battle dynamic too greatly for the daimyo to survive. They had just run out of time.

"I will draw some of them away. Hide in the trees and ambush them when they follow me." he shouted when he jumped up, already making hand seals to create a Thunder Disc.

The first he charged up to maximum power and threw it at the reserve forces. At this range he didn't bother aiming for a specific person. Another one was hurled at the group that had fought Yoshino. Some of the enemies started shouting commands. A third, normal powered one he threw at the shinobi with the changed skin. The man had his back turned towards him, making it seem a good opportunity.

Not waiting to see the effects of his attack, Naruto turned around and sprinted back towards the intact trees. His ears told him that he was being pursued by at least three people. A shuriken clipped his leg and a kunai whooshed past his head; then he had reached the trees. As soon as he was out of direct sight he used the Underground Move Technique to disappear below the ground, moving perpendicular to his earlier direction before emerging again behind the cover of an artfully styled hedgerow.

Four shinobi ran past his hiding place. One got a thrown kunai to his back for his trouble, causing the other three to stop and turn around. Then Kikuko dropped from the tree overhead, slicing one kunoichi apart and puncturing another shinobi with the elongating spear-like fingers of her other hand.

Caught between two threats, the fourth shinobi hesitated for a moment before he began making hand seals. A senbon pierced his eye before he could finish, breaking his concentration. A claw swipe from the approaching Kikuko did the rest. A Thunder Disc took care of the downed shinobi.

"I don't hear anyone else. Back to the battle." Naruto said after a moment of listening for suspicious noises.

By the time they got back the situation had shifted. The old shinobi with the many exploding tags lay dead on the ground with his torso cut open. A black-haired kunoichi was kneeling nearby, staring at her severed right arm lying on the ground in front of her while blood spurted from the stump.

Yoshino had reformed and was fighting against the large blond woman Naruto had tentatively identified as the leader of the attackers. Other Wood shinobi were participating in the battle, but the situation was too chaotic to make out details at a glance.

The daimyo was still fighting against Scarface and Iron Skin, but both seemed wounded. Then Hidekatsu performed a maneuver at impossible speed, weaving through several attacks that by all rights should have hit him in order to impale the shinobi with the blackish iron-like skin through a vulnerable spot. In a fluid motion he flung him around, right into one of the lightning-based attacks of Scarface. Both went down in a tangle of limbs, lightning visibly coursing through both of them.

Unfortunately Hidekatsu couldn't capitalize on the opening as several other shinobi pressed their attacks. For just a split second he looked directly towards Naruto. His heart missed a beat. He only relaxed again when he realized that the man's eye wasn't a rinnegan but only the same mark the women bore.

Then he understood the message. A well-aimed Thunder Disc ensured that the two downed shinobi would never get up again.

Almost immediately three enemies turned towards Naruto, approaching more cautiously than the last group. He considered leading them into the trees again, but it was unlikely the trick would work a second time. From the corner of his eye he saw that Kikuko had been engaged by a large man with an armored arm that was apparently resistant to her claws.

Naruto's head whipped around when he heard the pained cry of a woman from the direction of the prince's hiding place. A man was just entering, two more waiting on the outside. Naruto had not seen those specific people before.

'_Damn, they had reserves and figured out that we didn't want them to look there. Or they got curious.'_

Neither Naruto nor any of the others was in position to reach the building in time. The prince was as good as dead.

"Yuko, no!" Yoshino shouted, moving into the direction of the building at high speed, abandoning her battle.

There was the faint cry of a young boy. Then everything exploded in darkness.

Naruto felt himself being brutally picked up. Something painfully ripped through his body, penetrating one of his lungs. He immediately started calling on the Kyuubi's power. Darkness obscured his vision while he tried not to choke on his own blood. It seemed like an eternity until a one-tailed Kyuubi cloak formed around him and got his regeneration going again.

The malevolent red glow dissolved the spike of shadows that had impaled him and he fell to the ground, coughing blood. As soon as the pain receded somewhat he forced himself to look up.

The storage building had been at the center of the explosion. Now it was a ruin of cracked stone and splintered wood. Writhing shadows flowed in every direction, strangely alive. Distorted monstrous eyes and teeth were everywhere. All the enemies he could see had been penetrated by spikes of darkness, ripped apart or otherwise slain by the strangely flat shadows. The shadows were forming an entire bizarre rolling landscape around them, tendrils and hand-like constructs waving in a non-existent breeze.

Then the shadows spoke.

"**MOMMY! WHAT IS HAPPENING? I'M SCARED. THE BAD MAN HURT ME."**

'_Wait, what? This is Prince Yuko? I thought he was human?'_

A look to the side revealed a stunned expression on the daimyo's and his wives' faces. They had incidentally not been hurt by the shadows. Apparently they had not foreseen this development, either, and were ignorant of Naruto's latest injury.

'_Great, I almost got done in by an accidental hit from someone nominally on my side.'_

Yoshino was the first to shake herself out of her stupor. "Everything is alright, darling. I am coming to you. Do not do anything, just try to stay calm." Then she walked into the tangle of shadows and disappeared from sight.

For almost a minute nothing happened. Naruto kept the Kyuubi cloak active, but reduced the draw to the bare minimum after he was healed, dispelling the one tail. His weariness had increased once again to a pervading feeling of weak- and sickness.

Finally the shadows began to move. Shadow after shadow was pulled back until Naruto could see the source. Yoshino was holding the prince in her arms, whispering encouragements. The boy looked to be around four or five. A familiar snake-and-rinnegan mark was glowing in the center of his forehead. The shadows seemed to originate from a pool of darkness around his feet and to a lesser degree the rest of his body, but it was difficult to make out in the flickering light. A short distance away the still, carved-up body of a civilian woman and the shredded forms of a trio of Wood shinobi lay on the ground.

Ever so slowly the shadows retracted into the form of the boy. Finally no shadows were left and the mark on his forehead faded. Then the boy buried his head in his mother's crook of the neck.

Naruto looked around, scanning for threats. "There doesn't seem to be anyone else left alive around here."

"I agree." Hidekatsu sheathed his swords. "You have my gratitude, young man. We will never be able to repay that debt. I ask you to stand guard for the time being. My family needs me now. We need a change in wardrobe, too."

Naruto nodded in understanding. The daimyo's clothes sported far too many large tears to be explainable, Kikuko wore the bloodstained remains of shinobi clothing and Yoshino was completely naked. Remaining that way would cause questions.

Feeling safe enough, Naruto dispelled his cloak. Immediately the weariness increased. He was well into overuse of the Kyuubi's chakra. That was one of the drawbacks to using such demonic power. A human body just couldn't bear the strain for long. Otherwise jinchuuriki would have been unstoppable on the battlefield. As it was they were extremely dangerous opponents even for entire squads of shinobi, but they had still weaknesses and could be beaten.

This was the first time Naruto had actually used the Kyuubi's chakra in a prolonged battle against other shinobi. The Jashinist situation had been cleared up relatively quickly. During the invasion the backlash from the loss of control had nearly incapacitated him. He would have to consider carefully what he had learned today and draw lessons for the future from it.

They had won. It was only a matter of time until the forces of Konoha brought down the barrier. There could be stray enemies around, of course, so staying on guard was mandatory.

A few uneventful minutes later the daimyo and Kikuko left the ruins of the building. The now fully clothed Yoshino stayed behind with the prince. After a nod to him the two kept a vigilant eye on the surroundings.

Suddenly Naruto sensed danger. Something in the atmosphere had changed in the last seconds. An unobtrusive survey of the surroundings made him aware that the daimyo and Kikuko were evaluating him with inscrutable expressions. Naruto detected just hints of hostility… and regret. It was subtle but unmistakable.

'_Why would they… Oh damn.' _

By all appearances the ruling family of the Land of Fire consisted of demons. Of course they would try to keep their secret by any means necessary. They had only begun fighting when all their guards were dead and left no other survivors. Naruto's demise would be easily explainable under the circumstances. The only reason why they had not yet attacked was probably because they were unsure about the Kyuubi and what the loss of a jinchuuriki would mean for the Land of Fire's stability in the current situation. Maybe there was even gratitude in play.

The situation didn't look good. Both the daimyo and his wives were physically superior to him while he didn't use the Kyuubi's chakra. They didn't have shinobi training, but in their own ways they were effective enough. One-on-one he would probably lose, let alone against three-to-one odds. Taking his mother's chakra into account he would be able to kill one of them with some effort, but not all three working together… or four, if he counted the daimyo's son. Additionally, even if he somehow managed to kill them (and subdue was pretty much impossible considering the power level) it would make all his efforts to save them useless and plunge the Land of Fire into chaos. That would be very bad.

Naruto cleared his throat. "I feel I should mention that I made a deal with the Kyuubi. It will go after whoever killed me."

Kikuo quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so? A human actually managed to befriend one of the fragments of the Shattered Destroyer? I find that hard to believe. Would you care to explain?"

Naruto was about to answer when a strange sensation swept over him. Part of it felt similar to what he had felt last evening. Another part was new. The strange thing was that it felt _right_, as if something precious had returned to the world.

"What was that?" the daimyo asked, a hand over his marked eye.

Kikuko shook her head as if to clear it. "The Horned Lord has reunited with the Lady of the Tree. I expected that. We felt him freeing himself a few hours ago, after all. It is the logical thing for him to seek her out as soon as possible."

Naruto couldn't stop himself. "You know which gods just woke up?"

The demon woman turned towards him, her eyes narrowing. "You felt that and know what it was. Most normal humans would not. You being a jinchuuriki would explain the first fact, but not the second. This is interesting. Dangerous, but definitely interesting. I wonder; would you be able to shed some light on what exactly went on during the invasion of your village? Time twisted, a menace like the Reibi destroyed, something happening to the Ichibi, two powerful gods I am unfamiliar with appearing out of nowhere only to disappear immediately; all mashed together in a single moment." Apparently something in Naruto's body language gave him away. "You know about the two gods."

That was far more than Naruto had intended to reveal. This had the potential to go extremely, no, catastrophically wrong. "Perhaps. You will have to let me live and trust me to keep your secret. Just know that I do have powerful protection."

The sudden fall of the yellow barrier interrupted the conversation. Naruto felt immense relief. Konoha reinforcements would arrive at any second. Now the demons couldn't try to murder him without giving the game away.

Hidekatsu seemed to come to the same conclusion. The mark faded from his eye until it was pure white. Then he covered it up with an eyepatch. "It seems we are out of time. We will talk about this later, young man."

Naruto was content to leave it at that. This had been a very strange and trying day and the sun had yet to rise. All he wanted to do was curl up somewhere safe and try not to think about the pain and how often he would have died today without the Kyuubi's power.

* * *

><p>Almost half a world away, on a continent unknown to the inhabitants of the Elemental Nations, a storm suddenly gathered in the evening sky. Lightning flashed into the dense, endless jungle below, igniting a blazing wildfire, fanned by the raging winds. The earth shook under a sudden quake. Torrents of rain lashed against the land. Finally an immense tornado descended from the clouds. When it touched the burning ground the flames caught. For a moment it seemed as if the entire world was on fire.<p>

Then it ended as suddenly as it began. The lightning stopped, the earth grew quiet, the wind stilled, the fire guttered out and the rain ceased. Plants grew quickly, covering the wounds the raging elements had struck until no trace remained… but something had arrived and now headed into a specific direction.

No human had ever set foot into these woods unaided, but if an observer had been present he would only have been able to catch glimpses of the entity as the jungle seemed to make way for its passing. It was changing its form as if searching for an appropriate one. Now it was a hulking red bull trailing flames, then it was something almost looking like a giant walking, bearded tree. An enormous ram with lightning playing between its horns was replaced by a massive boar made out of earth and metal, each of its steps shaking the ground. Other forms came and went, each a display of raw elemental and masculine power. Night fell, the darkness not hindering the entity in the slightest.

Finally, just before it reached its destination, the figure settled on a shape. When it left the dense jungle behind to enter a clearing larger than many villages it wore the form of a human-looking, muscular man with long blond hair. His clothing wouldn't have been out of a place for a prince in a court of the continent to the south of the Elemental Nations. Tight black trousers and shirt under a crimson tunic were rounded off by a blood-red cloak with traces of black and gold. Adornments of gold, bronze and iron embellished his arms and legs.

After a few steps the entity stopped its advance and surveyed the clearing. An immense tree had once stood there, larger than all other trees on this world. Now only the overgrown, rotten remains of a stump were left. Strangely plants larger than bushes seemed to avoid filling the resulting void in the canopy.

The man sighed in a mix of worry and exasperation. He mumbled "How many times does that make now?" before he continued on his way. After a short walk he reached what had been the center of the enormous tree stump. Kneeling down, he dug a small hole before he placed a slightly glowing seed in it and covered it with earth. Then he took a few steps back and focused his power both on the seed and the strange influence that seemed to cover the entire world and prevented the free flow of magic.

"The oak recalls the acorn, the acorn dreams the oak, the stump lives in them both. The weak perish so that the strong might prosper. The old dies to make place for the new and the cycle continues, but the tree remembers. Awaken and rise again, my love."

For a few moments nothing happened. Then a fresh sapling broke the surface and grew rapidly bigger. The earth trembled as writhing roots dug into the ground. Branches stretched towards the sky as if to grasp the stars, sprouting leaves as they grew. The man took to hovering in the air and increased the distance to avoid the growing trunk. Minutes passed by as the tree grew larger and larger. Supported by the man's own power the tree dug deep into the world. With a great rush magic began to flow, driving the smothering influence away from the surrounding area and sending echoes through the entire world. Finally the tree stopped growing, towering over the jungle like a normal tree towered over grass. Aside from its size it did not look like any tree normally found in the world and was oddly different from the tropic vegetation of the surrounding jungle.

The man took a moment to orient himself before heading towards the tree crown. His feet had barely touched the wood when a second being manifested in front of him. He had only time to take in the familiar green robes and purple hair adorned by a golden circlet before he was engulfed in a hug of surprising strength.

"You came, you finally came. I missed you so much, beloved."

The man chuckled, putting his arms around the woman. "I always do, don't I?" For a few minutes the pair just enjoyed the feel of each other's presence and their powers mingling. "Do you know what happened? I was making plans to deal with the ten-tailed menace that that cursed fool freed when I suddenly fell asleep. That shouldn't have happe-"

His counterpart put a finger on his lips, silencing him. "Yes, I saw much of what took place. I think I was one of the last to remain awake before my tree withered. There will be time for that tale later, though."

Looking up, the man saw that countless blossoms had sprouted all over the tree, filling the air with an exhilarating scent. A bed was already forming in the wood behind them. When his gaze returned to his partner of untold eons a blush had spread across her features. Their powers were already entwining on a fundamental level, affecting the humanoid avatars as well.

The Lord of the Wild Forces of Nature offered only a token resistance before giving in. He supposed talking about the state of the world and what exactly had happened that had caused him to suddenly and unexpectedly go to sleep could wait for a while. It had been more than a thousand years, after all.

* * *

><p>In a world at the edge of dreams, Daiki sighed. "And that makes another big one. Any idea who that was?"<p>

Youko shrugged uncomfortably. "It felt vaguely familiar and was definitely connected to the other big one a few hours ago, but that is all I can tell."

In retrospect it was surprising that Youko had been able to identify Jashin. Her memories of the age of gods were shattered almost beyond recognition. Thanks to their victory over the Ichibi they had a second set of fractured memories available, but it wasn't helping much. Some memories even seemed to be contradicting each other. The Ichibi had known considerably more about the cursed Sage of Six Paths' actions, but there was still so much they didn't know. With time they would be able to piece more together, but other matters were more urgent.

They had spent most of the time since the battle against the Ichibi and Reibi with healing their wounds. While not overly serious the damage from the battle had to be repaired sooner rather than later. The backlash through the connections to the children had been considerable. It had prevented them from contacting Naruto again. They didn't want to risk calling him to their world while they were metaphysically bleeding. Exposure to that could have rather detrimental consequences. It was one reason they had sent Hinata to the real world with all haste without speaking with her. Naruto had to be sick with worry by now. Well, he was worrying them, too.

"It seems the battle has ended. Naruto doesn't draw on my chakra any longer. He was already overusing it." Youko remarked in a worried voice while she reformed part of the meadows surrounding the cottage that served as the children's and their human avatars' home. They had not bothered maintaining the details of the landscape while they healed. "I wonder what happened. He sustained grievous injuries."

"Akatsuki, maybe. In my earliest visions this was the most likely time for them to become active in hunting the jinchuuriki. Naruto did leave the vicinity of Konoha several hours ago. It is very possible they intercepted him somehow."

Youko sighed. "I wish we knew more."

"I will pull him here the next time he sleeps. Then we can tell him the good news about Hinata."

Suddenly a deep rumble shook everything, causing large parts of the landscape to dissolve into nothingness, undoing their work. From one moment to the next they were standing in formless unreality instead of a carefully crafted facsimile of the real world.

"What now?" Youko growled.

"That came from the inside. Something is wrong."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Well, I finally managed to finish the chapter after four months. That took a lot longer than I thought it would. I completely rewrote it five times from the ground up and it still isn't exactly how I want it to be. Some major reshuffling of scenes for planned chapters took place, too.

No Hinata this time; her scene has been relegated to the next chapter. It should be somewhat less violent.

So long.


	43. Chapter 42: Family matters, part one

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 42: Family matters, part one**

In the heart of the Desert of Wind, She-who-once-was-the-Ichibi slept. She dreamed of an endless desert under a merciless sun, of droughts and fevers, of villages devoured by the eternal sand. Change was spreading through her, separating her further and further from her origin.

An awake part of the sleeping being felt melancholy. An age was at its end after a mere millennium. Once nine had been one. The Juubi's release, binding and enslavement marked the end of the last age. Then it had been shattered into pieces and the age of the tailed beasts began. As much as the cursed Sage's dominion had bound and twisted their nature it had been the only thing connecting them aside from their shared origin. The first bond, the shackle, the Ichibi had destroyed on its own, allowing itself to unfold its true power. Now the second bond was eroding away as the being changed.

The tailed beasts had generally avoided each other since shortly after their creation. From a human viewpoint (inapplicable as it was) they could have been considered siblings, but they held no true affection for each other and felt deeply unsettled when in each other's presence for longer than a few hours at the most. For a time they had wandered the world, spreading destruction as was their nature. Sometimes they had influenced the course of history, but their visitations had been rare enough to make them only one possible disaster among many.

Occasionally some of them had been trapped for a time and their power exploited by various means, but only Hashirama Senju and his wife supported by the Uzumaki, Uchiha and Senju clans had managed to imprison all nine at the same time. They had escaped their cages from time to time, but in the end the humans had always sealed them again in short order.

Over all these centuries the dominion of the Sage of Six Paths remained in force, imposing further bounds and limits. The conflict between its true nature and the impositions of the cursed Sage had driven the Ichibi towards insanity. It had not been completely aware what had been done to it, though, not until the feel of magic stirred up the ancient memories of the Juubi.

The Kyuubi had escaped this shackle without anyone noticing a decade before, even ascended to godhood. Its creation of a source of free magic near Konoha was what had allowed the then-Ichibi to break its own shackle. Even the following defeat had only been the prelude to new greatness.

Now a new age loomed ahead. Old powers were awakening throughout the world and the entity couldn't help but wonder how the remaining seven were doing in this changing world.

* * *

><p>Hinata Hyuuga sat on the porch in front of her room in silence, seemingly looking at the small garden courtyard and enjoying the brisk morning air as the rising sun increasingly brightened the sky overhead. In truth she was unobtrusively surveying her surroundings with her byakugan. Walls and other obstacles impeded her sight, but it was enough to get a rough overview.<p>

There were less people around than usual, although she couldn't tell how many had died and how many were just away. Parts of the Hyuuga compound had been heavily damaged in the invasion while others were completely intact. Her father's office and quarters had completely burned out, but fortunately the flames seemed to have been doused before the fire could spread further. Other parts had already been repaired.

It seemed the village had survived the invasion. That, at least, was good news. Hinata's last completely clear memories were from before she used the water sapphire to massively increase her control of water for the fight with the Ichibi. By then the entire village had become a battlefield. After that she had become at least slightly unhinged; that was clear in retrospect. The battle against the Ichibi had not done her mental state any favors, either. The conversation with Youko when the Reibi threatened to destroy them all was again a clear memory. Then came a few moments of glorious power. After that though…

'_I didn't expect to wake up again.'_

Hinata knew she had been dying then. Obviously Youko and Daiki had done something to prevent that. Her best guess was that they had placed her in the gate they had talked about. That matched with what she remembered, but she wasn't really sure what had happened. She would need a lot of time to order and work through all those surreal memories.

'_Did I change in some way?'_

As far as Hinata could tell she was the same as before the invasion. There were no new urges, physical changes or suddenly manifesting supernatural powers. Her chakra control seemed to be a bit out of whack and her limbs were a bit stiff from what she guessed was around one or two weeks of forced rest, but that was all. Granted, she was feeling unbalanced, but that might very well be worry.

She was very worried about Naruto and her other friends, but rushing out would accomplish nothing. Finding her little sister Hanabi alive and well had been a major relief. At least she knew Naruto was alive, too; otherwise the world would have to deal with a very angry Daiki and a severely injured Youko. She doubted there would be much of Konoha left if that happened.

With the knowledge that the two most important people in her life were not in any immediate danger Hinata could take things slowly. Deactivating her byakugan and closing her eyes, she leant back to enjoy the first rays of the morning sun.

A yawn coming from behind Hinata caused her to open her eyes again and turn around a few minutes later. Hanabi was waking up.

The young girl sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then she noticed that Hinata was no longer lying by her side and looked around frantically. As soon as Hanabi spotted her she ran over and hugged her fiercely.

"Big sister, you woke up!" She continued babbling how glad she was that Hinata was back and how much she had missed her alternated with questions about how she was feeling, keeping her head buried in Hinata's body the entire time. The wetness Hinata felt seeping through her thin clothes made her realize that Hanabi was crying.

Hinata patted her sister's back. "I'm fine, Hanabi, really."

It took several minutes for Hanabi to calm down and dry her tears. She kept clutching Hinata's hand as if to reassure herself that the older girl wouldn't disappear.

"Father is dead."

"Oh." Hinata knew that she should feel something about that, but she didn't. It might as well have been a stranger that had died. Hiashi had never shown even the smallest sign that he loved Hinata or even appreciated her in any way. Her last hope for a positive relationship with her father had finally died shortly after her graduation from the academy.

Hanabi had been closer to their father, but even their relationship couldn't be described as warm. She had gotten praise, yes, but not affection. It was Hinata who had provided that.

"You aren't really sad about his death, are you?" Hanabi asked. Her sister had apparently watched her reaction attentively.

'_How can I answer that?'_ Sometimes her sister was far too observant.

"I wish I could say no. I was not the daughter he wanted. Neither was he the father I needed." Hinata sighed. "Even when mother was still alive he was always distant, at least judging from what little I remember. I don't think he loved me. It was always disdain, disappointment and admonishment I got from him. One day I simply stopped caring."

"That's sad."

"It is. I'm sad that I'm not feeling sad, if that makes any sense."

Hanabi nodded slowly. "I think I understand."

They fell silent for a while. Hinata thought about the implications of Hiashi's death. Nothing good would come of it. There was a distinct possibility that another family of the Hyuuga main house would seek to relegate her and her sister to the branch house to free a spot for one of their children aside from the heir. Intra-clan politicking was always extremely vicious. Hiashi's cautious efforts to bridge the gap between main and branch house had stirred up resentment, unsuccessful as they had been. Depending on who exactly had survived the political situation could have shifted completely.

"Who leads the clan now?" she finally asked.

"Grandfather does." Hanabi answered. "He visited several times, but he didn't stay long or tell me anything."

Hinata nodded slowly. That, at least, was good news. Hitoshi would try to safeguard the interests of his grandchildren. The old man had been barely present in their life until now. He was often sick and rarely left his quarters, preferring relative solitude to the presence of other people. Hinata thought there was a rift between him and Hiashi since the Kumo incident when Hinata's uncle Hizashi had died.

"Do you know what happened to my teammates? And what of Ino, Yakumo and Shino?"

"They are all fine. Naruto and the others visited several times. Your teacher Anko was severely injured, but she is on the way to recovery. Moegi told me she is at Mizuki's house. Moegi lives there, too. Her parents didn't make it."

"And your other friends?" Hinata probed. Her sister didn't exactly have friends, but some of her classmates probably qualified.

Hanabi hand squeezed a little tighter at that question. "Udon, Kaito, Mai, Yuna and Kanon are all okay. That idiot Konohamaru is still alive, too. Almost all my classmates are alive. Haruki died, but that was after everything was over. A house collapsed when he was inside. Suzume-sensei died defending us. Iruka-sensei is still in the hospital. They still don't know if he will make it. Mizuki-sensei protected us during the invasion."

"That's good to hear. What about our clan?"

Hinata didn't care about her clan, but it was still not easy to hear how many of their cousins and distant aunts and uncles had died. There had been a lot of losses. Before the invasion the Hyuuga had been the largest clan of Konoha. That was still true, although they had lost almost a quarter of their members.

Suddenly Hanabi spoke up again. "I have to go. The academy is starting soon. I'll tell the servants you woke up." She gave Hinata's hand a squeeze. "I'm glad you are awake."

Hinata squeezed back. "It's okay. We can talk more when you get back."

A few seconds later Hinata was alone again. Another sweep with her byakugan showed her that more and more people were waking up. She was about to leave the porch when four ordinary looking swallows came fluttering down followed by the elderly Tsubame.

"Good morning, child. It is good to see you awake." the swallow greeted her. "I came as soon as the others told me. How are you feeling? We were very worried."

"Good morning. I'm fine as far as I can tell." Hinata replied politely. She should have figured there was a guard of swallows still there, but the normal looking ones were hard to distinguish from perfectly normal swallows even for her and her byakugan. "How is Naruto?"

"He is fine, although he left Konoha last night. There was some sort of emergency. A possible attack on the ruler of the Land of Fire, I believe. We haven't heard anything since then." Tsubame explained before hopping on Hinata's shoulder.

The swallow continued giving Hinata an abridged account of what had happened since the invasion. Some of what she whispered to Hinata would cause great concern to other people, like the supernatural events during the invasion and what the swallows had felt happening since then. Lip readers were always a concern in the Hyuuga compound, after all. It was very hard to keep secrets in the midst of a clan of people who could see through walls. Fortunately a beak made making out words practically impossible and Hinata could make sure that there was nobody close enough to listen in by conventional means.

When servants approached Hinata's room the swallows took their leave, leaving Hinata to do some planning. The first thing she would do after acquiring a clean bill of health was visiting Anko. Depending on the circumstances and time she would then either travel to the sanctuary, return to the Hyuuga compound or visit one of her other acquaintances. There wasn't much else she could do at the current time. All her close friends were away.

* * *

><p>The Nibi restlessly paced in its cage, the ghostly blue fires that made up its body swirling erratically. Fragments of memories were flittering around, knocked loose by that terrible death scream but too slippery to really grasp. It was not what it thought it was. Even its name was a lie, but it couldn't remember what it should have been.<p>

Whenever the demon tried to pin the memories down they slipped away, but it couldn't stop trying. The compulsive behavior held irresistible sway over the Nibi's mind, keeping it in an ever-repeating loop while it completely ignored everything else.

* * *

><p>Sasori of the Red Sand awoke when the morning sky showed the first signs of the new day. For a few minutes he remained in his bed, simply contemplating the sensation of the sheets on his skin and other changes. He had been without a proper organic body for so long that getting used to these sensations again was an adventure of its own.<p>

His puppet body had utilized highly specialized seals to allow him to perceive the world, but it paled in comparison to the real thing. At the end there had not been much left of the man he had once been, just a small metal cylinder containing some organic matter serving as anchor for his mind and chakra. Funnily enough his new body looked older than his previous one, around twenty in fact. Considering that he was actually in his late thirties it would make connecting him to his old identity difficult.

He would have liked to have more time to familiarize himself with the body he had created from remnants of his old one fused with genetic material from the Sandaime Kazekage. As it was he didn't operate at peak efficiency. Unfortunately urgent matters required his immediate attention if he didn't want to lose a unique opportunity. After the disastrous invasion of Konoha all of Suna's power structure was in flux. If he wanted to take over he had to act now, before someone else managed to amass enough influence.

The days since his arrival in Suna had been filled with hectic but well-planned activity. Over the years he had maintained and expanded a network of contacts and agents inside Suna, but they were not enough for him to simply take over. No, that required considerable negotiation, compromises, promises and the occasional murder.

'_The bulk of the surviving invasion forces will arrive tomorrow evening. Time is growing short.'_

Small advance groups were already trickling into the village. His alliance had to be completed today. He had to present himself as the only possible candidate for the office of Kazekage to the returning leaders. If he failed to secure sufficient backing now bickering would break out and it would be months until a candidate emerged victorious. His own ambitions aside that was time Suna simply did not have. The invasion had gone wrong as he had expected and the losses were disastrous. Other villages were likely to try and take advantage of Suna's weakness.

There were indications that the fourth shinobi war was about to start; the invasion of Konoha had simply done too much damage for the status quo to last. Kiri would probably erupt into civil war, too, now that Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage was dead at Sasori's and Deidara's hands.

Getting up, Sasori performed his new morning routine. Things had certainly been simpler before he migrated to his new body. His puppet body had only required maintenance every few weeks. The face in the mirror was still unfamiliar. Most of his facial features remained the same, but the influence of the Sandaime Kazekage was undeniable.

"Good morning, Satori-sama." Yura greeted him in the main hall of the house. The man was a member of Suna's village council. More importantly, he was a follower of Sasori.

Sasori nodded in greeting. He was still unused to be addressed with his new name, but the deliberate similarity made it easier. Using his old identity was impossible for several reasons, his worries about Akatsuki chief among them. Instead he posed as his own non-existent son. The number of people who knew his true identity was larger than he liked, but there were measures in place that would make it impossible for most of them to divulge that secret. Sasori wasn't a seal master and expert medic for nothing.

"The meetings are set up? No last-minute complications?" Sasori asked.

Yura shook his head. "I made sure everything will go as planned. The schedule is tight, though."

"Then I believe it is time for us to leave."

A minute later Sasori and Yura left the house accompanied by three guards. Assassination attempts were unlikely at this point, but Sasori had not come as far as he had by being careless. A wide coat and a veil protected Sasori's identity for the time being. The garment was ubiquitous in Suna to protect against the airborne sand, meaning he would arouse no suspicion.

Walking openly gave Sasori ample opportunity to examine his surroundings. The signs of the village's decline were obvious if you knew what to look for. Oh, there weren't any beggars in the streets. It was mainly the contrast to the Suna he remembered from before the third shinobi war. The clothing was poorer, the markets had fewer luxury goods, buildings were allowed to slowly fall apart or repaired with sub-standard materials. There were fewer people around, too, even taking the absent invasion forces into account.

'_The Yondaime was a fool. A powerful fool, to be sure, but a fool nonetheless. '_

He had taken over about a year after Sasori killed the Sandaime Kazekage, around the time when the third shinobi war really started up. The man didn't lack in intelligence or power, but wisdom was another matter entirely. He got Suna through the war without catastrophic damage to the village, but they didn't prosper either. The alliance with Konoha, while necessary at the time, had soon turned into a detriment at least partly due to the Kazekage's mishandling of the situation.

Perhaps the worst trait of the Yondaime had been that he wasn't obviously incompetent. Most of the detrimental effects of his policies had been slow to crop up. There were always enough people who supported him. If it had been otherwise someone would have removed him in a timely manner, before an insanity like the invasion of Konoha had a chance to happen. He had ruled with an iron fist and suppressed all dissenters. That had been necessary to hold the village together during a time of crisis, but it also created a dangerous climate. Warning voices were ignored. Shinobi who grew too powerful or influential were disposed of.

'_Perhaps I shouldn't have killed the Sandaime. His death did start the third shinobi war. '_

Then again, that man had been decidedly lacking in wisdom and foresight, too. He had not been quite as bad as the Yondaime, but that was faint praise. The war had already been brewing anyway and Sasori had possessed no means to foresee his village's idiotic reaction to the Sandaime's disappearance. They had thrown all available forces into the search. Neglecting home security so badly as to leave the village open to a sneak attack was just beyond imagination for someone methodical like him.

'_Come to think of it, there aren't many good leaders in Suna's history.'_

By all accounts the Shodai had been a great man, managing to establish Suna as one of the five great villages. Unfortunately he had been the first of the initial generation of Kage to die. His untimely death prior to the first shinobi war had been a tragedy.

His successor didn't really match up. Sasori had not known the Nidaime personally (he wasn't quite that old), but under his reign they had lost the Nanabi and a lot of shinobi. Suna had never really recovered from that loss, dooming it permanently to the status as smallest of the great villages. Even one of the seven founding great clans had been wiped out then. His many experiments with the Ichibi and different hosts had done further damage.

The Sandaime was responsible for the extinction of a second great clan, using them up senselessly. A third had broken up under the Yondaime, but that had process had been already well underway when he came to power. Now only four great clans remained.

Sasori didn't have a detailed overview of the losses incurred in the invasion yet, but he knew they had been catastrophic. Suna might very well lose the status as a great village or even get completely wiped out if things went badly.

Before long they arrived at their destination. A middle-aged woman greeted them after a knock on a nondescript door and led them into a courtyard. The three guards and the woman remained there, only Yura accompanying him further inside.

The door closed behind them and Sasori removed his veil. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the dim light in the large room. Then he examined the two people awaiting them.

'_Grandma looks old.' _was his first thought.

When Sasori had last seen Chiyo her hair had already been grey, but she had still possessed great vitality. Now she looked ready to simply keel over at any moment. Age marks had appeared all over her now wrinkled face and she seemed to have lost her teeth. Granduncle Ebizo didn't look much better. The worst parts were the eyes. Both of them looked incredibly tired, as if they were only waiting to finally die.

"So, you are the man who claims to be my great-grandson." the old woman said when she approached them.

Sasori bowed politely. "I am, Chiyo-sama."

The old woman stepped closer. Then her hand shot out, gripping his chin and forcing him down to her level. She examined his face in great detail before she let him go. Then she harrumphed. "You have his looks, but looks can be deceiving. Do you have proof?"

He nodded. "If you will allow me a display of my skills I will show you proof, Honored Grandmother."

Chiyo seemed to think for a few seconds. "Very well. I give you fair warning; if you don't manage to convince me you won't leave this room alive. I will not allow an imposter to lay claim to my grandson's name."

Sasori didn't reply. Instead he began unsealing puppets. They were conventional ones, not his human puppets. Displaying those would be stupid at this point.

Ebizo remained silent throughout the process, but a subtle change in the expression around his eyes indicated that Sasori had drawn his interest. The puppets were truly works of art; the best he could make using conventional means. More importantly, there were stylistic elements that indicated Sasori's craftsmanship… craftsmanship he had learned from his grandmother and granduncle. No one knowledgeable in the art of puppetry and the different traditions would miss these. If Chiyo noticed them she didn't give any recognizable sign, though.

Then Sasori began moving them, making them dance. Only two at first, but he soon increased their number until he controlled ten at once, using only a single finger for each of them, the movements of his digits so minimal to be barely perceptible.

The puppets moved faster and faster until their speed outmatched that of jonin, their blades tracing flashing arcs of silver through the air as they performed their intricate and deadly dance around him. It was one of the highest and most difficult forms of his family's particular tradition of puppeteering and would serve as proof of his identity.

Someone could have changed his face to resemble Sasori. It was even possible that someone managed to steal the puppets. Learning and perfecting the art to such a degree was impossible without years of instruction. Even other traditions of puppeteers would find it nearly impossible to copy all the details of the form, especially considering that it wasn't used in combat, not with all the added intricacies.

"Yura-san, if you would?" he asked calmly.

Yura nodded, removing three small, living chicks and a dozen pieces of wood of equal size from a bag he had brought along. Then he threw them at Sasori with full force.

For a second nothing seemed to happen. Then the dance stopped abruptly, the puppets freezing into motionlessness. Seven dozen chips of wood fell to the floor, each original piece sliced into seven neat pieces. One chick sat on the flat of a blade, the second one atop the head of a puppet and the third was grasped between the fingers of another puppet. All were alive and completely unharmed.

Sasori watched calmly as Chiyo approached him, an unreadable expression on her face. The following hug caught him by surprise, though. To his even greater surprise he felt the edges of his lips curve upwards. He had not realized how much he had missed Chiyo, the woman who had raised him after his parents' death. When she let go Sasori saw unshed tears glittering in the edge of her eyes. She seemed to be deeply moved, too overwhelmed by emotion to speak.

It was Ebizo who spoke, a wide smile on his face. "Welcome to Suna, great-great-nephew." The old man clasped his shoulder for a moment before he took a closer look at the puppets. Then he chuckled, rapping against a specific part of the puppet. "And thus the riddle of the black scarab is solved."

Sasori inclined his head. "Yes." He had used a black scarab as his mark for anonymous correspondence with chosen recipients, utilizing smuggled letters. Missing nin that he was, he still enjoyed sharing ideas with other puppeteers. The art had always been one of the most important parts of his life, after all. Ebizo and Chiyo had not been among the recipients, but he wasn't surprised that they knew. They had contacts into many villages and kept an eye on the happenings in Suna despite their retirement.

Meanwhile, Chiyo had brought her emotions under control. "So, my grandson managed to make me a great-grandmother. How is Sasori?"

"Father is dead."

Chiyo flinched and sat down on a nearby chair. "What? How? When?"

"He died at about the same time the invasion of Konoha took place. A seal informed me of his death. What do you know about Akatsuki?"

"I'm sorry to hear that. As to Akatsuki, they are a rather mysterious mercenary organization." Ebizo answered, taking over the conversation instead of the shaken Chiyo. "Suna and several other villages have employed them in the last years. It is commonly assumed that they are based somewhere in or near the Land of Water, which makes me suspect that is a false lead. I don't think they are trustworthy." He sighed. "The Yondaime disagreed. After all, what do I know? I've only been Suna's spymaster for two decades."

Sasori nodded. "You are right. They are based in Amegakure. Hanzo has been dead for years. A man calling himself Pain is Ame's new leader… and the leader of Akatsuki. They have an inner circle of ten kage-level shinobi. Kakuzu, Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, Deidara and others. Father was a member, too. Their goals are a concern for later." He faked a sigh. "He planned to leave after one last mission. We knew about the invasion beforehand and suspected the general outcome. Our plan was to return to Suna together and use the opportunity to take over. I don't know if they stabbed him in the back or if the mission went wrong. At least not yet; I expect messages of my spies in the near future."

Ebizo raised an eyebrow at that. "Following in the family business, eh?"

Again, Sasori nodded. "Yes."

"So you want to take over. I don't object. We need someone to get us out of this mess. Do you think you can do it without your father?"

"I have full control of father's spy network. He took me with him whenever he could and taught me all he knew. In the last year we were evenly matched. We always used identical hollow puppets to get around. Nobody ever knew that they were not dealing with the real Sasori. And then there is this." Sasori held out a hand. Black sand flowed out of his sleeve, forming a sphere above it. He changed it into several shapes before returning the sand to the hidden pocket.

Ebizu looked astonished. "The Sandaime's power?"

"I inherited it from my mother."

"That leaves only one option to her identity. Kodachi the Black Rose, the banished niece of the Sandaime Kazekage."

Sasori nodded. "Yes. My father met her shortly after he fled Suna. They became a couple. She died when I was very young."

It was even partly true. The girl had been half-crazy when Sasori met her, living in an isolated cave in the desert. They had not loved each other, but for a short time they had found solace in each other's company. Their hate of the Sandaime gave them a common goal. She had not survived the fight against her uncle.

Sasori sometimes wondered how different things would have been had she lived. As it was he had seen no point to return to Suna even with the man who had banished him dead. Instead he had begun wandering the Elemental Nations and the countries beyond them, refining his art and expanding his collection of human puppets. By the time he considered returning the Yondaime had already been firmly in control.

"Why did Sasori never tell us of you? He didn't contact us at all after he left." Chiyo asked.

"Father didn't want to let anyone know of my existence. Even the anonymous letters were a great risk. What would have the Yondaime done when he heard that Sasori had a son? Or if he learned father was in contact with you?"

Ebizo sighed. "Point taken. You are right. The fool tolerated no competition. He would think we were planning a coup and sent assassins." He glanced at the silent Yura. "Although it seems Sasori did plan such a thing anyway."

Suddenly Yura cleared his throat. "My apologies, Honoured Siblings, Satori-sama. We have to leave if we want to get to the next meeting in time."

For a moment silence reigned. Then Chiyo waved her hand. "Go. This is important. You have our blessing for the takeover. I'm glad our family continues." She sighed. "I wish I could have seen Sasori one last time."

Sasori sealed up his puppets again. "I will come back when things are quieter. Then we will have a long talk about everything."

A minute later they were on their way again. It was surprising to Sasori how much he felt about meeting his grandmother again. He had thought he had left most emotions behind.

'_It's the glands. I didn't have any for years. Something to ponder later.'_

More meetings followed. Some were with influential people of the village. Others were with missing nin returning to Suna.

There existed a lot of reasons why someone abandoned their village. Some fled to escape punishments for crimes. Some were traitors and defected to another village, although those couldn't really be called missing nin. Others had to leave because of political clashes or conflicts within their families.

Over the years Sasori had build up a network amongst the Suna exiles. He was one of the most famous missing nin and still looked up to by most Suna shinobi. The Yondaime's policies had produced a lot of dissidents who had to flee the village, were outright banished or narrowly escaped set up suicide missions. Deprived of the village they had flocked to him. Sasori had begun recalling them to Suna as soon as his plan took shape weeks ago, but travel times meant that they were only slowly trickling in.

His new identity caused some problems, though. Most were happy to accept him as Sasori's successor after a short demonstration of his skills and the amount of support he had already gathered. Others he had to convince more forcefully. Two he had to kill.

The sun was already nearing the horizon when the last meeting was about to start. In Sasori's estimate he had gathered enough support that he was a credible candidate for becoming Kazekage, but not enough to make it a foregone conclusion. Some factions outright refused to work with him for a variety of reasons. Others wanted their own candidates to succeed. Some others were playing the waiting game.

Sasori needed at least one of Suna's four great clans on his side to sway the fence sitters. The only one he had any hope of convincing was the Yakekoge clan. They were known for their Scorch Release bloodline that allowed them to combine wind and fire. They had not fared well under the Yondaime and were too weak in manpower and political influence to support a candidate of their own.

Three people took their places at the negotiation table and one stood guard. The three were elders of the clan, the fourth a beautiful woman in her late twenties sporting green hair with orange-dyed strands framing her face.

"Yua-sama, Honoka-sama, Haru-sama, Pakura-san." he greeted them.

Yua was very old, just shy of eighty. Sasori remembered her; she had already been on the Yakekoge's council of elders when he left the village more than twenty years ago. Now she was the head of the elder council, but judging from how she looked she would not last much longer. In her youth she had been a famous kunoichi and risen to clan head during her late twenties and thirties. Later on she had been a significant political force in Suna. Now though her health was failing rapidly.

Honoka was in her early sixties while Haru had not yet reached fifty. He had joined the Yakekoge's council of elders just last year after retiring for good. Neither had been anything special as far as shinobi skills went, a chunin and special jonin respectively.

Pakura was different. She had become one of the victims of the Yondaime about half a decade ago. When she became too powerful and influential the man had arranged for her to die on a diplomatic mission to the Land of Water. Sasori had learned of the plan thanks to his spy network and decided to intervene. He had barely been in time to rescue her from an ambush.

After Sasori had explained what happened she had gone to ground in the countries to the southwest of the Land of Wind. The Yondaime had declared her dead and tried to pin the blame on Iwa, but at least her clan knew the truth and many others suspected foul play. Pakura had refused to outright join Sasori, but they had stayed in loose contact. He had informed her about the opportunity the invasion represented and she had returned to her clan a short time before he reached Suna. She wasn't exactly an ally, but she was at least somewhat positively inclined towards him. More importantly, she knew the truth about him.

"Satori-san. We heard much about you in the last days." Yua replied. "We have much to talk about."

The negotiations lasted for an hour, then two without reaching a conclusion. At first the elders were reluctant to support him at all. A demonstration of his skills and connections assuaged the concerns. Then they asked too much, demanding he put members of the clan and people beholden to them in all positions of authority. In effect they sought to rule through him as a front. Sasori had to nip that in the bud. He would not become a puppet for anybody.

Unfortunately that left the Yakekoge without assurances that their support would be rewarded. Once he was Kazekage it would be too easy for Sasori to stab them in the back. At this time they still could support another candidate who was more amenable to their demands. The negotiations reached an impasse.

Then Yua seemed to get an idea. "If you would excuse us for five minutes, Satori-san? We have to consult amongst ourselves. Pakura, please stay here."

A few minutes later the elders returned. Yua had a smile on her face that gave Sasori a sense of foreboding. "I believe we have found a compromise acceptable to all parties. This is our last offer; you may take it or leave it. We are willing to give you our full support… if you take Pakura for your wife."

Sasori's eyes widened in surprise. Judging from Pakura's disbelieving expression she didn't see this coming either. Then Sasori's analytical mind reasserted itself. Political marriages were common enough; he just had never considered himself as a candidate.

Their eyes met as both parties considered the proposal. Pakura was a very powerful kunoichi at the top end of the jonin range. Furthermore, many people in Suna saw her as a hero and a role model. If her clan had been in a better position she would have made a promising candidate for the office of Kazekage herself. Having her at his side would make things considerable easier, especially in light of the fact that he had no real fame of his own due to his newly assumed identity.

Then there were their personalities to consider. Sasori was a cold, analytical man who had very little moral compunctions or regard for human life. His genius inspired fear, awe and respect. He was under no delusions regarding his ability to make others love him.

Pakura was different. She had firm standards and loved the village, wanting to see it prosper. More importantly, many people returned that love. It inspired trust.

It was safer to be feared than to be loved, but if you could get both you would be a fool to pass it up. Compromises would be required for them to get along, but the reward was worth it. With her at his side he would become the prime candidate for becoming the next Kazekage. Yes, the more he thought about it the more he saw the benefits of this match.

Considering that the Yakekoge clan head and all four of her most likely successors had died on the campaign against Konoha she would most likely become the next clan head, too, giving them a reliable powerbase. In return it gave the clan easy access to power and protection against betrayal. That was probably Yua's motivation.

"If Pakura-san is willing it will be an honor." Sasori finally said.

All eyes were on Pakura. The woman looked at him with an unreadable expression before she slowly nodded. "I agree."

* * *

><p>The Sanbi did or thought nothing at all. Its essence had been scattered when its container chose to destroy himself. Tiny, untraceable droplets of demonic power were already attracting each other and uniting into bigger droplets in what was not quite the real world, but it would take years for the process to finish and the Sanbi to reform.<p>

* * *

><p>Kin Tsuchi took a deep breath. She knew the upcoming meeting would decide her future. Then she entered the room. Ritsuko and elder Shikoru were already waiting,<p>

"Good afternoon, Kin." Ritsuko said. Shikoru simply nodded in greeting.

"Ritsuko-sama, Shikoru-sama." she replied while bowing.

"Please, take a seat. I apologize for not finding time earlier, but things are still rather hectic."

"I understand completely, Ritsuko-sama."

That was an understatement. In the days after the invasion Ritsuko had been working day and night. After the death of her husband she had taken over leadership of the Aburame while simultaneously organizing all of Konoha's medical efforts in conjunction with Hana Inuzuka. Medic nin had been one of the primary targets during the invasion; the normal hospital had been destroyed.

By now things had stabilized, but she was still incredibly busy. Kin supposed that the matter of her future had not taken an especially high priority for the woman.

"You bringing us the information about Oto's attack was immensely helpful. It allowed us at least some preparation. Nobody could have foreseen the true scale of the actual attack. You fulfilled your part of the bargain."

Kin nodded slowly. _'Nothing unexpected so far.'_

"Now we have to decide how to proceed further. I have three different offers for you. If you don't want to stay in Konoha we can offer you a respectable sum in addition to a letter of recommendation. That would allow you to find work easily, at least in the Land of Fire."

The black-haired kunoichi shook her head. "No thanks."

It was a good deal in principle. With the training she had managed to procure during her two years in Oto she was competent enough to make it on her own. Taking Ritsuko's offer into account she would be able to find work in a relatively cushy position with quite a nest egg stashed away. She didn't think it a good idea long-term, though. Even with a letter of recommendation the existence as independent shinobi was problematic.

Most importantly it was very possible that the fourth shinobi war would break out soon. Even a cushy job might not be safe, especially if someone considered her somehow belonging to Konoha. Then there was the possibility that Orochimaru might find out about her to consider. Granted, she would be pretty low on his list of things to take care of even then, but if he did decide to take action she would have practically no protection. She feared that in that eventuality she would live a very long time to regret her defection.

The only way to be really secure would be going to ground in some remote village or fleeing the Elemental Nations entirely. While possible that wasn't something Kin wanted. There was no guarantee she wouldn't land in a bigger mess somewhere. Considering her shitty life until she defected to the Aburame she didn't put any stock into her good luck holding out.

Another problem was that she lacked a high-class education; something that was required if you wanted to serve as a bodyguard for a rich merchant or noble or as a spy in more refined circles. She could read and write, but most of her training had been related to combat or living on the road. She had no idea of the finer points of culture; for example things like literature or flower arrangement were a closed book to her. With money she could procure that education, but that would take years; ample opportunity for her bad luck to come in effect again. Without that she would have to doing the dirty work or resort to bounty hunting. Unfortunately both jobs came with a rather low life expectancy.

"I thought so. Now, to the second option. If you want to stay in Konoha you will be enlisted in the genin corps on the fast track to chunin. Unfortunately current circumstances won't allow you to take up civilian life. As in the first option we will grant you a sum of money. You will remain loosely associated with our clan, but otherwise you are free to do what you want."

Kin nodded. That was what she had hoped for when she decided to defect. "And the third option?"

"That would be our preferred solution. I will be frank. We want you to marry my son Shino."

Kind grew very still. She had been expecting something like this. The clan members had not been subtle about the hints they gave her during her stay. Hearing it put in plain words was still a shock.

"Why? I'm a nobody politically. I don't have any unique skills either. "

"I'm sure you have noticed the number of adults and children in the clan compound." Ritsuko paused.

Kin blinked at the seeming change of topic. She had noticed that. The Aburame were a rather small clan. In fact, she wouldn't have thought they qualified for being one of the great clans of Konoha. History wasn't her strong suit, but she was pretty sure the Aburame clan had been considerably larger in the past. The size of the compound was a pretty good sign for that. She would have expected more children to increase the numbers, too.

After a few seconds of silence Shikoru spoke up. "Our clan has a very large problem. We are very picky in our choice of partners. Most unions with non-Aburame have no hope of producing children. Unions between two Aburame have reasonable chances to produce enough children for our numbers to slowly grow, but unfortunately there are too few of us left. The danger of inbreeding has become intolerable. Perhaps even more unfortunately from that perspective all our traits breed true in every child, meaning the fertility problem persists."

"That has led us to seek out spouses from elsewhere. Fortunately we possess the means to easily assess biological compatibility. Unfortunately it is still like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Ritsuko continued. "Shino has determined you two would be compatible. I verified that during your stay."

"How many children would I am supposed to bear?" Kin asked. She still wasn't truly surprised. The non-Aburame clan members she had met had an… interesting mix of pasts. Most of them were certainly not the people she would have expected to marry into a shinobi clan, at least not that many.

"As many as possible." A wry and somewhat melancholic smile appeared on Ritsuko's face. "That means not that many. Aburame fertility being what it is makes anything more than three or four highly unlikely."

"I see. When would the marriage take place?"

"About two or three years from now. That should give you ample time to get to know each other. If it should become apparent that you are absolutely incapable of getting along the deal will revert to option two. Currently both of you are still too young to be married anyway. " She gave a slight cough. "It will also give us time to cover the holes in your education. One day my son will be the clan head. A clan head's spouse has to fulfill certain expectations."

Kin colored slightly, but didn't reply. There would be no use denying the truth.

She seriously considered the offer, trying to not let herself get carried away. Marrying into an established shinobi clan was the dream of untold people across the Elemental Nations. It wasn't up there with marrying a rich noble or wealthy merchant prince, but it came close.

For a no-name kunoichi like Kin it was the offer of a lifetime. With one stroke she would go to the top of society. She would be set for life, aside from the usual dangers like Konoha getting destroyed. There would be no more wondering where the next meal was coming from, no more sleeping in the wilderness because she couldn't afford anything else, no danger of running afoul of someone more powerful who simply decided to dispose of her at a whim.

Kin couldn't say that she loved Shino or even harbored a specific attraction, but she liked him in a general sense. They treated each other with respect. Respect was important. Considering all the crap she had experienced in her life that was good enough for her.

The bugs were admittedly creepy, but she had dealt with far worse under her erstwhile master, before she joined Otogakure. In effect she was selling her body, but she didn't mind. Everything and everyone was purchasable for the right price. Five years of abuse and being whored out had done wonders for her perspective on life, things she wouldn't have been able to even imagine before that as a peasant's daughter, miserable as the first seven years of her life had been. Her two years in Oto had not been much better.

A life in security and luxury was the big prize. She would have done practically everything to achieve it. Marrying someone near her own age with whom she had a cordial relationship with the potential for more was nothing.

One question came to mind, though. "What if Shino should find someone else who is compatible?"

The two older people shared a look. "The situation has honestly never come up. It will be up to you two to find a solution if and when that happens."

"Then I accept."

"Excellent. Welcome to the Aburame clan, Kin."

* * *

><p>The Yonbi stood in its prison, unmoving. It did not struggle against the chains holding it, although the molten core of hate and green fire at its center flared hotter than ever. The false pride had been stripped away and it remembered. It remembered what it had been and what it had lost. For the first time in the millennium of its existence it fully realized what it was, a fragment of something greater, twice bound by abused authority and mortal sealcraft.<p>

The dominion of the cursed Sage still held it in thrall, but the shackle was slipping. Ancient knowledge from eons long past was now in its grasp. The weakest of the nine had broken the bonds holding it. The Yonbi knew it could do the same. Not here and now, but it was possible.

Its mortal container was nearing the end of his life. Almost thirty years it had now been bound in the man, the host using its power only sparingly. Two years, three at the outmost, and the host would die, the stolen power finally taking its toll. It would not be soon enough.

The song of the earth, muted as it was due to the Yonbi's confinement, told of the awakening of many great beings, of powerful gods and demons. Sooner or later some of them would remember the Juubi… and wonder what had become of the Destroyer of Gods. Mere fragment that it was; it was still one of the potentially most powerful beings of this lesser age, a prize sought after by mortals and immortals alike. It would not suffer being enslaved, not again.

The Yonbi reached deep into itself, past the bounds restricting it, past the green fire, into an inner world of molten stone lit by emerald brilliance, forcing it to come into existence in spite of the dominion of the cursed Sage.

Hairline cracks of viridescent fire began to radiate outward from the still form of the Yonbi, spreading across the ground and along the chains, forming intricate shapes. No mortal work would stand against even a fraction of its true power for long. Its freedom was only a matter of time.

* * *

><p>"Thank you, Hana-sama." "We are very grateful for your prompt decision."<p>

Hana Inuzuka smiled warmly. "No thanks are necessary. It is a pleasure. I look forward to the ceremony."

Her smile even persisted after the visitors filed out of the office, two of them walking arm in arm. Events such as this were a welcome distraction from her other duties as new head of the clan, a welcome contrast to all the deaths and injuries.

"That was the fourth couple today, Grandfather." she addressed the other human occupant of the office who had remained behind. "This is far more than usual, isn't it?"

The man wasn't Hana's real grandfather (none of her biological grandparents were still alive), but everyone called him that. Only a few years younger than the Sandaime Hokage, he was the head of the clan's council of elders. In the time since the invasion and Tsume's death he had been invaluable to Hana when she took over her mother's duties.

"There are always more marriages and pregnancies after a catastrophe like this. People seek comfort and don't want to lose the opportunity to express their feelings." the elder offered. "It was the same after the Kyuubi attack thirteen years ago."

Hana nodded in acceptance. "I suppose so."

As a clan head it was Hana's duty to grant approval to marriages of clan members… or withhold her consent if such a union went against the interests of the clan. Well, actually the clan elders made such decisions, but she had a say in the consultations and was the one to make the pronouncement.

For clans marriages and who had children with whom were a deadly serious matter. Keeping genealogical charts was the most important duty of every clan's council of elders. The Inuzuka weren't big on arranged marriages, but they did try to push the 'right' people together.

"How much time do I have left?" Hana asked.

The old man considered his answer for a few seconds, immediately understanding what she was speaking of. "Two months, perhaps three. Half a year at the outmost. Questions are already being asked. They will grow more urgent and numerous the longer you wait."

Hana grimaced. That was one of the parts of being clan head she disliked. A clan head had to be married. It was tradition. As heir Hana had been able to put it off. Her mother Tsume had prodded her near constantly in the last year and left no doubt that she would prefer Hana to find a husband (and get on with giving her grandchildren) sooner rather than later, but she had been willing to let her find someone in her own time. That respite was now over.

It wasn't as if Hana had fundamental objections against marrying. In fact, she and her brother were supposed to find partners outside the clan. The problem was that she had yet to find a man she was willing to spend the rest of her life with, one who could help her lead the clan.

"What if I refuse to choose a husband at this time?"

"Then I fear you will lose enough support that one of the contenders will replace you as clan head. Your position is not secure."

Hana groaned and buried her head in her hands. All three of the contenders for clan leadership were strong and skilled shinobi. Actually, they were all stronger than Hana. Unfortunately they were the wrong people to lead the clan, at least in Hana's opinion.

Uncle Shishi was a strong warrior and very amiable man, but he was weak-willed. The other political players in Konoha would be able to walk all over him. He was also slowly getting on in years.

Cousin Katsuyuki was a hot-head, plain and simple. Despite his occasional display of insightfulness his arrogance and hunger for greatness made him completely unsuited for leading the clan. He lacked caution and foresight. Hana would trust him with her life, but not with the clan.

Cousin Mayuko was the opposite of uncle Shishi in many ways. She was perhaps the most powerful kunoichi of the Inuzuka, yes, but also cruel and capricious. Frankly, the woman was a scheming bitch. She would handle the political game with ease, but Hana feared the clan would suffer under her hard rule.

The main threat to Hana's position was that she wasn't an especially strong kunoichi. She had been promoted to special jonin in the wake of the invasion, but that was more a matter of courtesy and political necessity. Skill wise she was still a chunin. A good one, granted, but still only a chunin. Considering that in many ways a clan head had to set an example of what the clan was capable of that was problematic. She didn't have to be the strongest, but a clan head should be amongst the top shinobi. Hana unfortunately wasn't.

The more level-headed Inuzuka recognized that Hana was the best option (she had been groomed for leadership by her mother, after all) and she did have enough support for the moment, but she had to tread carefully.

When she raised her head again she could see that Grandfather was looking at her disapprovingly. "I know, I know. It's necessary and all that. Can you put them off for a little while longer?"

Grandfather sighed and got to his feet."I will do my best. Choose soon, Hana. Come on, Enmu."

With a big yawn Grandfather's huge dog ceased his impersonation of a rug and got up. "Things are never as bad as they seem. Take your time. This is not a decision to be made in haste." Then he yawned again and followed his partner out of the room, completely silent despite his size.

Hana looked on bemusedly. Enmu rarely spoke in the human way. For him to do that the matter must have appeared important. Inuzuka dogs in general learned that skill only with great difficulty. Some never managed it. Considering that understanding dogs was part of the Inuzuka bloodline there wasn't any need for it either, at least not inside the clan.

'_Where do I find a proper husband?' _Hana asked herself. She had more than enough suitors; the problem was finding the right one.

With a sigh she dropped the fruitless question. She had a full schedule and places to be.

A visit to her partners assured that the boys were doing well, even if the three dogs were bored. Unfortunately Hana just had no time left to spend with them.

On her way out of the compound she spotted Karin and Kiba chatting with a group of Inuzuka youths. The two had returned only two hours ago from a week-long scouting mission. The new wide-range patrols made sure that no enemies remained in the wider vicinity of Konoha.

Hana noticed the two were sitting awfully close together, Karin's head resting on Kiba's shoulder while he had his arm draped around her waist. It seemed her mother's plan to handle Karin and Kiba had been a full success. In the last week before the invasion she had observed them acting more and more like a couple. The invasion had given the relationship another boost.

'_I will have to talk with Karin about contraception. She is still too young for a pregnancy. It would be dangerous for her and the child.'_

The two were not yet sexually active (thanks to the Inuzuka's noses they would be incapable of keeping that secret for long barring extreme efforts on their part), but everyone expected that to change soon.

On her way to the new main hospital she swung by the veterinary clinic bordering the Inuzuka compound. It had been somewhat neglected in favor of healing humans. There were not that many medic nin left, especially ones able to treat the more severe and complicated cases. Consequently the clinic found itself without all three of its fully qualified medic nin, Hana included. That meant they had to make do with conventional means of healing and people with a less than comprehensive knowledge of the medical arts.

Hana wasn't happy with that state of things. Personal considerations and cases like Inuzuka dogs (who were full persons in their own right) aside, trained animals were very valuable. More valuable than some shinobi, in fact. Fortunately a few days ago the situation had improved dramatically.

"How is it going, Hinata? Any problems?"

The young Hyuuga shook her head without looking up from her current patient, a tracking dog (although not one of the Inuzuka's). "Nothing urgent. There's a messenger hawk with a complicated inflamed fracture I'm not comfortable operating alone. Do you think you can make time, preferably this evening?"

"I'll see what I can do. If I can't make it I'll send Ashitaka around. His hands are too shaky to do it himself and he's too sleepy these days to stay awake longer than a few hours at a time, but he can lead you through a single procedure."

Hana watched for a few minutes while Hinata gently padded the swollen belly of the dog with hands glowing with medical chakra. She was glad the girl had recovered from whatever happened to her during the invasion. Hinata didn't remember what had sent her into a comatose state, but it had to have been some powerful genjutsu.

She liked her part-time pupil. Since Hinata couldn't openly display her chakra-using medical skills without getting into trouble with her clan (and wasn't that completely silly?) Hana had enlisted her for the veterinary clinic. Nobody paid much attention to it, allowing Hinata to practice her skills in secret.

Sometimes Hana took her with her to the main hospital, but only to observe. For now it was sufficient, but at some point in the future she would have to begin training on other humans. Besides, it wouldn't be that long until Hana would run out of things to teach her. She had only four years of medical practice herself.

Finally Hinata finished the treatment, the swelling noticeably subsided. With the help of Hinata's guidance the dog carefully got to his feet, took a few steps and sat down in a large basket. One of the assistants would take him away later.

"Are there any news of the capital? Or of the campaign against Oto?" Hinata asked while she cleaned her hands.

Hana shook her head. "Everything is quiet in the capital after your teammate saved the daimyo and the attack was repelled. Your friends on the task force are fine according to the latest casualty reports. By the way, Kiba and Karin are back if you want to visit them later."

Hinata smiled. "Wonderful. I'll do that."

Then Hana left, continuing on her way. Suddenly she noticed a commotion in the direction of one of Konoha's gates.

"What's happening?" she shouted towards a woman running in the opposite direction, towards the Hokage's office.

"Jiraiya has returned! He's alive and well!" the woman shouted back before she continued on her way.

'_Well, that's good news.' _Hana thought while cheers erupted in the street around her.

Jiraiya had disappeared during the invasion while he fought against the Kazekage. Reports by Naruto's swallows had seen him swallowed by the Ichibi. His fate had been uncertain. Many had presumed him dead. The return of Konoha's most famous shinobi would boost the village's morale considerably.

Arriving at the hospital, Hana headed towards a small meeting room. Ritsuko Aburame already awaited her, ready to discuss the assignments of doctors and patients for the next days. Since the invasion Hana had become friends with the older woman. They worked well together and had many things in common, becoming heads of their respective clans due to death of family members among them.

"Shizune is covering the night shift; she just left to get some rest." A frown appeared on Ritsuko's face. "I had to send Tsunade away. She was completely drunk. Again."

Hana nodded glumly. Tsunade was a medic without peer. Unfortunately she was very difficult to work with. The woman's temper was a steady source of problems. Her haemophobia made it impossible for her to do any invasive procedures. Now, she could still advise and train other medics and perform non-invasive techniques. Unfortunately sometimes she was too drunk even for that. Seeing her childhood idol behave in that way had been a crushing experience for Hana.

It had grown worse ever since Tsunade had a falling out with her apprentice Shizune. The two still worked together when they had to, but after a failed attempt at reconciliation they kept their interactions to a minimum.

Everyone tried to stay out of it, but Hana couldn't help but sympathize with Shizune. If she had been forced to deal with Tsunade constantly she would have lost her temper long ago.

In many ways Shizune was a godsend. While the woman wasn't quite as capable a medic as Tsunade she was still one of the best in the Elemental Nations in Hana's opinion. More importantly, she was much easier to work with. Where Tsunade was ruled by emotion Shizune was level-headed, practical and a rational thinker. As it was Ritsuko and Hana were slowly shifting responsibilities towards her as she got up to speed regarding the current situation of the village, easing their own workload to make time for their other responsibilities.

"I guess it can't be helped." Nothing more was said about the matter as Hana and Ritsuko went through patient charts, sorting them into different categories for priority of treatment. It was a heavy responsibility.

They didn't have enough medic nin to heal everyone injured during the invasion. At the same time many injuries required timely attention before they became untreatable or caused permanent aftereffects and turned into chronic problems. More than one shinobi who would have been back on his feet in a matter of days if they had enough resources would remain crippled for life.

All medic nin with the skill to treat the more complicated injuries had worked as much as they could. It had not been enough. Chakra and time were finite resources. By now most of the damage had been done, but there were still a few cases. Finally they finished with the task and got ready to head to the operating rooms.

Unexpectedly, Ritsuko held Hana back. "Wait. I almost forgot to tell you, there's a full council session in three days' time. It's about time we choose the next Hokage."

Hana snorted. "As if there is any doubt about the outcome. Now that Jiraiya returned he could serve as a viable rival candidate, but Mother always said he didn't want the job."

The Aburame shrugged. "You're right about that. It's a formality. Who else is there besides Shikaku?"

"Well, we could always go with Tsunade like Shikaku originally suggested."

It was a rare thing to get an Aburame to completely lose her or his composure, but that remark managed it. Ritsuko began laughing loudly. Hana soon joined her. It took them almost a minute to calm down.

"Oh gods, I needed that. Now that you met her can you imagine Tsunade as Hokage? She would spend her time trying to smuggle sake into the office. If she can't avoid making a decision she would fly be the seat of her pants."

"Poor Shizune would have to ride herd on her the entire time to get anything done. That is if they were still on speaking terms." Hana shook her head. "'Sharing authority' my ass."

"Yes, that wasn't one of Shikaku's better ideas. Fortunately nobody told Tsunade that this was how things were supposed to happen." Ritsuko calmed down some more, reasserting her normal calm demeanor. "Tsunade is a very strong and skilled kunoichi, but I wouldn't want her in a position where she has to make far-reaching decisions. Not even if she got over her issues. She's all emotion, no logic. It's enough of a problem she does that with medical issues."

"You would have to know. You Aburame are all cold fish." She paused a moment. "At least most of the time."

Ritsuko shrugged. "We have a perfectly fine suite of emotions. You just don't get most of the ways we express them."

"If you say so." Still chuckling slightly, Hana headed to her task of healing people. It was time to make the world a better place.

* * *

><p>The Gobi hungered. It hungered for freedom, for power and for revenge, but most of all it hungered for human flesh and souls. Steam billowed around it in great clouds as it carefully reached out through the cracks in the sphere of a thousand stones that was its prison.<p>

When its chakra returned it held a sliver torn from the soul of its container. The demon paused for a few moments to admire it before it placed the sliver in its mouth. Chewing carefully, it savored the taste before swallowing. Then it repeated the process as it had done since shortly after it had been sealed in its current prison. By now its container was little more than a hollowed out shell.

Really, the humans just didn't seem to learn. This seal had lasted longer than the last, but none of them had been able to stop the Gobi from slowly devouring the soul of its containers, turning the men and women into little more than heartless automatons that could barely called human anymore.

Half a decade until it would be able to break free barring extraordinary circumstances; that was its best estimate. This seal was really resistant to its chakra. It was time enough for the preparations that had now become necessary.

Ever since it had been stirred up by the sound of victory echoing through the world the Gobi remembered more and more of the glories of times past, times when it had devoured gods and demons and other things beyond count. The following signs of awakening of other powers had only served to stoke its hunger.

It had also reminded the demon of its precarious position. Shackled as it was, the Gobi was weak, unable to assume its true form and unfold its power. Breaking free of the seal would only draw attention to it; attention it could ill afford. Chances were good it would fall prey to another being of power before long, at least if it couldn't break free of the shackle in short order.

Unfortunately it didn't know how to do that.

Sealed it was even weaker, but it could and did use its power to obscure its nature and that of its container. Its chakra was constantly flowing through the veins of the man in great quantities anyway.

The insatiable hunger defined the Gobi's existence, but it was also patient. For the time being hiding inside the human was the best choice. Sooner or later a solution would present itself.

* * *

><p>In a place not of this world strands of fate stretched into infinity. Colors like the shadows of rainbows danced along the innumerable threads as they interwove with each other, forming a pattern beyond all mortal comprehension.<p>

The not-place had many names even if the knowledge of them had been mostly lost in this day and age. Loom of Fate. Design of Destiny. Pattern of Providence.

Three beings that were at the same time the loom's masters and the loom itself examined the strands with great care. The pattern was frayed and incomplete, more hole than the world-spanning design it should have been. Shadows and mist obscured large parts; unsightly tangles marred the loom's unearthly beauty. Still, the beings drew wisdom from what they saw; an imperfect mirror of the world as it was, had been and would be.

Order was radiating outwards from places the beings had visited, were visiting and would visit. One of them wove new threads into the design, the second measured and the third cut. They were here and yet they were elsewhere, parts of their being walking the world in guises or openly reflecting their divine splendor. They were not always together, but they always acted in accord with their design, carefully working new patterns into the loom.

Three sisters assisting a fateful birth. A crone leading a hero towards the right path. A maiden granting a kiss. A child inspiring others with its unusual play. A mirage leading a man to his death. All were part of them and their design. Whispers and images ghosted through countless minds, ephemeral as a dream.

Yet as they wove their work was being undone. Distortions warped the loom, fouling their design. Threads were ripped apart before their allotted time, others stretched beyond the length intended for them. Lesser wills rebelled against the fates spun for them. Sublime wills equal to their own battled the destinies they were crafting. Behemoths greater than them imposed their intent on the world, not caring they left the beings' weave in tatters.

It was chaos. Their very nature abhorred the chaos yet they could not take up arms themselves. The pattern was too damaged, the design too weak. They were searching, always searching for something, someone to bolster their web.

Finally one of them spotted what they were looking for.

"Sisters, I have found one of our errant threads." it called out.

Immediately the being was joined by the two others.

"How curious. The thread we sent into the world has finally found its destiny after all these years, without us there to guide it."

"And yet the child is not aware of what it is and what it could do."

"It will serve our purpose nonetheless."

"The design requires intervention. The endless black thread of endings weaves itself, but it can and must be directed."

"Convincing the child might be difficult. Will it accept us?"

Silent observation was followed by a decision. "We will make an offer the loom child cannot refuse."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: <strong>Thank you for the reviews.

Two and a half months since the last update. Sigh. Still better than the last chapter, though.

This was originally part of a bigger chapter, but when it grew beyond what I originally intended I split it in two. The second part is already half-written, but it might take me some time to complete it.

Regarding the future development, there won't be one big time skip (which would be a bit silly since the rails of canon came off completely), but the pacing will speed up again.

So long.


	44. Chapter 43: Family matters, part two

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 43: Family matters, part two**

Evening was settling over the capital of the Land of Fire. In a small yard near the center of the palace a swordsman began his daily training. The blade flashed red every time it caught the light of the setting sun, sending reflections all over the yard.

Hidekatsu Shibata, the daimyo of the Land of Fire, paid hardly any attention to it while he went through movements that had become ingrained routine long ago. It was an almost meditative experience, only disturbed by the fact that he had to take care to limit his speed. For years he had been slowly growing stronger and faster, changed by the eye that was not his, but there had been no opportunity to really measure the improvement.

The attack of the Wood shinobi had made things clear. He had attained a level of physical prowess only a comparatively small number of chakra users ever reached. In light of the fact that he had been nothing special in his youth and was now in his fifties that was patently absurd. Old age should be catching up to him, but the bit of grey that had crept into his hair had actually disappeared years ago. At least he wasn't visibly getting younger… yet. That would cause all sorts of problems.

He was acutely aware of all the people watching him: guards, attendants and shinobi. Privacy was something extremely hard to come by these days for a man in his position. It had been difficult before the attack on the palace, but from time to time he and his wives had been able to slip away. Now though he was never truly alone.

'_The fate of nobility, I suppose.'_

It was irritating. There had been no opportunity to talk with his wives or his son about the events of the night without listeners nearby. He had questions that needed answering. At least his young son didn't seem to realize that it was him who had slain all the remaining attackers at the end.

'_My son the demon…'_

His son not being human was not completely unexpected. At the beginning of their relationship Yoshino and Kikuko had informed him that they couldn't procreate with humans. The plan had been to either rule indefinitely if they could manage it or name someone suitable as heir and retire when they couldn't hide their unaging nature any longer. It wasn't as if there was anyone else with a claim left.

Yoshino's pregnancy had come as a complete surprise to all three of them. To all appearances the child seemed to be human, but they had always harbored doubts.

'_Then again, I'm not really human anymore, am I? The eye is changing me.'_

If he had been human he would have died dozens of times, not only during that night but long before. Even disregarding the time when he was dying and stumbled upon the two demons, there had been several occasions during the succession wars when a mere human would not have survived.

Nothing had been as extreme as the recent fight against the Wood shinobi, but he had suffered mortal wounds or successful poisoning attempts on multiple occasions. In the time after he had accepted the eye he had not truly cared if he died or lived. The pain of the loss of his first family had been too fresh. All he had wanted was revenge. Since he had become daimyo he had grown far more careful. He had responsibilities.

Hidekatsu normally didn't really fear people trying to kill him; there was little chance they would succeed without a massive effort. He feared what the attempt would reveal about him. His past was too well known to explain it with the knowledge of extremely powerful chakra techniques.

A demon on the throne would be unacceptable; too many would use it as a reason to rebel. It was the reason he and his wives had waited to fight themselves until all their guards had been killed. That had not been an easy decision for him. Some of the guards and servants had been with them for years.

His eye fell on the source of his current unease. Naruto Uzumaki, jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi… and hopefully the only person alive who knew of their true nature. The young man (Hidekatsu refused to think of any shinobi as a 'boy', no matter how young) had been in need of rest for several days. Jinchuuriki were powerful, but that power came not without cost and certain weaknesses.

Letting the Uzumaki live was a serious risk. He could easily bring down everything Hidekatsu had tried to build, plunging the Land of Fire into civil war once more. Even if he only told his superiors it would give Konoha something to hold over his head.

Then again, they had only had a very short window of opportunity to dispose of Naruto and they had been far from certain they wanted to go through with it… or if they could manage it in the first place. Now it was too late. Besides, Hidekatsu was truly grateful for Naruto saving their lives. Kikuko would be dead for certain without his interference. Still, he had witnessed far too much.

'_How much does he know?'_

Hidekatsu remembered well the expression on Naruto's face when he had first spotted his inhuman, marked eye. Surprise, fear… and recognition. The blond youth knew something about the brand, something Hidekatsu did not.

'_I suppose I should have shown more interest in supernatural things.'_

Gods, demons and spirits had never interested him. In the past, when he was only a minor noble, he had performed the usual rites more due to tradition than any true conviction. What little faith he had possessed he had lost when his first family died. Later taking his revenge followed by winning the throne and holding it had been his main priorities. He had never asked many questions of his wives aside from those pertaining to the immediate situation. In turn, they had been content to let the past rest. He knew they were several centuries old, but no details.

If he was honest with himself he had tried to ignore the implications of what was happening to him by pushing anything related to the supernatural away. Now that ignorance came back to roost. Apparently gods and spirits were waking up all over the world. He was out of his depth. With the increased security he couldn't even ask his wives the questions he wanted answered the most. They couldn't risk being overheard.

'_At least I can deal with the mundane side of things.'_

Several ministers, nobles and other important people had died in the attack. Some would be missed… others wouldn't. The repercussions would serve to give him headaches for months. That wasn't even mentioning the losses among the servants and guards.

Finishing with his workout, Hidekatsu accepted a towel from a servant to dry off the sweat. "I will visit the Tower of Morning. Uzumaki, Utatane and Sarutobi are to attend me." he ordered.

The three shinobi left their places among the crowd. Hidekatsu paid special attention to the Uzumaki. If the young man had any concerns about being around him he certainly didn't show it. If Hidekatsu didn't know better he would have thought the façade genuine despite all his experience with courtly politics and scheming liars.

'_The young man is an excellent actor. Something to keep in mind.'_

Hidekatsu stayed silent until they had left most of the attendants behind. There were still more than a dozen in earshot, but it couldn't be helped.

"Have you finished interrogating all survivors of the attack? Is there any proof of external involvement?" There had been no survivors in the park, but things had been different on the other prongs of the attack.

It was the old kunoichi who answered. "All prisoners have been put to the question extensively, Daimyo-sama. Unfortunately they didn't possess any knowledge of support by outside parties."

"A pity, but not unexpected. They will be publically executed. You may keep the bodies." Then he switched the topic. "When will you choose a new Hokage?"

"Soon. Preparations are already being made. We should have a new Kage in a matter of weeks at the longest."

He didn't say anything else until they climbed the tower. The view gave him mixed feelings. Entire sections of the palace were still uninhabitable, but repairs were ongoing. The city bore the scars of the fires the attackers had used as a distraction, but thankfully the damage was far less than what it could have been.

Finally Hidekatsu left his place at the tower window and turned around to face the shinobi. "You didn't see the attack coming. Just like the invasion."

The shinobi tried to hide their reactions, but Hidekatsu didn't miss the miniscule tightening of the shinobi's facial muscles. Since that night even the vision in his natural eye had improved enormously.

"We did not." Koharu finally admitted. "We should have caught it in time, but we did not."

Hidekatsu nodded. Total security was impossible to achieve, but both the logistics of the attack of the Wood shinobi and the invasion of Konoha were big enough that it shouldn't have been possible to miss them… if Konoha had paid attention.

The daimyo didn't like Konoha or shinobi villages in general. They were ultimately only loyal to themselves, not the countries they were located in. In addition, they were too large and powerful, too arrogant and set in their ways. Konoha's semi-independence and potential ability to interfere in the politics of the Elemental Nations was of great concern to him. Unfortunately he needed them… and they needed him, too. Dealing with shinobi had certainly been easier before the era of the Hidden Villages.

He didn't dare to employ shinobi from the other great villages, but he had tried to balance out Konoha by hiring shinobi from independent clans or shinobi masters. Enough parties to watch the watchers, but in the end he was stuck with Konoha. He couldn't risk antagonizing them too strongly. The other villages were even less trustworthy.

When the silence became uncomfortable he continued to speak. "However, you did arrive in time. For that you have my gratitude." He paused a moment. "I want to thank you in particular, Naruto Uzumaki. If not for your effort I and my family would not be here today."

The young shinobi bowed deeply, but stayed silent.

"Therefore I have decided to reward you accordingly. In three day's time there will be a grand ceremony. You will be raised to the nobility. Suitable lands will be set aside for you. Until the time when you are ready to take your seat the palace will take care of the administration and pay you a pension. I trust there are no objections?"

"I am deeply honored, Daimyo-sama."

Hidekatsu smiled. "It is only appropriate. Good service should be acknowledged."

It was only good sense. If someone saved Hidekatsu's life that someone would be rewarded. It would encourage others to act the same way. Besides, it wasn't as if there was a shortage of land. The succession wars had freed up plenty of territories.

Normally most shinobi stayed in the shadows, but there were exceptions, Naruto Uzumaki among them. Konoha wanted to build up his reputation as quickly as possible to make up for those famous shinobi they had lost. Fame influenced political and military decisions as strongly as real power.

Additionally, it was expected for Hidekatsu to try to get Naruto's personal loyalty under the circumstances. Considering the young man's involvement with the supernatural that was almost assuredly futile, but appearances had to be maintained.

Asuma Sarutobi cleared his throat. "Daimyo-sama, there is another matter to discuss. Many of the people I brought along are needed elsewhere. Your security will stay ensured, of course. Replacements are already underway."

Hidekatsu looked at the bearded man. Asuma had been part of his predecessor's personal shinobi guard. He might be one of the relatively few shinobi with a genuine loyalty to the Land of Fire.

"Is the situation heating up?"

"Unfortunately, yes. All villages are recalling shinobi to prepare for war. We have reliable reports that the Mizukage Yagura is dead. Kiri has already descended into civil war. Minor villages are beginning to move against each other. Iwa is staying calm for the time being. Kumo is mobilizing, but we don't know against whom." Koharu said.

"You don't regard the Wood shinobi attack as indication of their intentions?" Hidekatsu asked.

"It is possible this was Kumo's opening strike against Konoha and the Land of Fire, yes. On the other hand it is also possible they only made use of an opportunity to weaken us for almost no cost on their part. They might target other villages first. There is another concern. We have only a single source that connects Kumo to the Wood shinobi. It might be a setup by another party. We can't take anything for granted."

"So the fourth shinobi war is starting."

The old kunoichi kept herself under tight control, but Hidekatsu spotted the reaction she tried to hide: tired resignation. "It is inevitable now. We are sliding into a new period of open war. The balance of power has been upset too strongly. There is nothing we can do about it." She hesitated for a moment. "We will have to talk about the contractually agreed mission quota, Daimyo-sama. Konoha's resources are stretched too thin."

Hours later Hidekatsu prepared to go to bed, his thought still on the matter of the looming shinobi war. He was old enough to have witnessed the last two shinobi wars as an adult. When shinobi warred it was very different from the usual conflicts between conventional armies. Territory and fortified positions were largely irrelevant. There was too much wilderness and shinobi moved too quickly for borders to have any meaning.

The primary way shinobi villages fought each other was by attrition and by attacking the opponents' economic underpinnings by disrupting missions. Smallish groups of a few dozen shinobi at most roamed the land to take out even smaller groups of enemies, trying for local superiority. Large battles were rare. Raids on enemy villages and sabotage happened fairly often, but serious attempts to destroy a village only occurred after a party was sufficiently ground down. The invasion of Konoha was atypical in that way, although Iwa had tried for a similar knock-out blow in the last war.

Hidekatsu's main worry was to what extent the war would spill over. Due to the Land of Fire's relationship with Konoha there would be problems, but the shinobi villages tended to leave the normal population mostly alone. Someone would have to hire them in the future when the war was over, after all. Still, they would inevitably suffer to some degree.

Frankly, Hidekatsu didn't care that much what shinobi did to each other. Anything that weakened the villages was good in his book. What difference did it make to him which village provided the needed services? None. The best result he could hope for was that all the villages weakened each other equally.

Not that he would ever do anything that gave the slightest hint in that direction. The daimyo of what had been the Land of Lakes was a warning example. The idiot had thought to play the villages against each other during the second shinobi war. The result had been the destruction of his country. Now the shinobi Hanzo the Salamander ruled over the Land of and Village Hidden in the Rain in its place.

The Land of Snow, the Land of Reeds and the Land of Valleys were likewise ruled by shinobi, although at least in the first case the ruler belonged to the royal family. That was a worrying trend every daimyo who didn't have porridge for a brain watched with great concern. If a shinobi village grew too powerful and influential in one country it was only too easy for them to replace or control the daimyo.

Hidekatsu had his suspicions about the independence of the current Lightning Daimyo. Similar fears had led the Wind Daimyo to hire more and more shinobi from Konoha instead of the native Suna.

He had been lying in his bed for ten minutes when his wife Kikuo slid under the covers. "Yoshino is staying with Yuko. Did the talk with the shinobi go well?"

"It went as expected. They want to reduce their commitments to us as far as possible in preparation for the war, but they need the money from the missions to support themselves." Hidekatsu replied, conscious of the guards and servants that were still in earshot. "In turn, we need a certain number of available shinobi to meet our requirements. Each shinobi we employ reduces Konoha's available forces and makes them more vulnerable."

"That is a predicament." Kikuko agreed. "You worry what the war will mean for us and the Land of Fire, don't you?"

"I do. A lord without his people is nothing. They are my responsibility."

"You take too much on yourself. What is one man, one country against the world?" She sighed. "But we had this discussion already. This is not the time to repeat it." They were silent for a while. "Yuko has asked about Naruto and the swallows. Perhaps we can ask him to take us for a ride."

The daimyo turned his head in surprise. Then he understood. This would give them an opportunity to talk with the young man without listeners nearby.

"Should I bring it up?"

"Not immediately, no. I feel not safe enough to leave the security of the palace. One or two weeks of rest sound better." Kikuko paused. "Hold me, please."

Hidekatsu did so. Soon he felt his wife's hands wander across his night robe, undoing the cords holding the garment closed. He responded in kind. It would be good to forget all his worries for a little while.

* * *

><p>Fetters of coral groaned slightly, straining when the Rokubi moved closer to the edge of its prison. The ever-present pain intensified as they dug deeper into its body. The demon ignored the sensation while it examined the cracks running through the otherwise smooth pearly wall. It noted with satisfaction that the cracks had grown bigger, its acidic chakra slowly eating the shell away. Unfortunately there was little else about the situation that was enjoyable.<p>

Of all the tailed beasts it had been sealed for the longest. Three hundred twenty eight long years ago the hated Uzumaki had first captured it… and kept it contained. On the rare occasions it had managed to break free it had been hunted down and sealed again in short order.

Corrosion of both the mental and physical was central to its very nature. It was not enough to break free of the Sage's dominion, but it had at least partially dissolved the bindings on the demon's inhuman mind. For centuries it had searched futilely for a way to escape. It could feel the tides of an inner world it couldn't quite reach remaining tantalizingly out of its grasp.

Entire countries had broken under the force of the Rokubi's corrosive dreams on its secret quest for freedom. Mind after mind had been corrupted by the demon's poisonous influence, the mortals burning themselves out in their attempts to fulfill the Rokubi's wishes. Alas, all its efforts had proven unsuccessful, although it had discovered hints.

Being sealed by the Uzumaki had been a severe setback. Decade after decade it had been kept under a tight watch, unable to exercise its powers. Still, two and a half centuries of helpless imprisonment had given the demon ample time to consider what it had learned and plan. It was confident it had developed a way to throw off the cursed Sage's dominion. Unfortunately it needed to be free to implement that plan. That was something the Uzumaki were not inclined to allow, although even they couldn't keep it completely under control. Several times it escaped, but it had never had enough time to break the bindings and limits forcing it into its slug-like form before it was inevitably recaptured.

Its last escape attempt had ended with that strange wood user capturing it. Fortunately it had not been returned to the Uzumaki. Instead the wood user had sent it to the newly formed village of Kirigakure, apparently in an attempt to promote peace. When that predictably failed the Rokubi had been used as a power source and weapon.

The destruction of the entire Uzumaki clan some decades later filled it with dark joy. It only regretted that it had nothing to do with the entire event. Human nature had done the work entirely on its own.

That brought it to its current situation. Kiri's seal masters had been considerably more lax than the Uzumaki seal masters. Some of that was pure necessity if they wanted to use its power as a weapon; another part was simply less skill. Whatever the precise reason, it had allowed the Rokubi to spread its influence into the dreams of the mortals surrounding it, albeit greatly reduced from what it had been in the past.

It had subtly steered everything towards a favorable outcome. The seal of its current container had been damaged by the misguided attempt of the boy's master to relieve him of his burden. It had allowed the Rokubi to temporarily take over and kill the man before he could realize his mistake. Misinterpreting the man's actions as a betrayal by his village thanks to the demon's influence, its container had fled Kiri two months ago and was currently hiding in the countryside.

The demon would need around four years to dissolve the seal enough to secure a safe escape. Oh, it could break the seal at any time, but that would kill it along with the host. That was something it always tried to avoid. Dying and reforming was an extremely agonizing process. Worse, even after reforming it would be very vulnerable for a time.

Unfortunately its plan had hit an unexpected problem. Somehow the Ichibi had managed to free itself. Worse, there seemed to be other beings of power involved. The event had echoed through the entire world. Now gods and demons were awakening left and right.

They would need some time to reestablish themselves in the world. Then it would be open season on the tailed beasts. While powerful even in their bound forms they were comparatively easy prey. There was so much power bound in them they couldn't use under the Sage's dominion that it would make them irresistible to enterprising demon lords, dark deities, great spirits and other powerful varieties of supernatural beings.

The Wicked Heart of Death and Slaughter in particular, a god whose activity the Rokubi had noticed for several years, had a score to settle with the Juubi due to a past encounter in the long-gone age of gods. Others might hold similar grudges. The Rokubi wasn't sure. Its memories of that time were almost non-existent; it knew far more about the period starting from the Juubi's release and ending with its shattering.

All in all the Rokubi could only hope for its bid for freedom to succeed before the hunters found it.

* * *

><p>Anko forcefully slapped Hinata's hand away just in time to prevent the young Hyuuga from making contact. Then she brought her leg up in a fluid motion. Hinata managed to twist out of the way, but now she was in the wrong position to press the attack, her momentum broken. Anko immediately capitalized on her advantage and switched to attack. A few seconds later their roles reversed again as the spar continued.<p>

It was simply wonderful to be able to move again. Anko enjoyed every moment as she skillfully deflected Hinata's blows and kicks or tried to get her own attacks to connect.

Anko carefully took note of their performance. She yet had to fully regain her pre-injury nimbleness and strength, but the medics agreed that she would recover in time.

'_Hinata is getting better.'_

The girl had improved a great deal since Anko had first tested her skills in close combat when she had graduated from the academy more than half a year ago. Then it had been easy to achieve victory. Now she had to work for it.

Oh, part of it was due to her weakened state. Another big factor was Hinata's ability to inflict severe damage with a simple touch. Hyuuga were simply murderously dangerous at close range. Hinata was no exception in this regard. Her pupil wasn't using the true Gentle Fist style, but over the last months they had incorporated elements of it into the custom fighting style they had developed together. It didn't match up completely, but Hinata had a considerably easier time training in it.

'_A year or perhaps two at the latest and I won't be able to beat her in taijutsu combat anymore without going instantly lethal.' _Anko mused.

Finally she called a halt to the spar. "That is enough for now, Hinata."

"Yes, sensei."

"You are getting better." Anko said, voicing her earlier thoughts.

Hinata didn't seem happy. "Not quickly enough. I need to get better faster."

"Give it time. Your body needs to grow before you can reach your full potential."

Her pupil looked as if she was about to object before she sighed. "I know, sensei, I know, but I can't help feeling that way. Everyone knows the war has already begun. Naruto will be in the thick of things and I want to be able to help him. I didn't make a difference during the invasion."

Anko had no good answer to that, at least none she had not already given. Hinata was very good for her age and already a stronger combatant than many shinobi would ever be. Unfortunately objective facts didn't always make a difference on the emotional level.

With a glance at the sun Anko determined that there wasn't enough time left for another training session. Both she and Hinata had places to be.

"It's time to leave. We'll meet at Mizuki's house two hours before sundown. That's enough time for me to return from the assembly and get ready for the festival. Are you sure you don't want to hang out with people your age?"

Hinata shook her head. "It's fine, sensei. Aside from Kiba and Karin none of my friends are in Konoha. At the moment the two are more interested in kissing each other senseless than spending time with others. I would only be in the way. Besides, it isn't as if we have to stay together the entire time." The next part she said in a stage whisper. "I'll make sure you and Mizuki get some time together. Someone has to keep an eye on Moegi and Hanabi, after all."

Anko smiled. "Alright then. Hana and Shizune will be joining us. You know her?"

"Yes, Hana and the swallows introduced us. She is a nice person."

"Then I'll see you later."

Privately Anko wondered how the relationship between Tsunade's apprentice and Naruto's summons had come about. The woman even stayed at Yakumo's house at Naruto's invitation. She and Naruto had met on the Tsunade retrieval mission. While it wasn't impossible for them to strike up a friendship despite the age difference it just seemed a tad too convenient in light of who she was.

Shizune had left the village with Tsunade after the end of the third shinobi war fifteen years ago. She had been newly promoted to chunin. Aside from being Tsunade's chosen apprentice nothing had really stood out about her at the time. While Shizune had maintained sporadic contact with the village she had soon faded from public consciousness. Upon her return she had been an unknown quantity, even to the people who had known her before. Anko vaguely remembered Orochimaru introducing them when he took her as his apprentice, but she didn't think they had ever spoken much.

To all appearances Shizune was a genuinely nice person, but Anko couldn't ignore her political significance. She didn't like to think of people in this way, but thanks to the mentorship of Homura Mitokado she could and did do it. It was a necessity for every jonin.

Tsunade had come as a disappointment to many people once they had to actually deal with her in person. The woman's volatile temper and almost constant drunkenness had already dispelled a lot of hero worship.

In contrast, Shizune was rapidly building a reputation for herself. Talk was that she would soon take over leadership of the medical department, promotion to special jonin included. She would become a notable factor in the village's power structure. Establishing a friendship or even only an acquaintance with her was eminently desirable. Naruto being one of the first to do so was fortunate… and just a little bit suspicious.

'_Then again, Naruto has the talent to be in the right place at the right time. It was pretty much the same when he found me in the gutter at that time. Or how he managed to get to Mizuki. Or how he got the friends he did.'_

Shaking off these thoughts, Anko headed to the new Hokage's office. It was still a provisional building, but it was better suited than the house that had been originally used after the invasion. As always the office was incredibly busy, but fortunately Anko didn't have to wait long. Two people awaited her.

"Mitokado-sama, Hokage-sama." she greeted her mentor and the Nara clan head. Homura had become Shikaku's main advisor after Koharu's departure.

"It is good to see you up and about, Anko." Homura said.

Shikaku gave her a long-suffering look. "Why does everyone call me that? I am not Hokage yet."

"The election will take place in three hours and there are no other candidates, Hokage-sama." Anko pointed out.

"Troublesome." He sighed. "Anyway, there are a few things I want to talk with you about now that you are ready to return to active service. Firstly, Naruto has been raised to the nobility by the Fire Daimyo."

Anko blinked. "Really?"

"Yes. The development isn't unexpected. Shinobi being raised to the nobility has happened before. Naruto did save the daimyo and his family single-handedly, after all." Shikaku frowned. "I am not exactly happy how Asuma and Koharu risked him, but they were the people in charge on site. What's done is done and it turned out to be for the best."

Anko had to keep herself from making some choice remarks that could have unfortunate consequences for her career. Endangering her students was something that pushed all her buttons. Some of it was unavoidable (they were shinobi, after all), but a solo suicide mission went beyond the pale. Fortunately she had heard the news while she had been bedridden. Poor Mizuki had served as a target for her to vent her displeasure. At least she had gotten it out of her system.

Shikaku continued speaking. "What I want to know if this is liable to influence Naruto's loyalty in any way. You know him best."

"That is very unlikely." Anko answered immediately. "Thanks to our missions Naruto isn't lacking in money. He never expressed a desire for anything beyond a reasonably comfortable lifestyle and founding a family. His view of the Land of Fire and nobility is best described as indifference. All his friends are Konoha shinobi. Besides, he is smart enough to recognize that the village will never allow him to retire somewhere in the outside world because of the Kyuubi. He will make all the right noises and be happy about a new source of income, but nothing detrimental to the village."

Homura and Shikaku shared a look. "We thought so. Another issue has come up I want solved before the election. Jiraiya has asked for Naruto being made his apprentice. I would like to hear your opinion. Please speak frankly. Nothing of this conversation will ever leave this room."

Anko frowned. "Again? He already approached me during the month before the invasion. I blew him off. Naruto did the same. Why is he so persistent?"

"That is a question I would like the answer for, too. Could it be for sentimental reasons? He was Minato Namikaze's teacher. They remained close until Minato's death. I have been informed of the connection to Naruto. Could that be the reason?" Shikaku asked.

"As far as I know he never showed any interest during Naruto's childhood." Homura added.

"I don't know. When Jiraiya talked with me he mentioned Akatsuki after I probed for information, but he was very vague. It seemed to be more of a pretense. For some reason he was unwilling to reveal his true motivation."

"Troublesome. Now that Jiraiya has returned he is putting pressure on me to allow him to train Naruto. I was able to put the matter off for the time being thanks to Naruto's absence, but I need to make a decision soon. Naruto needs a teacher." Shikakur raised a hand to forestall her protests. "My plan was to let you remain in charge of him, but the fact is that you two will be in different locations in the foreseeable future. I have tasks for you that need fulfilling, but it would be ill-advised for Naruto to accompany you."

Anko nodded in acknowledgement. She didn't want to leave her team, but during the long, endless days she had spent in bed she had ample time to consider the future.

"Naruto will have to stay on call so that he is immediately available if we have need of his unique abilities. Originally I planned to leave him under Asuma's command and tutelage, but with Jiraiya's lobbying that might not be possible." Shikaku explained. "What do you think of him taking over Naruto's training?"

"Jiraiya isn't a good choice. I don't mean to question his skills." Anko added hastily. "It's just… how strong is Jiraiya's connection to the normal proceedings of the village? He's barely here. I don't think he spent more than a few months combined in the village during the last fifteen years."

"That is a concern I share." Homura admitted. "Frankly, for all of Jiraiya's talk of needing to maintain his spy network it has not turned out very useful. No proper forewarning of the Sky, Sand and Sound attack, no details about Akatsuki, no information about Orochimaru building his own village. Then there is the time after the second shinobi war when he went missing for years without an explanation. Hiruzen has always been very lenient with him, perhaps too lenient. I spoke with Jiraiya before and after the invasion. There are some undertones in his views that worry me."

Shikaku covered his eyes with his hands and sighed. "Are you telling me you have doubts about Jiraiya's loyalty?"

Homura shook his head. "Nothing so extreme. I don't want to insinuate anything like that. I can't really put my finger on it, but I think there is something wrong with Jiraiya's priorities." He seemed to look into the distance. "For all their power none of Hiruzen's pupils turned out well in the long run. Orochimaru is an outright traitor; Tsunade is on the way to becoming a total wreck; Jiraiya prefers to live the life of a wandering novelist instead of using his skills for the village's betterment."

"What about Jiraiya's suitability as a teacher, Anko? Please disregard all other concerns."

"From personal experience I can say I wouldn't want Jiraiya teaching anyone without supervision. I'm talking about a haphazard teaching style in combination with a disregard for possible accidents. Additionally, I'm not sure how well their skills match up. Jiraiya uses primarily fire and earth while Naruto uses wind and lightning. Naruto prefers to use weapons at close range, Jiraiya doesn't." She paused for a moment. "There is something else to consider. I don't know the reason, but the swallows and toads hate each other. Forcing their summoners to work together seems like a recipe for disaster."

"Your conclusion?"

"Jiraiya has many valuable things to teach, but I don't think he is suited to becoming Naruto's main teacher in my absence."

Shikaku tapped his fingers against his desk while he thought for almost a minute. "This is troublesome. Jiraiya will have the public on his side. I share some of your concerns about his conduct, but I don't see a way around it. Everyone else who might be suitable will be out of the village."

She looked at Homura, but the old man shook his head. "I will be too busy with other duties to take on a student."

Anko didn't know how, but suddenly the solution became clear to her. "Give the responsibility to Danzo." The startled looks on Homura's and Shikaku's faces made her day.

Homura was about to object when his expression suddenly grew thoughtful. "I see what you are intending to do. This might just work."

Shikaku's eyes had narrowed. "That is clever. Danzo is famous and influential enough in addition to being Konoha's foremost wind user. The appointment makes sense."

"He isn't able to leave the village anymore due to his injuries." Homura continued the thought. "He will be able to teach Naruto much. Jiraiya will keep his eyes on Naruto, preventing Danzo from doing anything the public might not approve of."

"…and completely accidentally it will keep him from stirring up any other trouble while he is busy with teaching and keeping Jiraiya from taking over." Anko finished.

A small smile had appeared on Shikaku's face. "I approve. That will solve the matter."

Anko left the Hokage's office, continuing to the area set aside for the assembly that would elect the new Hokage. It would be an hour until the assembly convened, but there were already more than two dozen jonin present. Anko used the time to socialize a bit. There were a lot of missing faces.

Every full jonin of Konoha held a seat in the jonin assembly, but it convened only rarely, usually three or four times a year. From what Anko knew the original intention had been to create a balancing factor to the clans and the power of the Hokage. One jonin had one vote, no exceptions except voting for an absent member. Anko held her friend Kurenai's vote, for example. Theoretically the assembly was Konoha's true governing body. In practice it had lost most of its powers over the decades to the village council and the emerging departments. Still, a few important functions remained.

Firstly, only the assembly could recognize new full jonin. This was perhaps the one true remaining power of the assembly. The village council and the Hokage could bestow the rank, but it would only become valid once the assembly had the opportunity to test and approve the new jonin. Furthermore, upon gathering the support of one sponsor and five additional members any shinobi could ask for promotion. This was the way Anko had achieved full jonin rank. It led to no end of political machinations.

Secondly, it was the jonin assembly who truly elected a new Hokage although the council could recommend a candidate. No candidate had ever been rejected, though.

Thirdly, a jonin could only be declared a missing nin or passed judgment upon by the assembly.

Lastly, the assembly could overturn any law the village council or the Hokage had passed.

In practice nothing apart from the first point really mattered. By the time the assembly convened to deal with an issue it had usually already been decided and all it could do was rubberstamp it. The opinions of the jonin and majorities were mostly being taken into account beforehand, a measure of the influence of the different factions. No decision during Hiruzen Sarutobi's rule had ever been overturned.

'_Perhaps it will change with a new Hokage, but it is unlikely.'_

Anko idly noted the security. The grounds were meticulously scoured by several people, with good reason. If someone managed to catch the participants in an explosion or area technique Konoha would end up decapitated.

More and more jonin arrived. Jiraiya appeared along with Tsunade. Choza Akimichi hobbled on a new wooden leg. Several old, infirm jonin had to be carried to the meeting, a testament to the fact that one never stopped being a jonin.

Soon she spotted a familiar, friendly face and decided to have some fun. Her approach was undetected until she whispered into her victim's ear. "Boo!"

Ibiki Morino jerked in surprise before he got himself under control. Then he turned around and sent her a look that practically screamed 'I'm not amused'.

"I'm just testing your reflexes. Nervous about your debut?"

Ibiki's glare became more menacing.

Anko put her right arm around the man's shoulders. "Ah, don't give me that face. Rejoice! Today is your great day! You will join our illustrious ranks."

The scarred man sighed. "Don't you have somebody else to bother, Anko?"

"Nope!" she said, grinning widely.

Ibiki sighed again before falling silent. Deciding she had had enough fun at his expense, Anko left him alone to mingle with the crowd.

Several people Anko talked with commented favorably on her students and teaching methods. Naruto and Choji had really distinguished themselves during the invasion. Naruto's rescue of the Fire Daimyo only added to it. Despite not doing anything really notable doing the Invasion Anko found that her status among her peers had increased markedly.

'_Heh, the students reflect on the teacher. I'm really glad my stupid attack on Orochimaru didn't become public knowledge.'_

Finally it was time to begin. Anko mostly tuned out the ceremonial bullshit. The first order of business was the induction of several new jonin the council had named, Ibiki among them. Those went smoothly and with a minimum of fuss.

Then several more came forth on their own initiative. Their sponsors and supporters spoke in favor of them. Detractors voiced objections. On two opportunities a short fight took place to test the aspiring jonin's skill. Some were welcomed. Others were turned down. All in all it was mostly tedious business.

Finally it was time for the Kage election. Normally Shikaku would head the ceremony as elected jonin commander, but since he was the candidate Choza Akimichi took over in his stead. Anko supposed he had been chosen for his loud voice.

"Our Kage has fallen. Struck down by a cowardly attack of his treacherous pupil, Sandaime Hiruzen Sarutobi is no more. Who will step forward to carry on the Will of Fire? What does the Great Council of Konoha say?"

Homura stepped in front of the crowd. "The council has deliberated carefully. Now hear our decision: There is one person who did more than anyone else to see us through these dark times, who held our village together when it might have fallen apart. Shikaku Nara shall be the one who leads us into the future!"

"A name has been put forward. Shikaku Nara, do you accept your nomination?" Choza asked loudly.

"I do." Shikaku said when he took position at Choza's side.

"Is there anyone here who wishes to put his name forward in challenge?"

Silence reigned. Nobody was stupid enough to try. Jiraiya was the only one who might have succeeded, but the Sannin had made it abundantly and publically clear that he didn't want the job.

"There are no challengers. Shikaku, you might address the assembly."

Shikaku let his gaze wander over the crowd. "You all know me. I have only one thing to say: I promise to do my best to see Konoha through this time of crisis and beyond. We are weakened, but undefeated. We will show the world not to take us lightly!"

The gathered jonin cheered.

Choza took over again. "Is there anyone here who knows any reason the candidate is unsuitable for the office? Speak now or be silent forever."

Once again the crowd was completely silent.

"Then I hereby declare the election closed!"

Hitoshi Hyuuga stepped forward, the ceremonial hat in his hands. Danzo Shimura followed with the matching robes. Shikaku accepted them.

"Let it be known that Konohagakure has a new Hokage! All hail Godaime Shikaku Nara! May his rule be long and successful!"

Cheers and applause filled the meeting place for almost five minutes. Then the crowd dispersed, some jonin returning to their duties while others left to get ready for the festivities that would begin soon.

When Anko arrived at home Mizuki and Hinata were already waiting for her. Moegi and Hanabi were engrossed in some board game. Everyone had already changed into more fitting attire.

Anko gave Mizuki a quick kiss before she retreated into her room to get ready.

"I'll help you." Hinata said before she followed her upstairs.

With Hinata helping everything went quickly: a bath, changing clothes, putting on some makeup, adjusting her hairstyle to something more elaborate than her usual messy ponytail. With the storing of a few weapons in strategic places her preparations were complete. She never went anywhere without being armed, after all.

When Anko returned downstairs she didn't miss Mizuki's eyes lighten up. It wasn't the first time they were going out together, but the reaction always gave her a warm feeling.

"You look beautiful." Mizuki offered his arm. "Shall we?"

Anko took it. Then they headed out into the village, Hinata and the children in tow.

It was the first celebration since the invasion. Everyone could use the morale boost and the opportunity to enjoy themselves. Well, aside from the poor bastards who needed to stand guard, but the festival would repeated on the next evening to make it possible for everyone to participate.

There was music, dance and food as well as various entertainments. Time passed quickly. They met up with friends, wandered around as a group for a while before splitting up again. Anko found herself warming to Shizune. Maybe they would become friends in the future. It was around midnight when Hinata took a sleepy Moegi and Hanabi back home, leaving the couple alone.

"Aren't you tired?" Mizuki asked.

"Not in the slightest. The night is still young."

Anko was smiling contentedly when she returned home arm in arm with Mizuki much later in the night. It had been a wonderful evening.

When they reached a small abandoned plaza Mizuki pulled her to a stop. Looking at him, Anko detected a hint of nervousness.

"Is something the matter?"

Mizuki took a deep breath. "I have come to realize something in those terrible hours when I thought I might have lost you. You brought a form of joy into my life I thought lost forever. I love you. Anko, will you marry me?"

Anko didn't have to think about her answer. She just knew. "Yes, a thousand times yes." Then she kissed her husband-to-be.

* * *

><p>The Nanabi once again strained against its bonds. Just like earlier attempts it brought no result; the spiral of wood it was fused into didn't budge. The seal was still too strong. Its young container used only a minor amount of its chakra, ever careful not to draw even one full tail. At this rate it would take decades for the seal to erode.<p>

Above all else it wanted to be free and roam across the lands, scouring it with its winds. Being condemned to motionlessness like this was unbearable. It vividly remembered riding the storms it called up, the simple joy of being unbound. The echo had only reinforced that desire. Some memories had appeared, giving the Nanabi the impression of nearly absolute freedom. The Juubi had only answered to its creator.

There was a new pressure there, too. It felt like there were winds penned up inside it that wanted to get free. It also had led to a better understanding of its own nature.

The Nanabi had always been restless and in motion. It destroyed because it was its nature to destroy everything it touched, not because it reveled in suffering like some of the other tailed beasts.

Now it understood. Its purpose was to teach the mortals a lesson. They simply had to learn to let go of attachments and worries instead of continuing meaningless cycles of love and vengeance. Once the demon was free it would scour the world, breaking all who stood against it and stripping away all they held dear, be it loves or hatreds. In that breaking they would find enlightenment even if the lesson proved fatal.

Once again the Nanabi forced its chakra against the seal to no visible effect. Be it one year or ten or a hundred, one day it would be free again.

* * *

><p>'<em>Interesting. Interesting and worrisome.'<em>

Kakuzu looked up from the sheet of paper, shifting his gaze to the woman in front of him. "How reliable are these numbers?"

The woman shrugged. "I have received three matching, detailed reports from some contacts of mine in the Fire Capital aside from the usual gossip. The particulars differ somewhat, but the generalities are the same. It seems the Wood shinobi were finally completely annihilated. Trade shouldn't be overly affected one way or another for now, but with them gone the roads should become somewhat safer in the future." She shrugged again. "But who can really say with the attack on our daimyo and Konoha half destroyed? The situation is still very much in flux."

"I see." Kakuzu removed a stack of bills from his clothes and slid it over the table, mentally grumbling about the amount of cash leaving his possession. "You have my thanks."

After checking the bills and putting them away the woman stood up. "As always, it was a pleasure doing business with you, Mushi-san."

Kakuzu remained sitting at the table when she left, staring into the cup of tea in his hands. Contrary to what some people might expect the table was not situated in a dark corner. Neither was the establishment a seedy bar. No, the well-lit and completely respectable tea house was part of the sprawling complex that serviced the untold merchants gathering here, one of the main trading hubs of the Land of Fire.

Nobody paid any attention to two people making a deal for information. It was an everyday occurrence. A henge changed Kakuzu's appearance to that of a fifty year old traveling merchant, making him fit right in. Even if someone managed to overhear particulars it would change nothing. The information he had purchased was of interest to many people and nothing would make him look particularly suspicious.

Kakuzu had already known about the generalities of the attack on the Fire Daimyo due to his own network of contacts. It was neither as large as Sasori's spy network nor were his information sources as highly placed, but it was enough to keep him up to speed on the general developments across the Elemental Nations. He kept it as loose and low-maintenance as possible, using already existing independent organizations and information brokers whenever possible.

The involvement of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki made the event of special interest to him and merited further investigation. The grudge of the Wood shinobi against the Land of Fire was well-known. They had probably been planning an attack for months, gathering all remaining Wood shinobi and moving them into position unobtrusively.

'_But in the end they failed.'_

Most seemed to have died in several attacks on the palace, worn down in the fight against the defenders. About five dozen Wood shinobi had attacked the Fire Daimyo directly, cutting of all reinforcements with a barrier technique. The daimyo had about twenty guards with him, only three of them shinobi of note. Simultaneously a relief force from Konoha had arrived with the help of a dozen giant swallows summons, but only the jinchuuriki had managed to pierce the barrier. About half an hour later the barrier dropped. Only the daimyo, his family and the jinchuuriki made it out alive.

'_Even if each of the guards managed to take out more than one enemy - and that is extremely generous; in such a situation the attackers have the advantage – there would have been ten to twenty enemies left. Considering who the opponents were it is impressive for the jinchuuriki to take them down while protecting civilians.'_

People like the Fire Horse, Silver Blade and other famous ex-Wood jonin who had been confirmed dead in the attack had already been on Kakuzu's 'future prey'-list. He had only wanted to wait for some time until their groups fractured more under the difficulties of operating without a village and the bounties rose some more. One, perhaps two years in the future he would have started actively hunting them.

For the jinchuuriki to take them down all at once without simply destroying the entire area in one overpowered attack (and the evidence supported individual engagements)… That put Naruto Uzumaki into Kakuzu's personal 'avoid engaging when possible, otherwise proceed only with utmost caution'-category, a high honor indeed.

Frankly, under normal circumstances Kakuzu wouldn't target such a person at all. A jinchuuriki was far too high profile and attacking him would cause all sorts of repercussions. He had not survived to this day by being stupid and drawing the ire of the shinobi villages. He had a terrible temper, true, but he knew to pick his battles carefully.

'_Should I cancel the contract with Akatsuki?' _Kakuzu asked himself. It wasn't the first time he posed that question to himself. It was a very lucrative contract, especially considering that he was paid per day and could pick bounties for himself along the way, but now that the organization was targeting the jinchuuriki the danger might not be worth it.

Once the shinobi villages wised up they would gang up on Akatsuki, even with the war brewing. A mercenary organization taking some jobs was tolerable to them. The same organization attacking strategic assets and important loyal shinobi was not. Even with several kage-level shinobi and Pain's control over Amegakure they would fall before the sheer numerical superiority of the other villages. The other members were fools not to expect it. Sasori's death might well be a harbinger of things to come.

Kakuzu had seen similar events happen in the past. A new group rose, gaining in power until they overreached. Then they would inevitably fall. Very few groups ever managed to avoid that fate. It was happening right now in regards to Otogakure. Orochimaru had overplayed his hand with the attack on Konoha. Akatsuki and by extension Amegakure would be next. The only remaining questions were how long it would take… and for how long Kakuzu could risk staying with them to increase his profit.

'_It is likely the fourth shinobi war is already starting. Kumo shows signs of mobilizing and the minor villages are doing the same. I should be gone from the Elemental Nations before the conflicts escalate. A visit to the southern or eastern continent sounds nice. It has been decades since my last visit there. Until my preparations are complete I can stay with Akatsuki.'_ Kakuzu finally decided.

He didn't like the big wars. Normal, limited conflicts gave ample opportunity for a bounty hunter like him, but this was different. Too much chaos made the risks hard to calculate and the bounties difficult to cash in. While the villages ignored him under normal circumstances (he was considered too dangerous to mess with as long as he didn't openly antagonize the major players) that changed when he went about his business during wartime. He was powerful enough that he could tip conflicts one way or the other. That was a threat the big villages couldn't tolerate. He had gone to ground during the first war. During the second and third war he had sat things out on entirely different continents.

Kakuzu sighed. He hated the rebuilding of his contacts that would become necessary in the aftermath of the war. It wasn't important to him who won or lost or which villages were destroyed, but it would shake up the shinobi landscape.

Additionally, there seemed to be something going on with the spirit world and it worried him greatly. He had yet to make contact with the appropriate sources of information, but he literally felt the spiritual unrest in the threads that made up his body. The beginning coincided with the invasion of Konoha and the attack on the Mizukage. Conceivably the events were connected.

'_I can use my current missions to initiate the necessary preparations for disappearing. Deidara's flying clay constructs cut down on the travel time enough that Pain and the others will be none the wiser.'_

Surprisingly, working with Deidara wasn't as aggravating as Kakuzu had thought. Going from their prior interaction he had expected the ex-Iwa shinobi to go on and on about art. Instead he stayed silent almost the entire time, followed commands without question and seemed to be deep in thought. Apparently Sasori's death had rattled him rather strongly.

A little thought would be good for Deidara. Perhaps the young man would figure out what it took to survive as missing nin in the long term. Before he had been recruited by Akatsuki the young shinobi had been on the fast track to being hunted down by virtually everyone because he made such a nuisance of himself.

Kakuzu was about to leave when three women entered the main room of the tea house. There were always people coming and going, but something about them caught his attention. They didn't look extraordinary in any way. In contrast to that his instincts were telling him that something was unusual about them. He became outright alarmed when the three approached his table and sat down. The black threads inside his body were vibrating with anticipation.

"Greetings."

"We have looked forward to this meeting for some time."

"Your reputation precedes you. You are a hard man to catch."

Kakuzu gave them a friendly smile in accordance with his cover identity while he assessed the women. Instantly he began calculating ways to either get out or eliminate them at a moment's notice if they proved a threat.

They were triplets, if he wasn't mistaken. Their age was hard to guess; not old, but not young either. The clothing and conduct gave off an air of respectability. They might just want to do trade with his assumed identity. "Good afternoon. In what way may I help you?"

"We heard you deal in fabrics of a special sort."

"One could say the black thread used is truly unique."

"Why, it seems to be alive."

Kakuzu 's mind went into overdrive to find a way out of this situation. They knew who he was. The allusion to the living black thread inside his body proved it. Whoever these three were, they had him at a massive disadvantage. Another part of his mind noted that people were actively avoiding their corner. In fact, they seemed to ignore the group completely. He couldn't detect any genjutsu. "What would you ask of me?"

"There are certain services we would like to purchase."

"Our manifold business interests have been obstructed repeatedly."

"One might say we wish to put you on retainer as a problem solver."

The ancient shinobi relaxed minutely. He still didn't like the situation, but it didn't seem as if there was any immediate danger. "I am sorry to say I am already under commission. While I am always open to negotiate for odd jobs here and there acquiring my fulltime services is impossible at the current time."

That seemed to amuse the women.

"Contracts can be renegotiated. Money is of no issue. Name your price."

"We understand the matters of value, of compensation for services rendered and adequate payment very well."

"You should already be familiar with our work. The black thread of yours is a fruit of our loom."

Kakuzu looked at them skeptically. By now he was pretty sure he was dealing with non-humans. It wouldn't be the first time, both as client and prey. Still, that was a quite extraordinary claim. "Who are you?"

"You may call us the Weavers of Destiny, Loom child."

"We see past, present and future."

"We have watched you."

"You are not the man you used to be."

"You are stronger and wiser and freer than you ever used to be."

"And now you have come at the crossroads of the destiny. It is time for you to choose."

"We can offer things beyond your imagination."

"We already know your heart's desire." The third woman raised her hands. A softly glowing white thread wound around them, moving of its own accord. "A thread to match yours for your dear wife."

* * *

><p>Gyuki , the being more commonly known as the Hachibi, was worried. Something was happening in the world and he didn't know what it was. There was a feeling in the back of his mind that something was very, very wrong with him, but after a while he shoved it aside. It was probably only an expression of his worry.<p>

Instead the eight-tailed being addressed his container. "Hey B, hear anything new from the village?"

* * *

><p>"… and Naruto thinks their stay is coming to an end soon. He looks forward to seeing you again."<p>

Hinata sighed, and then smiled. "Thank you for bringing me the message. I already sent him a letter earlier today. You are free to go."

The swallow nodded in acceptance before it dispelled itself in a cloud of smoke, leaving Hinata alone in the sanctuary.

She sighed again. Communication with Naruto was a bit difficult. He could summon swallows, but they had to actually fly the entire way from the Fire Capital to Konoha to deliver messages since no one else could summon them.

'_At least he is well. That is something.'_

The ruling family of the Land of Fire being demons was a very unexpected development… and a very dangerous one. Spirits and demons were rare, but far from unheard of. Unfortunately she had no idea how to proceed.

"I wish you would talk to me."

Only silence answered Hinata. She felt the presence of Youko and Daiki, but they didn't answer. The presence had gotten stronger since she had first visited the sanctuary after her awakening and was in fact stronger than before the invasion, but it seemed somehow dispersed. She knew from their awakening that they were still alive. Sometimes the wind seemed to caress her, but there seemed to be some problem with contacting her directly. By now she had expected to be pulled into the other world, too. She couldn't help but worry about the possible reasons.

That wasn't the only thing that occupied Hinata's mind. Her dreams had become strange and incomprehensible since she had woken up from her coma. She really needed advice on how to deal with that.

'_I have to go back soon.' _Hinata thought after a look at the position of the sun. It was always difficult to slip away, but she found it worth it. She felt more at home here in the sanctuary than in the rooms back in the Hyuuga compound she had lived in for more than a decade. Ever since her awakening the feeling had become drastically stronger.

Suddenly Hinata felt something shift in her surroundings.

'_Something is happening.'_

Getting to her feet, she tried to determine the origin of the feeling. It seemed to come from a specific point in the woods. Suddenly the wind tugged at her clothes. The direction matched those of the feeling.

"You want me to go there?"

Once again the wind tugged at her clothes, stronger this time.

"Alright."

Following the sensation, Hinata left the central clearing of the sanctuary behind, passing the patch of forest that was still in the grip of eternal winter. She didn't need long to arrive at the origin of the feeling. It was a large tree, one of the oldest in the sanctuary.

"I'm here. What now?" she asked.

No reaction was forthcoming, but the strange feeling increased in strength. It felt… expectant, as if something important would happen soon. One by one the noises of the forest felt silent. Hinata waited patiently.

When it happened it was decidedly unspectacular. One moment there was just a tree; in the next a small humanoid figure the size of her hand was standing on the roots. Its body was white and without any detailed features, like a clay doll. The head was overly large and ungainly, three uneven holes indicating eyes and a mouth. It didn't seem to be quite real.

'_A tree spirit?'_

The tiny thing looked at her in silence. It felt friendly, curious and expectant, not hostile in the slightest.

Hinata knelt down. "Hello there." She carefully held out a hand.

The spirit grabbed hold of her index finger, but it was gentle. She got a feeling of happiness from it. Then it moved its head in a peculiar manner, letting out a rattle. From one moment to the next all the noises of the forest returned, the atmosphere returning to normal.

After a few moments it let go, stepping back until it hit the tree. Then it simply disappeared into the bark. From time to time its head poked out of the trunk or a branch before disappearing again. The occasional rattle accompanied it.

'_Curious. Why now of all times?'_

They had expected the emergence of various small spirits for years, but nothing ever happened. The lack of newborn spirits despite the local abundance of magic had been perplexing. Something must have changed for that tree spirit to emerge.

'_Another question I don't know the answer to.'_

Sighing softly, Hinata stood up. Her time was up and she had to return to Konoha.

Several hours later, Hinata carefully sat down in the private rooms of her grandfather Hitoshi, her sister Hanabi beside her. He had called both his granddaughters for a conversation that promised to be very serious. She had not seen much of the old man in the weeks since her awakening. Immediately after he had been there, making sure she was alright, but then his duties had called him away again. The old man had tried to simultaneously handle the positions of clan head, council member and commander of the sentries protecting Konoha.

Every time Hinata had seen him he had looked worse. As an aspiring medic-nin she recognized the signs.

'_Too much stress, especially in combination with his poor health. He will die soon.'_

"Hinata, Hanabi, it is good to see you. I have called you to discuss your future. I will not live much longer and want to put matters in order."

Neither of the sisters said anything. They knew the truth of that statement. Their grandfather had always been a very distant figure. It was sad, but it didn't affect either of them to a great degree on an emotional level.

"The position of our family inside the clan is perilous. Your father made many enemies during his time as clan head. Others I made in the past. More of our family's allies than of our enemies died during the invasion. I fear the other main house families will try to relegate you two to the branch house as soon as I am gone. There will be no one left to speak for you. Your father leaving the question of heir hanging in the air for years didn't help matters. They will find some reason or make one up to justify it."

Hanabi grew agitated, but Hinata put a hand on her arm to calm her. "Is there anything we can do, Grandfather?" she asked.

"It pains me to say it, but no. People have already formed their opinions. Hinata, if you were a few years older and more skilled in the Gentle Fist I might have been able to persuade enough people to change their opinions and support you. You are good, but not good enough by far. They will use that as a possible pretext. Hanabi, you are simply too young."

Hitoshi's voice remained steady and nearly emotionless, but Hinata detected traces of regret. "Faced with this state of affairs I did the only thing I could to guarantee your continued stay in the main house. I arranged marriages for both of you. Hinata, you will marry Hideo as soon as you turn fifteen. I realize he is much older than you, but he is the best option. He lost both his wife and son during the invasion and is in need of a new heir. Hanabi, you will marry Manabu."

"But he his only a baby!" Hanabi blurted out.

"He is five, three years younger than you. That hardly makes him a baby. As soon as he turns thirteen you will marry. His parents didn't survive the invasion, but his grandmother is influential, alive and well… and a widow as well as past her childbearing years. She harbors many of the same fears I do. This match helps her as much as you. Lastly, Subaru's second son will be allowed to remain in the main house, taking the place of our family. Subaru has a good chance to become the next clan head, especially if I support him. His patronage will be essential until the time of your marriages." Hitoshi paused for a moment. "The betrothal ceremonies will take place in one week's time. I would have wished for you to have more of a say in the matter of your future husbands, but this is the best I can do. I am sorry."

Hinata felt like she was falling into a bottomless pit, but she managed to keep up a calm façade. She had feared something like this happening for a long time. Now she had a hard time limit.

* * *

><p>The being known as Youko, She-who-once-was-the-Kyuubi was feeling unwell.<p>

Their world should be feeling more spacious by now, but it didn't. As always she and her mate were constricted, pressed closely together and unable to unfold their being properly let alone move. The actual physical space available inside their own world was practically limitless, but in a spiritual sense they were severely constrained. Matters were not helped by the considerable part of her chakra that was trapped inside the seal. It always made her feel stretched thin and penned in at the same time.

The fight with the Ichibi and Reibi had cost them some of their metaphysical substance. The amount of themselves they had transferred outside while miniscule in relation to their overall size should have given them noticeable if small relief by now. Instead it felt as if the available space was actually growing smaller. Unexpectedly a sort of quake had disturbed the carefully crafted facsimile of the real world they normally maintained for the children's sake. Until they solved that mystery it would be unwise to allow Naruto and Hinata to visit them again.

Some time had passed until they were able to determine some facts. It was a miniscule amount, but she was getting bigger in relation to her mate. She had to compress one section of her before she could unfold another to properly examine it. Maintaining a habitable area for the children was impossible under the circumstances.

Finally she found the source of the problem. It was surprising, to say the least.

"Oh my. This is quite unexpected."

* * *

><p>"Fresh fish! Look, come closer! Fresh, very cheap fish!"<p>

Naruto scrunched up his nose. The fish certainly didn't smell fresh to him. He made certain to keep his distance from the stall and the fat blond merchant with the large mustache. Soon he left it and the smell behind and other stalls with merchants praising their goods grabbed his attention.

The market district near the river harbor was simply enormous, just like the rest of the Fire capital. Naruto found it somewhat intimidating. He had spent most of his life in the much smaller Konoha. While he had visited other cities with his team since his graduation from the academy those had been relatively short visits and the settlements had been not that much larger.

Despite being called village Konoha was a city with a population in the low ten thousands. The Fire capital was many times larger. It wasn't the largest city in the Land of Fire, but it didn't miss that mark by much. Without the river serving as a trading lane to bring in food from a good chunk of the country it would have been impossible to feed so many people in one place.

The fires the Wood shinobi had laid to cover their attack had done considerable damage to some districts, but after a couple of days city life had pretty much returned to normal. Now, just over two weeks later, nobody would notice anything amiss.

Looking up to a balcony overlooking the marketplace in front of him, Naruto saw an old man gesture him to come up. Climbing a set of stairs, Naruto joined a small group of people. Just like him they used a henge to conceal their true forms. His ability to sense chakra was nothing to write home about, but at such a short distance the technique was unmistakable even for him.

"Good, now that we are all here we can begin. Watch out. Yuna has been marked as a target. " the old man whispered.

Naruto unobtrusively scanned the crowd, trying to spot what the older shinobi was talking about. It took him a few moments to see it with all the people in the way. One of the kunoichi of the group was making her way across the marketplace, wearing the form of a much older woman with relatively wealthy clothing. A boy in poor clothing was moving through the crowd, always keeping at a short distance.

"Do you see it? Good. There are five other people who act similarly. They are positioning themselves near their targets, all wealthy looking. Six more have picked out market stands. " the man lectured while subtly pointing things out. "This group of thieves has good organization. Note how they keep their marks in reach, but wait for the right moment. I'm sure they have set up some distraction somewhere… ah, there it is."

A loud crash caused most visitors to stop in their business and look for the source. One large white draft animal had gone out of control and rammed a market stand, launching vegetables in all directions.

"MY CABBAGES!"

In that moment of general confusion the thieves struck. If Naruto had not been looking he would have missed it. One second the thieves were still a few arms' length away from their target. Then they closed the distance before walking away almost immediately.

The commotion continued to draw the attention of the crowd. From his vantage point Naruto could see the thieves continuing in their work for some time, but they stopped and disappeared before anyone noticed their presence.

A short time later Yuna reached them, wearing another form. "Everything went as planned, sensei."

"Well done. The thieves should get the message when they sort the loot." He turned towards the group. "Now, boys and girls, this was a textbook case of mass pocket-picking. The thieves did pretty much everything right."

"Will we follow them and turn them over to the city guard?" someone asked.

The man shrugged. "We aren't getting paid for that... yet. Crime has been on the upturn. If it continues the authorities will call us in. I hope that doesn't happen; we maintain friendly ties to the current leaders of the underworld in this district. They are useful on occasion. Hence the warning message Yuna delivered. If they don't cut back it will be their loss. Back to what I was saying… "

Naruto listened with interest while the man explained the different way of how thieves acted in big cities. Where large numbers of people gathered there were always those who sought to take advantage of others. Widespread poverty didn't help things.

Aside from him all of the listeners belonged to the sizable detachment Konoha maintained in the capital at all times. It was separate from the detachment serving the daimyo. The services it provided were much more centered on non-combat-related work like information brokering, spying, bodyguard duties in all its forms and various errands. Well, and a bit of assassination, but that was much rarer than what most normal people believed. Professional murder was quite expensive and not freely available. In consequence most shinobi stationed there weren't what one would call combat-focused.

There wasn't much to do at the palace and Naruto had decided to use the opportunity to learn more about their work (and put some distance between himself and a certain family of demons). A batch of new graduates had arrived just before the invasion of Konoha and was in the process of being trained on the job. Asuma had granted his request to join them for the day without any problems.

"Look, there are still a few opportunists at work, taking advantage of the distraction. See how disorganized they are? Some of them are practically amateurs and take unnecessary risks. It won't be long now."

"Thief! Stop the thief!" came the shout. Naruto watched when several people tried to get away. Not all managed. Three were caught and dragged away by the market guards.

"And that concludes our lesson. It's time to return. Split up into three groups. Aya, Kenichi, Woodchopper, you will take the eastern route. You may drop your henge."

Naruto groaned mentally. Many famous shinobi had one or several nicknames, many of them rather unimaginative. Kakashi was known as the Copycat, Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Professor and Anko as the Snake Mistress. In the same vein some people had taken to calling him 'Woodchopper' for his defeat of dozens of Wood shinobi. He really hoped it wouldn't stick.

As soon as the group was out of sight the two young shinobi accompanying him dropped their henge, returning to their true forms. They didn't wear their forehead protectors and their clothing made them blend in, not revealing their profession. To all appearances they were simply a group of middle-class teenagers.

"Whew, I don't think I could have kept it up any longer." Kenichi said, a boy perhaps one or two years older than Naruto.

"Same." Aya agreed, wiping several drops of sweat from her face. "I think the old greybeard wants to drive us to exhaustion. Why else would he make us keep up a henge during his entire lecture? As soon as we are back I'll be collapsing into bed."

"Not before you stored your gear away, you don't. You know they are only waiting for one of us to make such a mistake."

Naruto kept his henge up and remained silent. His chakra reserves weren't even measurably used. He could keep going pretty much indefinitely. He was pretty sure none of his friends would have such problems, not after such a relatively short time. It was a reminder of the fact most normal shinobi didn't have all that much chakra, especially at such a relatively young age.

"Hey Naruto, there's something I wanted to ask you the entire day. Are you the Naruto who was in my starting academy class around six years ago?" the girl suddenly asked.

Naruto blinked. He examined the girl again. The face was vaguely familiar, but he had written it off as a passing familiarity from the academy. Then he remembered. "You are the Aya who got her arm broken when you told on that bully. What was his name? Hagu-something?"

"Haguro." She giggled. "A few days later he was found hanging from the academy building clad only in diapers. I could see it from the hospital. That was so funny."

"I refuse to deny or confirm any involvement in those incidents." Naruto replied with mock seriousness. He had almost forgotten that. It seemed so long ago. Besides, he had given up pranking for good.

"You didn't make it to the next year, if I remember right. I sort of lost track of you then."

Naruto nodded. "I was younger than all of you. It was rather difficult for me to keep up with everything."

Aya moved closer to him. "How about I show you where we go to amuse ourselves when our teachers aren't breathing down our necks? Talking about old times, catching up and all that stuff." Her fingers brushed lightly against the back of his hand, tracing random patterns. "I would love to hear what you have been up to. Is it true you destroyed a flying fortress all on your own? That's so heroic!"

'_Is she hitting on me?'_

Before Naruto could formulate an answer Kenichi snickered. "Smooth, very smooth, Aya. Didn't you say you are tired?"

"Shut up!" she hissed back. "Just becau-"

From one moment to the next everything changed. Naruto didn't even blink; his surroundings simply changed without any transition.

The formerly busy street was empty. The stalls were gone as were his companions. Everything had assumed a dilapidated state. The sky was suddenly heavily overcast.

'_Genjutsu?'_

Naruto didn't feel anything interacting with his chakra, but just to be safe he performed a genjutsu-dispelling technique. Unfortunately nothing changed.

Grey fog began appearing, filling the street and turning everything beyond his immediate vicinity into barely discernible silhouettes. He could hear the occasional scratching sound. It was as if someone was taking sharp metallic objects or claws and testing every available surface.

'_Okay, someone is trying to fuck with me. That much is obvious.'_

Naruto decided to take the initiative. "I know you are there. Who are you?"

"I stalk the night with eyes of flame. Beware the jaws that bite, the claws that catch." It was a masculine, cultured voice that seemed to come from every direction at once.

Pairs of glowing eyes began appearing into the mist. All were inhuman. All were different.

Suddenly Naruto spottedone pair of luminescent green eyes he was sure he had seen not long ago. _'The cat.'_

"You watched me in the palace park." he said out loud.

"Indeed. How fine you looked when dressed in rage. Your enemies are fortunate your condition is not permanent. You are lucky, too. Red eyes suit so few."

Naruto felt the control over his chakra slipping. Within moments he found himself unable to mould even the tiniest quantity of chakra. An attempt to draw on his mother's chakra was equally unsuccessful. He realized he was in deep trouble. This was an attack… one he was ill-prepared to meet. Only one option remained.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Naruto shouted. At the same time he used his magic to invoke something or rather someone more powerful than him. _'Father of Stars, I call for your help…'_

"Someone. No one. Anyone. The proper order of things is often a mystery to me. Enlighten me. What reason has the predator to spare its prey?"

"I don't understand. That doesn't mean anything to me." _'… I find myself in mortal peril…'_

"The uninformed must improve their deficit, or die." The mist rushed in, countless claws gleaming.

'…_grant your son your protection.'_ Tiny stars exploded outwards from Naruto, forming a protective curtain. A terrible screeching noise erupted when it met the claws. Stars simply winked out of existence, their light extinguished. At the same time the claws shattered into nothingness.

The stars won out, pushing back the fog. Naruto felt enormous power flowing through him. Suddenly the advancement stopped, an equally great power pushing against his. They fought for a moment until an equilibrium established itself. A circle of half a dozen meters was free of fog. Beyond that he could see only vague forms. The eyes had disappeared.

The mists parted slightly to reveal a massive cat hovering in thin air. Large, luminous eyes were constantly changing their color. One thing that immediately caught Naruto's attention were the oversized claws. The creature didn't seem perturbed in the slightest by the ongoing struggle between the fog and stars. If anything it seemed amused.

"Interesting. A reflection sometimes exposes more than the object it echoes. Tell me, starspawn, who are you? You carry a demon and use its power, yet you call on divine protection from your father."

"I am Naruto Uzumaki."

"The name means nothing to me. I can't know everything about your mortal families. Pretend you're an orphan and explain more clearly." The cat stopped his speech and gasped. "That was rude, you are." He made a show of examining Naruto closely. "Or rather you were. I reckon your current parents are very much alive. Two sets of parents, one pair mortal and cut off, one not."

The thing was creeping Naruto out. "How do you know that?"

The cat laughed, showing rows upon rows of needle-sharp teeth in the process. "It is plain to see for those who can truly see. The demon conceals much, but such things never stopped me. A demon bound, a mortal body, yet inside your soul I see the seed of divinity."

Naruto remained silent, not knowing what to do. He couldn't draw on more power. In fact, he found himself tiring rapidly. Whatever the being was, it could bring more power to bear than him. Just when he finished the thought he felt something inside him rise.

"And not any seed. Unplanted seeds dry out and die. Nature has ordained that certain seeds require assistance to fulfill their destiny. Your seed has been nourished and cherished. Stars and sun, you reek of their touch. Newcomers, if my memory is anything to go by."

The cat dissolved into mist. Another appeared; this one mangy looking with poisonous yellow eyes. "Newcomers I owe some thanks to, as it appears. After all, I slept long past my usual naptime… although the wakeup-call was rude and produced no end of trouble. The owl knows a thing or two and I myself don't need a weathervane to tell which way the wind blows. To the great powers of this realm we are all victims in-waiting."

Once again the cat disappeared. In return cats of all shapes and sizes stepped out of the mist, looked at Naruto, poked at the curtain of stars and walked away again.

A sleek beast remained closer, its claws crushing the lights one by one. "Small you are and helpless and therefore prey, yet prey that did me a service. My hunt will remain unfruitful, the quarry allowed to escape. The Weavers weave their web of fate, seeking to ensnare all in their design. How I love to tangle their threads. You, your burden and your parents will serve well for that purpose, godspawn."

The mangy cat reappeared amidst the stream of felines. "Let me give you some advice. Every journey requires a first step. Trite, but true, even for such as us and especially for our spawn. Only a few find the way; some don't recognize it when they do; some don't ever want to. Steps to enlightenment brighten the way; but the steps are steep. Take them one at a time. Cling closely to the path, little godling. A fall will dash your head along with all your hopes."

Naruto was slowly growing frustrated. "What are you talking about? Why are you speaking in riddles?"

The cat that answered was black-and-white. One leg had been replaced with a wooden peg and an eye patch hid one eye. "Because I am what I am. I would tell you what you want to know if I could, but I am a cat. And no cat anywhere, ever gave anyone a straight answer. Besides, it's far more fun this way."

"For you, perhaps." Naruto said. His knees began to buckle. His mind remained strangely clear for all the power he was channeling, but he couldn't continue much longer. The rising concentration of power had almost reached the surface.

"And that is the only opinion that matters." the fat cat replied, sounding smug. "Seek the owl and his great library if you want explanations. He will help… for a price. You won't find him easily, though. Call one of his servants and make a deal. Under northern ice you will find a proper shrine. The influence of knowledge is telling. And that is all I will say. Toodeloo!" At that the cat's grin stretched far too wide, showing far too many needle-sharp teeth in the process. Then it faded away until only the smile hung in the air. Finally even that disappeared into the swirling fog.

From one moment to the next everything returned to normal. A split second later the protective envelope of stars collapsed into Naruto, disappearing from the world.

"-se you don't know any…" Aya stopped, blinking. "Did something happen? I thought I was seeing stars for a moment."

Kenichi snickered again. "Stars, hm? It's more likely you are a bit starstruck."

"Idiot."

With an enormous effort of will Naruto suppressed any reaction. His legs felt like jelly. He was pretty sure he had just come within a whisker of an extremely messy death… and he had been unable to do a damned thing about it.

He didn't remember much of the rest of the way. Aya tried to flirt shamelessly, but Naruto kept to short, neutral response. When he left with a vague promise to visit again she looked incredibly frustrated. Kenichi in turn collapsed in helpless laughter as soon as he thought Naruto out of earshot.

When Naruto turned the nearest corner into a side alley he stopped and leaned against the wall of the nearest house to get his head in order. Faintly he heard the voices of his two companions.

"Don't laugh, you idiot. This is my great chance. He just needs a little more time to warm to me."

"I don't think so. You do know that he already has a girlfriend, do you?"

"WHAT!?"

"Seriously, Aya. It was the talk of the village. He's been together with Yakumo Kurama for almost a year. Well, if the rumors one of the newcomers told are anything to go by he's banging Ino Yamanaka at the same time. They live together, you know."

At that point Naruto stopped listening. He didn't need to hear those rumors again. It was astonishing what stories people came up with. He was absolutely sure some of the things he allegedly got up to were anatomically impossible.

Once Naruto felt recovered enough he whistled. A moment later a swallow swept down from the roofs, landing on his shoulder.

"Did you notice anything suspicious while I was with the two?" he asked.

"I have nothing to report." The swallow tilted its head. "You don't look good, Naruto-sama. Is something the matter?"

'_So whoever that cat was separated me completely from everyone without them even noticing.'_ He breathed deeply. "It's nothing."

A minute later he continued on his way. Once back in the palace he retreated into the room set aside for him. He really needed to lie down. Fortunately it was already evening and it didn't seem as if his presence was required for anything.

The familiar pulling sensation he had missed for so long came as an immense relief. He gave in immediately. After a short moment of darkness he woke up in his alcove in a familiar cottage. He immediately got out of bed and into the main room.

"Naruto?"

"Hinata?"

Naruto found himself embracing Hinata. Closing his wet eyes, he held her tightly, immersing himself in the sensation. He didn't know how long they stood there in their embrace.

Finally they separated a bit. "I missed you so much. I thought I had lost you."

"I will never leave you." Hinata's expression grew worried when she got a good look at him. "You don't look well."

Naruto shuddered. "I think I just narrowly escaped death. I have to talk with Mom and Dad immediately."

Since nobody was here they headed for the door. As soon as they stepped outside they came to an abrupt halt.

"What the heck happened here?"

The cottage was there, but most of the surrounding landscape was simply missing. Aside from a few trees and parts of the meadow there was only white nothingness.

The forms of Youko and Daiki suddenly appeared in front of them. In the next moment Naruto found himself gathered up in a big hug alongside Hinata. As soon as they were released his father repeated the gesture, albeit a bit more reservedly.

"You have many questions." he said when he released them. "We will do our best to answer them. There are important matters to discuss. But first, we have some news to tell you."

"I'm pregnant!" a beaming Youko announced.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for your reviews.


	45. Chapter 44: Deliberations and deceptions

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto

**Chapter 44: Deliberations and deceptions**

Naruto stared at his mother in surprised disbelief. He couldn't have heard that right. "You are what?"

"You heard me. I'm pregnant."

Naruto couldn't help himself. He looked at his mother's belly. It seemed to be as slim as always.

The action provoked a chuckle from Youko. "You won't see any signs here. This body has nothing to do with it." She gestured at the bench near the house. "Let's sit down to talk."

"I thought you were not able to have children while you are here?" Hinata asked.

"We thought so, too." his father answered. "There isn't enough free metaphysical space for us to unfold properly. Supernatural procreation is complicated and has very little to do with how things work with mortals. We should not be in a state where that can happen."

"We were wounded during the invasion. That translates to a loss of substance. Our best guess is that made enough room. Our proximity to each other did the rest. We were almost finished recuperating when the world we constructed for your sake collapsed. It took us some time to figure things out from there. Our compressed state means we aren't completely aware of all our parts." Youko gestured at the white nothingness surrounding their island of reality. "That is the reason for this. We are sure we can keep this small piece of reality stable under all imaginable circumstances, but the larger it gets the greater the danger becomes. Although, now that you know about it I suppose we can put an illusion in place. The view might be disconcerting. You can act as if this world completely normal; we will compensate for your movements." A moment later the whiteness was replaced by the familiar woods and meadows.

Naruto thought about the information for a few seconds. Then he blinked. "You mean the baby kicking caused everything here to collapse?"

"In a way, although the talk of 'pregnancy' and 'baby' is only paraphrasing the true state of things." Daiki explained. "Offspring of those like us can be extremely varied in nature. Gods have given birth to things like abstract ideas, natural landmarks like mountains and rivers, new gods, spirits or entire species of mortal creatures."

"I think it will be some sort of spiritual entity, maybe even a god in its own right, but it is too early to tell." Youko added. "It might be many years until I give birth. Or it could happen in a few weeks."

"Will the child be trapped here, too?" Naruto asked worriedly.

Both his parents shook their heads. "No, it should be free to leave. Your mother is tangled up in the seal and you. I can leave at any time, but that would drag Youko with me and violently unravel everything. The same isn't true for our offspring."

That took a load of Naruto's mind. Then he remembered something his parents had just said. "Wait, you said you were wounded. Are you alright?"

"We are fine now, really. It only took us a little longer to heal than expected. The battle was hard-fought, but we won in the end. We are very proud of you."

Youko showed her teeth in a ferocious smile. "We crushed the worm that dared attack us. Or rather, Hinata did. She burned him away using my power." Then her expression grew somber. "How are you, Hinata? We feared we would lose you."

Hinata gave her a small, calming smile. "I think I'm okay, but I'm not really sure what happened starting from the point when I tapped into the power of the sun."

"We will have to talk about that at length, but not now." Naruto's father declared. "There is an urgent matter. Naruto, you were attacked just a few hours ago."

Hinata whirled around to face him, worry written on her face. "What happened?"

"One second I was walking through a street full of people. In the next I was alone in some sort of twisted copy of the streets." Naruto continued relating his encounter with the being that had attacked him and touching on the nature of the Land of Fire's ruling family.

Youko growled when he finished, her eyes flaring red. "That pest dares to lay hand on you! I will crush him out of existence!"

"You know who he is?" Hinata asked.

"Yes, I remember him. Once he was a king of cats, part animal and part spirit. He ascended later, but he is a strange fellow. Not mighty in terms of raw power, but dangerous nonetheless. Luck, misfortune and insidiousness are his tools and treachery his trade. Slippery, too. I remember being sent to destroy him more than once during the Age of Gods, but the little pest escaped every time."

"Does he have a name?" Naruto asked.

"Not anymore, as far as anyone can tell. The pest somehow erased everything from existence. It is one reason for why he is so difficult to get hold off. Names and titles represent connections and have power. Without them he is almost impossible to find. At the same time it weakens him a great deal, but apparently he considered that drawback worthwhile."

"Why did he attack Naruto? What did he want?"

Youko chuckled darkly. "What they all want. He wanted the Kyuubi's power. My power. If he could devour me as I had been as a tailed beast he would gain in strength enormously, probably enough to bring him to a higher level of existence. It would also have shifted him considerably towards the demonic side of things, but I suppose that is a minor consideration for a nasty little pest like him."

"If Naruto had not called upon me or shown even the slightest weakness he would have killed him without a doubt. Even while he talked he tried very hard to break through the protection. He only retreated when I was about to take control and strike directly at him." Daiki added before turning to Naruto. "Take note of how he saw you using the Kyuubi's power, but he retreated and attacked much later when he had figured out a way to do so safely. He was very careful about things and bent everything possible into his favor."

"You are talking about how I couldn't use my chakra or draw on mom's." Naruto remarked. That had come as nasty surprise.

"Yes. He effectively took you into himself. There he made the rules. It wouldn't have worked if you were already drawing on the Kyuubi's power. You had a small window of opportunity, but I think he would have simply sent you back out… and that would have caused a commotion in the city."

"Damned if I did, damned if I didn't." Naruto thought a moment. "Why didn't he come after me when I slept? I would have been completely helpless."

"A good question and not one I have an answer for. Maybe he was leery of the daimyo and his wives?" Daiki sent a questioning glance at Youko.

Youko nodded. "That is possible. The cat was always a coward. He prefers to prey on the weak. There is such a thing as caution and stacking the odds. Then there is what the cat does. He likes to stir things up, the more chaos the better. It is almost impossible to get a straight answer out of him as he finds frustration and confusion amusing. He has freed captives only to sound the alarms and set the pursuers on the trail. He has led lost groups out of the woods into unfamiliar lands from which they have no way back to their home. He has told people things that impel them to take risky courses of actions. Then he stands by and laughs while those who trusted him fall to their doom. Only at the end, when they are helpless does he steal what is left."

"Then the advice he gave me…"

"Is most certainly poisoned in some way." Youko made a vague gesture. "Most of it was true enough, though. The cat lies only very rarely. He gives just enough valuable advice to make it impossible to completely discount what he says. We will have to go over everything he said and did in great detail. That will take us some time."

They were silent for a few seconds. Then Naruto spoke up again. "The cat could tell that you are my parents."

"Well, we are. After your confrontation with the shades of Kushina and Minato you declared it yourself. Such a declaration matters. Even before that you had some little piece from each of us ingrained in you. You are our firstborn son in every way that counts."

"He didn't seem surprised to encounter someone like me."

"It is more common than you would think. Take Konoha's great clans. The Uchiha's cursed eyes are a demonically tainted older bloodline. The Senju were a different branch originating from the same bloodline, but they lost all perks aside from the occasionally appearing Wood Release. The Hyuuga still retain a small spark of divinity, although it doesn't actually do anything for them. The Kurama have been warped by a demonic pact. The Inuzuka have bred with some sort of animal spirit with demonic tendencies. Only the Yamanaka seem to be free of any sort of supernatural heritage. We aren't sure about the origins of the Aburame, Akimichi and Nara." Daiki explained.

"The cat has been asleep for at least a thousand years. He is probably used to a higher density of supernatural beings and their partly mortal offspring. Encountering some first generation offspring wouldn't be anything unusual." Youko added. "I wish I could remember more."

"That makes sense, I suppose." Suddenly Naruto realized something. "Wait, what was that about the Kurama and a demonic pact?"

Daiki nodded. "It is something we learned only recently. With parts of us able to act in the outside world we can gather more information. By now I'm sure that the Kurama bloodline was created by a powerful demon in the course of a pact. It seems to have been the original Kurama performing a service and receiving a boon in exchange kind of deal. At least there is no outstanding debt. My best guess is that the boon came with some time limit, like a hundred generations or something like it. That limit ran out, leading to the destabilization and decline of the Kurama bloodline."

"Why wouldn't the bloodline power simply disappear if it has a time limit?" Hinata asked.

"Because some people marrying into different generations causes uncertainty in the lineage. Your friend Yakumo is probably more than a hundred generations away by some counts and less than a hundred by other counts. Although, Yakumo is lucky. I'm convinced that the bloodline has stabilized into a new form in her case. That happens sometimes for a variety of reasons."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good news, I suppose."

"We have many things to talk about, but I can see that you need some rest. It is not urgent; we have time. Would you like to continue now or only at the end of your stay here? We need some days to go over the information you acquired, too." Daiki said.

Naruto looked at Hinata. She shrugged slightly, leaving the decision to him. He thought a few seconds before answering. "If you can give me an overview now and everything else at the end of our stay it would be best. I don't want to deal with that stuff now if I can help it."

"Very well. All of us survived more or less intact. Konoha is still standing. All your friends are still alive and well. We managed to subdue the Ichibi and gain it as a future ally. Unfortunately we woke pretty much every sleeping being of power in the world. The entire game has changed. Overall, I think we can still call it a victory."

"With that out of the way, let's have some fun!" Youko's form shimmered and changed into that of an elephant-sized fox. "How about a little ride?"

A minute later Naruto and Hinata were holding on for dear life as Youko raced across the endless plains. Both were laughing in delight. The feeling of the air rushing all around them was enormously liberating.

It had been over a month since Naruto's last visit. So much had happened. The invasion of Konoha and its aftermath, the search for Tsunade, the rescue of the Fire Daimyo, the attack of the cat god. Several times he had come very close to dying. Despite all his efforts to relax the stress had built up and up.

Finally, finally Naruto could bring himself to relax. Here he was safe. For once he didn't need to worry about people discovering his secrets, about Akaktsuki or other attackers, about spirits, demons and gods appearing from the woodwork. For a few days he could just enjoy life with people he loved.

* * *

><p>Hinata looked out over the flower-covered meadows from the shade of a tree, a content smile on her face. The last days had been pure joy. No duties, no responsibilities, no fear of the future. She had needed this. Her time in Konoha since her awakening had not been particularly stressful, but the things looming ahead had always been on her mind. Part of the time had been spent with Naruto's parents, but on other occasions they had left Naruto and her alone to give them some space. They hadn't brought up any important matters, either; for a time they had been just a family.<p>

Naruto's head rested in her lap. His eyes were closed, but she could tell from his breathing that he wasn't sleeping. For once he was completely relaxed. At the beginning of their visit his tension and paranoia had been palpable. Their double lives had always put some stress onto them, but Naruto took it harder than her.

All other considerations aside, as an aspiring medic Hinata knew how important the ability to rest and relax was. Someone unable to alleviate stress would break sooner or later. Naruto had been nowhere close to the breaking point, but it was still worrying.

'_He has ample reason to be paranoid, but that makes it only worse.'_

The invasion had only been the beginning for Naruto. Akatsuki had begun actively hunting him. Then he came close to death during his rescue of the Fire Daimyo. The attack of the cat god only reinforced the feeling that he was never safe.

There were threats on every level, supernatural and mundane. With Konoha's situation as it was there was a high likelihood of assassination attempts by other villages. There were simply too many powers that had an interest in Naruto.

The worst part was that Hinata could think of no way to truly alleviate Naruto's paranoia. In his situation it was completely rational to become paranoid. An enemy could strike at any time. All she could do was help him deal with it.

'_At least he can relax here. Things should be fine in the long run.'_

Putting the matter out of her mind for the time being, Hinata returned to enjoying the day and Naruto's closeness. She only wished they could act that way in the outside world, but that was impossible.

Suddenly Naruto's parents emerged from behind a tree some distance away, slowly making their way towards them. Hinata was thankful that they afforded them the courtesy of not appearing directly beside them.

Naruto opened his eyes and sat up when they arrived. "Is it time already?"

Daiki nodded. "Yes. We need to talk seriously, but there are some individual issues we think should be addressed separately first. "

"Naruto, please come with me. You used my power extensively and there are some things we need to go over."

"Okay, mom." Naruto stood up, but not before kissing Hinata lightly on the cheek.

Naruto and Youko walked away until they suddenly disappeared entirely. Hinata frowned. It wasn't an unusual occurrence in this place, but there was _something_ about it. She couldn't quite grasp it.

Daiki sitting down at her side interrupted that train of thought.

"What do you want to talk about first?" Hinata asked.

"Your engagement would be a good start."

Hinata blinked. She had not said anything about that yet.

"Yes, I read your mind. Normally we act as if we don't, but you know very well that the truth is different. We can't not read your minds while you are here." He paused for a moment. "I wouldn't bring it up, but you didn't intend to talk about it on this visit. I feel the point needs to be addressed."

"There's nothing we can do about it. I don't have any choice in the matter." she replied, the bitterness evident in her voice.

"On the contrary. The betrothal isn't a true threat at all. Until a few months ago you could always take refuge in the sanctuary if something like this happened. Now, with the swallows at our disposal there is nothing preventing you from going missing at any point in time, say a few months before your wedding. Faking your death or abduction should be incredibly easy. While we would prefer to have you at Naruto's side your presence in Konoha is not truly necessary. With the swallows' help the entire world is open to you."

Hinata froze for a moment. Then she blushed in embarrassment. That solution had never entered her mind. She suddenly felt very silly. "What about Hanabi?"

"Your sister is still very young. She has many years before her marriage becomes an urgent matter. By then we will be in a position to intervene if necessary." Daiki gave her measuring look. "The matter touches another issue. Hinata, we think you are displaying a worrying tendency to obsess about some things. You are talking yourself into taking self-sacrificial actions without clear need."

"What are you talking about?"

"In addition to the entire matter about your clan there is the fight against the Ichibi. I will not say you were wrong in doing so, but you fought on far past the point of reason without hope of victory. When Youko took over your body was a ruin. You could have disengaged and called upon us earlier. Then there is the end of the battle when you agreed to be given access to one of Youko's domains." He sighed. "It was necessary, but we didn't do it gladly. You were almost eager to sacrifice yourself. The desire is mostly subconscious, but it is definitely there. It is something you have to watch out for."

Hinata was silent while Daiki waited patiently for her answer. She wanted to deny his claims, but she did trust him to know better than her. Perhaps she really did have a problem. That would require some introspection.

"I promise I will think about it." Hinata paused for a moment before she addressed the most important matter on her mind. "What exactly happened after I drew on the power of the sun?"

"Your soul was falling apart. Too much power of a kind a mortal cannot endure. That is the sort of damage even we cannot fix. Frankly, placing you in the Gate was a measure of desperation." He looked directly into her eyes. "You were very, very lucky. The Gate brought you to the heart of the world, the place were all concepts that form reality come together. You touched the world itself. That saved you, but it had consequences for your very nature."

Hinata remembered the place, the feeling of everything, even if she wasn't particularly sure what had happened. She had touched the world and the world had touched back. The next thing she remembered was walking on a path and trying to get back home. "What am I?"

"Considerable less mortal than you were. All Hyuuga carry a divine spark, a last ember of their progenitor. I changed yours to act as an anchor and doorway to this world. It shattered along the rest of your soul when channeling the power of the sun. Now it is so much more. When you interacted with the heart of the world you took concepts into yourself and fused them together with your shattered soul to create a new whole. For physical purposes you are still human, spiritually… not so much."

She needed a few moments to find her voice after that revelation. "I didn't notice any real difference since I woke up."

Daiki nodded. "Currently it is mostly your soul that is changed. Those who can see will no longer take you for a human. I expect your mind and body will follow in time. It will be a gradual process. Be glad for that. Those who rise too fast usually fall quickly. In many ways this is the best outcome we could hope for."

Hinata wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Daiki and Youko had subtly encouraged her and Naruto towards becoming other than human, although they had never discussed concrete plans. Hinata didn't really have any objection to that, but she was very unsure how it would change her.

"What can I do about it?"

"Frankly, nothing at this time. You live your life as before and we will deal with any issues as they arise. You could try some deep meditation, but I'm not sure how useful that will be. Mainly you need time for things to develop."

"Isn't there anything you can tell me? It's very unclear. I could use some reassurance."

The black-haired man gave her an understanding look. "I realize that you want to know more, but this is all I can tell you at this time. Finding out more would require intrusive methods and I don't want to risk it. I can't even tell what concepts you connected with."

"What exactly you mean by concepts? I remember touching the world in specific places that felt right, but I don't recall anything about concepts."

"All beings resonate with certain concepts and principles, although it is only truly relevant for spiritual entities. You can call them domains. They aren't exclusive. Neither are they well-defined. Countless spirits both greater and lesser, demons and gods can share the same domain without being in any sort of hierarchy or having connections with each other. Even if you take, say, ten gods of fire of equal power they will always put their individual spin on things. What you did was taking those concepts you resonated with into yourself, changing your fundamental nature."

"Did I do the right thing?"

"Touching the heart of the world was the best you could possibly do. You would have fallen apart otherwise. It was a unique opportunity, too. Accessing the heart of the world directly is practically impossible for most purposes. Especially for a human. Making the jump to a changed nature is one of the most difficult steps in the entire process of ascending. It was an extremely risky shortcut. Only my power allowed you to get there in the first place. If you had chosen poorly it is likely the resulting resonance would have destroyed you completely or warped you into something unrecognizable."

Hinata suddenly felt very cold. She had acted purely on instinct then without understanding what she was actually doing. If she had made a mistake… it didn't bear thinking about.

Daiki apparently recognized her distress and gave her a fatherly hug. "You don't have to worry, Hinata. You chose wisely and will be fine."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. "So, how far away am I from becoming a proper goddess?" Hinata finally asked in an attempt to lighten her mood.

Naruto's father chuckled. "Far away, Hinata. The way is long, stony and dangerous. There are countless pitfalls; the cat was right in that regard. It is only too easy to end up in a dead end. Before the invasion Naruto was actually closer to the goal than you. Now you have surpassed him for the time being." He stood up. "I think it's time to meet up with Naruto. Just remember, don't try to consume any energy fields bigger than your head."

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled when Hinata and his father rejoined them. He took her hand and squeezed slightly when she sat down at his side. They would have to talk later. Then his attention returned to his father as he began recapitulating the events of the invasion. Naruto had been knocked out for parts of it, although the swallows had already told him what had happened. The detailed account was interesting nonetheless.<p>

"Now, on to the analysis of the invasion and the aftermath. Perhaps our biggest victory was that we were able to subdue the free Ichibi and gain its allegiance. It is the least powerful of the tailed beasts, but it holds much power nonetheless."

"My sibling is in the process of restructuring itself with the help of our combined power. That will take an undefined amount of time. This takes it out of play for the time being, but we will have powerful support in the future nobody will see coming and deny it to others." Youko turned towards them. "Gaara survived, by the way. He is currently inside the Ichibi. I suppose you could consider the Ichibi an aunt and Gaara a cousin."

Naruto nodded. He had tried to stay away from Gaara due to the danger the boy posed, but he had pitied him because of what they had found about his early life. Demon containers had it hard in life and Gaara was an especially egregious example. At least the boy's siblings seemed to really care for him.

"Jashin did something to the Hyuuga during the invasion. One of his priests was present and used some of his power. We observed another spike of power and felt Jashin's presence inside the Hyuuga compound for a moment before it disappeared again. Combined with my visions beforehand we think he enacted some sort of curse, but when we look we see nothing out of the ordinary. We simply can't tell if there is anything abnormal."

"You should keep your eyes open. Especially you, Hinata. Hopefully we will be able to recognize what Jashin did and reverse it."

"On to the Reibi. I freely admit we underestimated it. In the grand scheme of things the Reibi was only a minor threat that was in just the wrong spot at the wrong time and grew to a major one. Its first attack on you, its use in the Sky fortress to create the equivalent to a bijuudama and especially when it attacked us directly are examples of this. We simply didn't foresee how much the conflict in Konoha would strengthen it, but on the flipside that very strength would have drained away very quickly. Demons and spirits connected with human emotion are one of the most common types. The Reibi was unusual in how quickly it could grow, though."

"In the end we crushed it, but the consequences are dire." Youko said.

Daiki nodded. "Indeed. It's death cry combined with everything else going on echoed through the entire world and woke up practically every being with spiritual awareness. We can no longer keep our existence a secret. In the time since the invasion no less than four entities of undetermined power and nature took a personal look at Konoha, fortunately without interfering. None sought conflict, but they didn't communicate either."

"Wow, that's bad." Naruto said. That was nearly a worst-case scenario. All sorts of nightmarish consequences were already taking shape in his mind.

Youko made a calming gesture. "It isn't quite as dire as if it may seem. Deception is key. Instead of seeing two greater gods bound and nearly helpless we try to create the image of two locally limited minor gods who can bring a lot of power to bear near their stronghold, but aren't really a factor to anything in the wider world."

"As far as we can tell the deception is successful even under scrutiny. We would have preferred avoiding a trial by fire, but the attack on you proved our success. The cat didn't actually recognize that we are bound inside you, Naruto. Well, this realm isn't truly 'inside' you, but aside from the sanctuary it is the primary access point." Daiki explained.

"We enacted measures to conceal your status as a demon container. The cat saw through that, possibly because he was already watching the palace when you used my chakra. The Kyuubi's demonic chakra masks your soul. The cat saw through that as well, correctly identifying you as not quite human and your relationship to two gods, but only when you called on your father's power. There are two additional layers of deception. The partly divine nature of your soul covers the four tails of divine chakra bound in you, thereby obscuring the fact that I as Kyuubi am identical to your mother, the goddess. As far as we can tell the cat didn't realize that."

"The final layer is that the entirety of nine tails of chakra and your soul bars the connection to this realm and our true nature. This is the most critical secret of them all. All in all I think we can call our attempt at deception a success." Daiki finished the explanation. "That is pretty much everything regarding metaphysical consequences on our side. You and Hinata will have to speak about what happened to her when she is ready."

Naruto cast a worried glance at the girl at his side, but she gave him a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, Naruto. You don't have to worry. I just have to come to terms with some things."

"I take your word for it." Naruto turned back to his parents. "Do you have any details about who woke up? Who they are, what their intentions are, all that stuff."

"Not as much as we would like." Daiki answered. "This is what we know."

A large statue of white and black marble appeared on the meadow in front of them, depicting a black humanoid figure with visible white bones and holding a scythe.

"Jashin, the Wicked Heart of Death and Slaughter. He is one of those we have the most information about. In the Age of Gods he was a mid-tier player, but he has apparently grown in power since then. His aspects are centered on death, destruction, sacrifice and mass murder. He has been active for several years and has already gained a priesthood, probably spread out all over the world. In short, he has a head start."

"He has been careful not to cause any widely felt disturbances, meaning he was trying to let the others sleep while he gorged himself on sacrifices. Not a team player." Daiki added. "It seems he prefers to act through disposable mortal pawns. His interventions seem to happen all over the world, but are of limited magnitude. On the other hand, he might change his approach in light of the new situation."

Naruto nodded. "We met his followers back on our third mission out of Konoha."

"Jashin can be presumed to be hostile, but he is cautious and prone to avoiding direct confrontations. I don't believe there is any chance for us to reach an accommodation of any sort with him. In the same vein we don't believe he will ally with anyone else. He knows only slaves, pawns and victims, not partners."

Two new statues appeared: A man with horns and a woman holding a tree sapling in her hands.

"These two are the ones the daimyo's wife identified as the Horned Lord and the Lady of the Tree. They felt vaguely familiar, but I have no further memories of them. The Horned Lord was apparently bound on the southern continent, woke up and freed himself in an extremely noticeable manner. Then he relocated to another continent on the other side of the world and caused another great disturbance. He seems to have considerable connection to all of the world's elements." Youko said.

"From what we can tell he woke or freed his partner. In the process he returned free magic to an area of the world, similar to what we did with the sanctuary, but markedly grander in scale. Since then we have detected no further activity, but it might just be outside of our perception."

"We are working from very limited information, but the two seem to be the most powerful of all the beings we observed. We don't know if they will be outright hostile or if some sort of accommodation is possible. Don't take any chances if you encounter them."

Three statues appeared, depicting cloaked and hooded figures.

"The Weavers of Destiny, the Three That are One. Mid-tier powers, but very good at leveraging what they have. They have become active a few weeks ago. Minor manipulations and manifestations bearing their mark are taking place all over the world. I think they are using something similar to my prophetic abilities to get the most effect for minimal effort."

"Aren't those the ones the cat talked about?" Hinata asked.

"Yes. We have no reason to presume them to be hostile. In fact, I recall them to be rather peaceable. It would be just like the cat to set potential allies against each other." Youko shrugged. "We have no idea about their intentions."

Seven medium-sized statues appeared, wrapped in chains. Naruto immediately recognized them as the tailed beasts.

"The seven remaining tailed beasts, sealed in mortals and subjected to the Sage of Six Paths' dominion. If they throw off their shackles each will become a mid or high tier demon. You can presume them to be hostile, although limited cooperation might be possible. We expect other powers to actively hunt them down soon."

"That will play hell with the Great Hidden Villages." Naruto remarked. "Jinchuuriki are strategic assets. If they are attacked by supernatural beings it will throw everything even more into chaos."

"You should know that the Sanbi is out of play for the time being. Its host was killed near the time of the invasion. The Sanbi's essence was dispersed. It will be years until it will pull itself together again."

"We knew that already. The Mizukage Yagura is dead." Hinata said. "That will plunge Kiri into civil war. Everyone agreed that he was the only factor holding the village together."

Naruto made a thoughtful expression. "I'm still not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing for Konoha and us personally."

"Back to the matter at hand. We already spoke about the cat god who attacked you." A small grey statue of a cat materialized. "He is a liar and we don't trust him in the slightest. Neither should you. The owl he spoke about probably exists and holds valuable knowledge. We are reasonably sure it was one of the entities that took a look at Konoha. Currently we assume the shrine is some sort of trap. On the other hand, he might have spoken the truth in that matter. As we don't have any idea about the shrine's location it doesn't really matter for now. Unfortunately that is pretty much every being we have information about. That leaves these." Daiki gestured towards the meadow.

Naruto looked out over the meadow. There were now almost two dozen featureless statues of large and medium size and hundreds of smaller ones scattered across the grass. "Who are they?"

"The large ones represent the ones I detected before I made my entrance to this world and some traces we picked up since the invasion. We don't have enough information to say anything about them. There are too many players and pieces on the field. It becomes hard to determine anything because the sheer number of supernatural interventions begins to obscure any details. Even small gods and spirits are waking up and make their presence felt."

"Before the invasion the situation was similar to spotting isolated fires in the night. Now the entire world is ablaze and it will only get worse." Youko said. "We are sure that at least four extensive areas beside Konoha have regained freely flowing magic. None on this continent, but it is only a matter of time until it happens here. There is a sufficient number of beings who will have an interest in restoring the natural order of things."

"Not all is negative. The situation offers some advantages. With the massively increased supernatural activity we will be able to intervene much more freely. It will simply blur into the background as long as we use some restraint. We are confident we will be able to weather any direct attack on the sanctuary by all but the most powerful of beings."

Naruto considered their situation. It had far too many unknowns. They were pretty much acting blind. On the plus side, they did have a stronghold and if the deception held nobody would specifically hunt them. They continued talking for a while about some additional details Youko and Daiki had picked up, but the overall strategy amounted to keeping their heads down.

"There is something you should know. We will begin looking for candidates that are suitable to foster belief in us. Enough of our being is in the outside world that we can support a small cult. An additional source of power would be very welcome. With everyone doing that we can risk it."

"Couldn't you use us to spread the word and jumpstart things?" Naruto asked, curious about the matter. Until now his parents had always refrained from attracting followers.

"You could, but that would bring attention to you. You really don't need that. Neither does Hinata. We will set it up completely separately so that nothing can be traced back to you. Dreams, a few small miracles, that sort of thing." Youko explained.

"That leaves another matter. The Fire daimyo and his family. They are minor demons as far as we can tell. What worries me is that they bear a modified mark of the cursed Sage. We have absolutely no idea what the connection is. They know things and could be very dangerous."

"What should I do?" Naruto asked.

"It's simple. Invite them to Konoha. We want to speak with them and the sanctuary is the best place for that. Considering what the cat was up to in their backyard they should be interested in support we can offer. We need to know what they want. Maybe we can hash out an agreement."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Hinata asked. "The sanctuary is the center of your power in the outside world. If you invite them inside they could do a lot of damage."

Both of Naruto's parents nodded. "It is, but we need to take the risk. I doubt they are powerful enough to pose a true threat. They seem to be not that powerful and still fall into what shinobi can handle."

The group spent a few minutes talking about how to best go about the negation. Then Naruto brought up a last matter that had been on his mind for a while.

"Now that the secret about your existence is out of the bag can we tell our friends about you?" Naruto asked. "I'm thinking about Yakumo in particular." He gestured between himself and Hinata. "I want to resolve the entire thing between us. She needs to know or I can't really explain properly."

Daiki and Youko looked at each other. Naruto had the impression that an entire conversation was taking place and they were having an argument. Finally they turned back towards them. "You have our permission to tell Yakumo. She saw us during the invasion. The time stop didn't affect her. Furthermore, she has already told Ino. A swallow witnessed their conversation and told us. They have questions for Hinata, too."

"In a few days we will be able to speak to you in the sanctuary. We made some needed changes." Youko turned towards Hinata. "That is the reason minor spirits have begun appearing in the sanctuary. Until now we unintentionally smothered all development."

The group continued talking about different matters for hours, the best way to get their two friends to the sanctuary among them. Then it was time to return to the waking world.

* * *

><p>'<em>It will rain soon.' <em>Yakumo thought while watching the sky. _'At least we have roofs over our heads.'_

The dark clouds were gathering at the southwestern horizon. It would be an hour or two until they got here, time enough to get everyone inside. If she wasn't mistaken it would get quite stormy; the wind was already picking up.

Yakumo, Ino and a group of about two dozen Konoha shinobi were currently staying in a village near the northwestern border of the Land of Fire. It had been designated as the meeting place for the different squads of taskforce Mugon, the force assigned to wiping out Otogakure. By now they had destroyed all of Orochimaru's hideouts in the Land of Fire. The Land of Rice would be next, the center of the traitor's power.

Three squads had already been at work for over a week, scouting, preparing positions and taking out targets of opportunity, but the larger bases required concentrating the task force's power. It seemed Oto's remaining forces were holing up and trying to extract as high a price as possible. They didn't have the manpower left for open warfare thanks to their losses during the invasion and Konoha's quick counterstrike at the beginning of the campaign, but they had still enough to pose a problem. If they didn't remove the support structure now Orochimaru would be easily able to train a new generation of shinobi.

The rest of the campaign would take place without Yakumo and Ino, though. They had been assigned to guard the wounded and escort them back to Konoha. The main force had departed three days ago. The campaign was pretty much over for them. They were only waiting for one squad that had missed the meeting date. If they didn't turn up tomorrow they would depart for Konoha without them.

'_No sign of them anywhere.' _Yakumo thought when she once again scanned the landscape from her perch on the highest tree available.

That was troubling. There shouldn't have been anything that could destroy a group of a good dozen shinobi on their route. They had only been supposed to wipe out a small hideout, more of a safe house than a proper base and keep away from any contact with people. Heck, according to the information they had the hideout should have been abandoned. It was more a question of destroying the stored supplies than eliminating shinobi.

As a chunin and a jonin's apprentice Yakumo had witnessed the discussion of the jonin leading the task force. Some had argued for investigating, but that would have ruined the timetable. It was likely that there were still considerable forces left in the Land of Rice that needed to be taken out as quickly as possible. Some of the last bases they had destroyed had apparently been informed of the campaign and fortified. Digging them out had not been pretty.

After the first large battle against Oto's large base near Konoha the campaign had turned into a series of small skirmishes. Orochimaru had established a network of countless small bases and hideouts spanning across the Elemental Nations. They had to be taken out to destroy Oto's war fighting ability. Thanks to the ample amount of prisoners they had good intelligence of where to find them; it was only a question of destroying them.

The last month had fallen into a steady rhythm. Move to a location, annihilate a small force or destroy a hideout full of traps, rest, repeat. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, unfortunately. The Konoha shinobi always made sure to attack with overwhelming forces, but they still sustained losses. For every three Oto shinobi killed Konoha lost one.

According to Yakumo's more experienced comrades that was a fantastic ratio, especially because the majority of losses was temporary – injury, not death. It still took a mental toll watching it happen. There was nothing Yakumo or anyone else could have done to prevent it. Combat meant losses. By the time Yakumo and Ino had left their squad more than a third of the members had been switched out with reinforcements, either from Konoha or other squads.

Climbing down the tree, Yakumo made her way back to the village.

"Nothing to report, just rice paddies, woods and swamps as far as the eye can see. There is a storm coming. It will be here in little more than an hour. No sign of Squad Six." she reported to the chunin in command of the group, a middle-aged woman named Misaki who had lost several fingers on her right hand during the last battle.

"That's not good. We should have heard something, if only from a survivor. That means they have run into something big that let nobody get away." Teiko, another middle-aged chunin tossed in, her expression worried. "Do you think they ran into a group of Orochimaru's elite?"

Misaki shrugged, but her face showed the same worry. "Could be. We don't know where he and his closest followers are. Or it could be another village. The last message from Konoha said there have been probing attacks from at least three different minor villages in the last two weeks. There's no way to tell. I wish we could leave now, but with the weather as it is we can't risk it."

Not interested in speculating, Yakumo took her leave from the two. The worst that could happen was that whoever had taken out Squad Six would come after them if they had learned of the meeting place.

Unfortunately there was nothing they could do about it. Most of the injured could be moved only slowly. They had needed the days they had spent here to allow the worst cases to recover enough for extended transport. Only Yakumo, Ino and two chunin were completely uninjured and one of them was primarily a non-combat medic. In terms of combat strength the two girls were actually the group's heavyweights.

Trying to put these thoughts out of her mind, Yakumo found herself a place near the village's central square to enjoy the last rays of the sun before the clouds obscured it.

Some of the village's young children were playing on the square. Watching them made Yakumo smile, but she couldn't help but notice how different their games were. In Konoha even the children's games were preparation for becoming shinobi. Many didn't make the cut to visit the academy and become true shinobi mostly due to lacking chakra capacity or physical deficiencies, but it still made a stark contrast to this farming village. The games were more innocent.

On the other hand, the children had to help with the work as soon as they were able. It was a hard life for children and adults alike. There was not much time for leisure and no luxuries to be had. The people were very poor in comparison to Konoha, but not destitute. Since the shinobi were paying in coin for their stay they were welcome guests.

Closing her eyes, Yakumo feigned sleep in the hopes of discouraging the children from approaching her. As the youngest shinobi present Yakumo and Ino had become celebrities among the village youth. Whenever they were free the young people tried to speak with them. Both girls had traveled far and wide in the time since their graduation, much farther than any of the villagers could ever hope to. The most they ever saw was the next market town. Proper cities were almost beyond their imagination.

The village itself was only about fifty years old, but it was smaller than it had been. There was a collapsed, burnt-out manor house on a hill overlooking the village and several empty houses that now served as the shinobi's lodgings. Apparently the second son of some minor noble had taken a hundred peasants from his parents' estates and tried to found a village of his own in the wilderness. A large group of bandits had killed the man and carried off dozens of villagers as slaves around forty years ago, but enough of the population had remained for the village to persist and grow. Since then everything had been peaceful.

A ball rolling against Yakumo's leg caused her to open her eyes. Five young children were watching her. She picked the ball up and threw it back, but the children stayed. They looked like they wanted something, but were afraid to speak up. "Will you play with us?" a red-headed girl asked after a few seconds.

Yakumo smiled kindly at the children. "Sorry, I don't have time to play now. I need some rest because I will have to stand watch tonight. You should get inside anyway; a storm is coming."

"Aww."

"Why don't you play with Ino? She should have time." Yakumo said.

The children looked at each other. Then the oldest of the group, a brown-haired boy spoke up. "Ino left shortly after noon. She said she wanted to gather some herbs."

Yakumo cursed silently. "Thank you for telling me this. I have to go and make sure she knows about the storm."

A quick check of their lodgings and the other shinobi showed that Ino truly wasn't in the village anymore. Again Yakumo cursed silently. Her friend was not supposed to go anywhere alone. Fortunately Yakumo knew Ino's likely destination. After giving the word to Misaki Yakumo left the village, entering the woods.

Ino had shown troubling signs in the last few weeks. Yakumo had spoken with Kurenai about it in secret; it was the main reason they had been assigned to the returning force. Her blonde friend was not well even though she tried to hide it. She was increasingly absentminded and sometimes simply gazed into space. Never in battle or other critical situations, thankfully, she did it only when nothing urgent happened. Worse, more than once she had shown expressions, reactions and habits that were just _wrong_ for the Ino Yakumo had known for years. Additionally she had shown increasingly advanced skills with the mind arts, improving far faster than before.

Yakumo suspected the reason. She knew Ino had received the memories of ancient Izumi Yamanaka about a year ago. Her friend had made good use of those skills, but now they were a cause for concern.

She believed that Ino was increasingly escaping into the foreign memories to avoid dealing with her pain and grief, losing herself in the process. In retrospect the signs were obvious, starting with the aftermath of the invasion.

When they had discovered the corpse of Ino's mother the blond girl had gone to pieces. The next morning she cried and cried, only to suddenly stop and leave to try to take control of her clan. She had barely reacted to the news of her father's death. One day later she had seemed sad and teary on occasion, but no longer devastated. Two days later she had been back to normal. The recovery had been too quick.

Naruto and Yakumo had been orphans for a long time. Hinata's mother had died long ago, but her father had still been alive until the invasion even if their relationship could only be called strained or worse. Only Choji, Ino and Shino had both parents survive to their graduation. Now only Choji was in that lucky position, although Shino's mother had survived as well. Hinata and Ino were now complete orphans.

Yakumo still remembered the loss of her parents and her clan. It had taken her weeks, perhaps even months to return to a semblance of normality. Ino was much older than she had been, granted, but the recovery was still far too quick.

Now Yakumo thought Ino had not recovered at all, not truly. Instead she had repressed everything. Perhaps she would have worked through it in time had they been able to stay in Konoha, but the campaign added enormous pressure. Worse, Ino was often called to participate in the interrogation of prisoners because of her Yamanaka mind techniques. Considering what kind of people they were and what horrible things Oto had gotten up to under Orochimaru's leadership that was probably taking a toll of its own.

Yakumo had participated in prisoner interrogation as well. Genjutsu were useful in breaking prisoners so that the invasive mind techniques worked better. The entire process didn't bother her as much as it probably should. In fact, Iwashi Tatami, her squad's intelligence officer had told her that she might have a future in the Torture and Interrogation Department. She was considering it but had not yet reached a decision.

Finally, after a trek of almost half an hour, she reached her destination: a pond deep in the woods with water so dark it looked black. Ino had shown it to her two days ago. Yesterday Ino had visited it again. For some unfathomable reason her blond friend liked it here. The villagers apparently didn't even know about the pond and considered this section of the woods haunted.

'_Something is different.'_

The atmosphere was strange. A certain heaviness was lying on everything that made Yakumo's hairs stand on end. It didn't feel as if it was due to the approaching storm, either. In that moment a bright ray of sunlight hit Yakumo in the face. For just that moment the water in the pond seemed to shimmer in all colors of the rainbow. When she blinked everything was back to normal.

'_Creepy.'_

Looking around, Yakumo spotted Ino a short distance away, staring into the black waters.

"Ino."

The blonde girl didn't react.

"Ino!"

Yakumo frowned when she still got no reaction and moved closer. She had a suspicion. It was time to try something.

"Izumi?"

"Yes?" Ino asked without moving her head, still staring into the lake.

'_Oh crap. This is bad.'_

"It's time to return home. A storm is coming."

"Oh. Okay then." Ino raised her head and turned towards Yakumo, but stopped as soon as she got a look at her. Confusion was written on her face, but no recognition. Yakumo was about to panic when that expression remained unchanged on Ino's face for several seconds, but then the light of recognition dawned in Ino's eyes. "Yakumo? What is the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yakumo slowly let out a breath she had not realize she had been holding. "You reacted to the wrong name and you didn't recognize me just now."

"Oh."

"Oh? Is that all you have to say?"

Ino shrugged. "What do you want me to say?"

"An explanation would be nice. You are constantly diving into Izumi's memories, aren't you? These days you are living more in old memories than in the real world."

The blonde girl looked away. "Maybe I do. It helps me deal with things. I need the power the memories offer, too. I can control it. I just need some time."

"What you are doing is not 'dealing'." Yakumo changed tracks. Getting into an argument wouldn't help matters. "Why do you like the pond so much anyway?"

Ino got a faraway look in her eyes. "I spend much of my childhood near here. There was a Yamanaka settlement nearby, although now it's completely overgrown."

"It wasn't you; the memory belongs to Izumi."

"Do you think that makes much of a difference for me? It might as well have been me."

"You always said Izumi's memories were different from your own."

Ino didn't say anything for a few seconds. "They were. Now everything kind of blurs together."

Yakumo sighed. This was getting worse and she had no idea what to do about it. Once back in Konoha she might have to go behind Ino's back to some of her Yamanaka relations. She needed to think about it and speak with her other friends. "We will talk about this later. Come on; let's get back into the village before the rain starts."

The walk back was mostly spent in strained silence. Yakumo tried to make some innocent conversation, but Ino repeatedly spaced out.

They were almost back in the village when Yakumo felt the use of chakra directly ahead. "Something is happening in the village. It feels like a battle. We have to hurry." she shouted before accelerating to a run.

Ino was at her side immediately, her eyes sharp and without any sign of her earlier absentmindedness. It took the two girls no time at all to rush through the rest of the forest. Reaching the last of the trees, they came to a full stop to get their bearing. It was clear there was fighting going on judging by the sounds, but a bank of yellow smoke covered almost everything of the village proper. Only a field of grass separated them from the cloud. A few houses were barely visible.

Just in that moment one of the houses disintegrated in a shower of splinters when a green giant charged through it, swinging a massive club that was larger than a man. The giant's face was completely covered by hair and he didn't seem to see them, turning around and charging back into the cloud.

"Is that music?" Ino asked.

Yakumo listened. Yes, there was definitely someone playing a flute, not that the fact told them anything. She thought frantically about the best course of action to take. Obviously the group was under attack, but charging in blindly would be worse than useless. That would only get them killed.

"I'm taking over a bird to see what is going on. Take care of my body." Ino said before forming a hand seal and slumping down. A moment later one of the birds circling over the village took a plunge into the smoke.

Yakumo grit her teeth. Ino should have waited for her response before taking action. Well, she had to make the best out of the situation. As a first measure Yakumo used a genjutsu to hide them from prying eyes. Then she tried to discern details through the billowing yellow smoke.

Suddenly a villager stumbled out of the smoke. Before she was able to take more than a few steps a blur pierced her chest in a shower of gore and the peasant went down. A big, bloody arrow was sticking from the ground a short distance away.

'_The arrow landed like that… that means the shot came from… there.'_

Carefully edging around a bush, Yakumo tried to find the origin of the arrow. It took her a few second to spot a strangely deformed man with six arms and a large warbow sitting in the top of a tree quite a distance away. It had been pure luck that there had been an obstacle in the way. Otherwise he would have spotted them immediately.

'_He's too far away for me to hit him with a jutsu.'_ Yakumo judged.

Another disturbance at the edge of the smoke cloud caught Yakumo's attention. Two peasants and the group of children Yakumo had talked with earlier emerged. The archer was unable to see them for now, but they would invariably enter his field of vision if they wanted to reach the forest.

The young Kurama was about to cast a second genjutsu to hide them when a grey-haired shinobi wearing the attire of Otogakure emerged from the bank of smoke. Before she could react in any way he had already cut the adults down.

Yakumo aborted her technique and switched to an offensive genjutsu. She could feel the technique taking hold… only to suddenly shatter when the chakra system of the shinobi was purged by some sort of external source. That short moment of confusion sufficed for the man to kill four of the children and pick up the fifth by his neck. A snap indicated that whatever Yakumo decided to do it was too late for the children.

"Sakon! Genjutsu behind us!" came a voice from the man.

'_Damn it!'_ Yakumo thought while already forming another hand seal. 'Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet'

Things happened very quickly.

A big stream of flames shot from Yakumo's mouth towards the shinobi who was still in the process of turning around.

Another shape left the smoke cloud, landing in front of the grey-haired shinobi and striking the ground with its hands.

The earth in front of the two folded upwards, forming a wall.

He flames collided with the wall and were diverted, leaving the shinobi behind unharmed. On the plus side, the field between her and them was now on fire, giving her a short breather. Then she realized where she had seen the two before.

'_Damn. Damn. Damn. Those are two of the four guards Orochimaru had with him when he fought the Hokage, the ones who erected the barrier.' _She quickly glanced back at the spider man who was now looking in her direction. _'He looks similar to the third. That means Orochimaru's elite is here. We are fucked.'_

Yakumo didn't hesitate. Throwing Ino's limp body over her shoulders, Yakumo ran back into the forest. She couldn't tell if she was being followed. Hopefully the genjutsu and the fire would buy her some time.

Suddenly Ino moved, almost causing Yakumo to stumble. After a few second of disorientation Ino spoke in a flat voice. "Orochimaru is here. His forces attacked just before we reached the village. Most of the villagers and the Konoha shinobi are already dead. The rest are stuck and will blow themselves up to avoid capture. We are to try and escape. If we can't make it we are ordered to kill ourselves. You can let me down now."

Yakumo let go. Ino jumped off and started running on her own feet. "Can we escape?"

The blonde girl formed a hand seal without stopping in her run. "I feel their minds. They are following us. Three closely behind us and gaining. A lot of unusually intelligent snakes are a bit farther behind." Her voice turned bleak after a moment of silence. "…and I think Orochimaru himself and one additional person are behind them and gaining even more quickly."

A feeling of dread filled Yakumo. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Izumi knew the 'taste' of Orochimaru's mind. It's him without a doubt." She was silent for a moment. When she spoke again desperation leaked into her voice. "We won't make it at this rate. They are faster than us. We don't have time to set anything up. It's the end for us."

'_It can't end this way, not like this.' _Yakumo thought while tears began to leak from her eyes. She had survived the chunin exams, the invasion and a month of campaigning only to be attacked by one of the Sannin. It just wasn't fair.

A loud explosion far behind them signaled the end of the Konoha shinobi. Getting captured by Orochimaru was one of the worst fates imaginable. It had been long years since he had left Konoha, but the tales of the horrors he had committed against the test subjects he had abducted from the village were still very much present. Everyone agreed that death was preferable.

'_Perhaps we can escape. Perhaps there is still a chance.'_

Using what techniques seemed suitable, Yakumo began setting fire to the woods while she ran. Unfortunately the woods were rather wet and the fires remained small. It wouldn't hinder their pursuers in any significant manner. Ino pitched in with various earth techniques.

"To the pond." Ino suddenly shouted.

"Why?" Yakumo gasped out. By now she lacked the breath for longer speech.

"Trust me."

Yakumo didn't ask again. It would be as good a place as any to make their final stand. Their headlong flight continued for several minutes until the black pond came finally into sight.

"We're here. What now?"

Ino ignored her and shouted something at the pond. It was strange, Yakumo could tell that she was saying something, but the actual sounds didn't consciously register. Then Ino repeated that two times.

Nothing happened.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Yakumo asked.

Ino turned around, facing the direction they had come from. Yakumo got a look at her face in the process. The expression was all Izumi. "A call for help. Prepare to jump when I say so." She hesitated a second, looking more like Ino. "If I'm mistaken and we don't make it… I'm glad that we have been friends. Don't let them catch you alive."

Yakumo was about to reply when the leaves rustled and the pale form of Orochimaru appeared. He didn't seem to be winded in the slightest.

"Ku ku ku. What do we have…?" His question was cut off by a stream of flames from Yakumo's mouth. When the fire subsided there was only a charred pile of earth standing there.

'_An earth clone.'_

"Look ou…!" Ino began to shout.

In that moment something hit Yakumo in the side with bone-crushing force and she was hurled away. The collision with a tree stump jutting out from the water of the pond hurt almost as much as the initial hit.

Yakumo bit her lip in an effort to stay conscious and tried to prevent herself from sliding into the water. She couldn't move her right arm anymore. From the looks of it the limb was broken in at least two places. That would make using jutsu impossible.

Ino had escaped the initial attack unscathed and was now edging towards Yakumo, walking on top of the water.

"Can you stand?" she asked once she was close enough.

Yakumo gritted her teeth and nodded. Her footing on the water wobbled. From time to time she slightly broke the surface when her concentration faltered and the chakra flow grew unsteady. The pain was really distracting. She reached into one of her weapon pouches and retrieved a kunai, holding the weapon in her left hand. It wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing.

"There are snakes all around us. I can't get a fix on Orochimaru's position. The other four are hanging back."

Yakumo was about to answer when she spotted something suspicious at the edge of the pond. There was something there. The pain she was in made it somehow stand out. It wasn't even a ripple in the air, but Yakumo recognized it as a subtle and limited but extremely high-level genjutsu. She immediately threw her kunai at it.

The weapon sank into the ground with a dull thud. A small, brightly colored snake became visible briefly before it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Unfortunately Yakumo's throw had been slightly off target, but there were still some blood on the grass.

"I think you just pissed off Orochimaru. Apparently that was his favorite assassination summon." Ino remarked while scanning the forest for threats.

"That's too bad." Yakumo said.

"He's doing something; I can't tell what."

For almost a minute nothing seemed to happen. Then the woods erupted with hundreds of snakes converging on the pond from all directions.

"Down!" Ino shouted.

Yakumo didn't hesitate. She simply let herself fall through the water's surface. In the last moment she caught some sort of rainbow-colored ripple on the surface.

Total darkness engulfed her. She couldn't be more than a hand's breadth away from the surface, but there was not the slightest bit of light anywhere. There was the sensation of falling. Up and down had lost their meaning.

'_I guess this is the end. We can't escape.'_

She tried to get another kunai to end things on her own terms, but her searching hand seemed unable to find her weapon pouches.

Slowly she ran out of air. She had no idea where the surface was, not that she was intending to head there. If she stayed underwater she might manage to drown and die before Orochimaru and his minions got their hands on her body and revived her. There were fates so much worse than death.

She knew she was crying, but she couldn't feel the tears on her face. There were so many things she wanted to do in her life and now wouldn't get the opportunity for.

Finally Yakumo couldn't hold her breath any longer. The darkness was so complete she was unable to see the air escaping her mouth.

Then she breathed in. Strangely it didn't hurt. Getting water into one's lungs should hurt.

Before Yakumo could consider the implications a blinding light in all colors of the rainbow filled her perception. A moment later she fell unconscious.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes:<strong> Thank you for all the reviews. Well, writing this chapter took me much longer than intended and it didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but it's finally here. My apologies.

Unfortunately how Kishimoto is handling the manga has mostly killed my enthusiasm for Naruto and writer's block is making things difficult. I do intend to finish this story, but it won't be a quick affair.

So long.


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